Quarterback Quinn Ewers of the Texas Longhorns throws a pass against the Kansas State Wildcats during the first half at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on Nov. 5 in Manhattan, Kansas.

AUSTIN — As Max Duggan chatted with ABC at midfield after his No. 4 TCU team defeated Texas in Austin and celebrated what is a fantasy Hypnotoad season, Quinn Ewers walked off with a few teammates to bemoan what is another lost Longhorn season.

Ewers’ first season in Austin is going just about as well as Duggan’s first year in Fort Worth.

With one tiny exception.

No one really had any idea who Duggan was coming out of Iowa when he came to TCU in 2019.

People from Cairo to Perth understood that Ewers was going to restore Texas football in 2022.

Ewers is the golden haired, lightning bolt-armed quarterback who would revolutionize NCAA football by graduating from high school early to skip his senior season, signing seven-figure NIL deals with the eye of going to the NFL as fast as possible.

We all forgot that he’s a kid. Maybe he did, too.

He is going to struggle. He is going to get hit in the mouth, either by an opposing football player, life, or himself.

Ewers probably won’t do it, but he should take a long, hard look at the most recent quarterback to defeat his team. Ewers could learn so much from Duggan, starting by just don’t quit.

Don’t transfer.

Just compete.

Even if the guy behind you isn’t a Card but a Manning.

A lot was given to Ewers, starting with scholarships to Ohio State, Texas, reportedly lucrative NIL deals, but now he has to earn the rest.

The time for handouts is over.

Earn it the way the Max Duggan did, which starts by staying.

If this season continues to go south for UT, Ewers could potentially transfer. He would require a waiver, which these days are as difficult as to find as deals for your car’s extended warranty.

With future Horn Arch Manning in the stands on Saturday in Austin, Ewers was awful against TCU. A few of his receivers didn’t help him, and TCU is one of the best teams in the nation, but Ewers was not good.

Against TCU he completed 17 of 39 passes for 171 yards with an interception. His offense registered 199 yards, and scored one field goal.

His passes sailed. Some of his decisions looked like a kid whose confidence cracks every time he throws another incomplete pass.

This is not new. He’s been awful for weeks. There have been multiple incidents where Ewers looks like he’s a mile into his own head.

In his last three games he has completed 45% of his passes with four touchdowns and four interceptions. In UT’s loss at Oklahoma State on Oct. 11, Ewers threw 30 incomplete passes.

Texas has not scored an offensive touchdown in its last three games.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian should at least discuss with his staff playing backup Hudson Card.

On Monday in a meeting with the local media, Sark said of Ewers, “He’s doing a nice job.”

Sark’s fear is valid; if he benches Ewers, will this talented young man transfer again?

Hudson Card isn’t as talented as Ewers, but right now Ewers throws a pretty ball who doesn’t really know how to play quarterback well.

Arch Manning’s uncle, Peyton, said it best: a lot of guys can fling it, but can they play quarterback? Right now Quinn doesn’t look like he knows what to do.

Max Duggan does.

So much of TCU’s win over UT was about experience.

Ewers has basically played seven career college games whereas Duggan has played 42.

Duggan doesn’t have Ewers’ talents, and he knows it. Duggan has also done everything to squeeze the talent that he does have into becoming a top college quarterback, which is what he is.

He’s completing 65% of his passes this season with 25 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Duggan stuck with TCU in a way few players of this era will ever again. A Max Duggan should not be museum-style relic, but it’s heading in that direction.

Duggan could have transferred, and it might have worked somewhere else, too.

Players of this era shouldn’t be knocked too hard for exercising an option. There are plenty of success stories of a young person transferring and finding success at a new school.

Joe Burrow comes to mind.

Like Ewers, Burrow began his college career at Ohio State before he transferred to LSU where he won the Heisman trophy and the national title.

Ewers left Ohio State to come back to his native Texas, and he’s found that playing quarterback in a power conference is hard.

He might have been handed the starting job at Texas, but now he’s in the hard part.

He has all of the talent. It’s there.

He can be a great Texas quarterback.

He just needs to stay and earn it, like Max Duggan did.

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