Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers admitted Saturday that “I think I'm finally back to feeling normal.” He’s no longer worried about the abdominal injury that kept him out 2 1/2 games early this season.

Ewers’ performance against Vanderbilt was everything No. 5 Texas needed coming off last week’s loss to Georgia.

Ewers completed 17 straight passes in the first half, tying for third-most in school history, and finished the night completing 73% overall. He also threw three touchdown passes in a 27-24 win over the 25^th-ranked Commodores

For a coach who prefers to see Ewers remain in firm control of the starting job this season, Steve Sarkisian couldn’t have been happier. “Man, he was a stud tonight,” Sarkisian said.

WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE: Follow A to Z Sports’ Texas Longhorns channel on YouTube.

‘It wasn’t pretty by any means’ — Texas football struggles but ultimately prevails 27-24 at Vanderbilt

QB Quinn Ewers throws two tip-drill interceptions, but Longhorns improve to 7-1 going into bye week

But Ewers also had two tipped balls that resulted in interceptions — both leading to Vanderbilt points. The ’Dores also had four sacks as Ewers’ limited running ability left the offense hamstrung at times.

Still, Ewers and the Horns got a much-needed win. Afterward, the quarterback carried himself like the unquestioned starter. Texas (7-1, 3-1 SEC) heads into its second bye week feeling good with a final four-game stretch ahead in November.

“It’s definitely tough, especially whenever you give the opposing offense a short field,” Ewers said. “And I think they got, if I’m not mistaken, I think they scored 14 points off those two interceptions. So it’s tough because the complimentary football aspect of things, at the end of the day, I gave the defense a shorter field than they want to be able to work with so it's definitely tough.

“But at the position that I play, you’ve got to be able to wipe those type of things off, because for the most part, they’re out of your control.”

Ewers didn’t appear rattled by the first tipped interception early in the first quarter. He actually got stronger as the game went on. He hit tight end Gunnar Helm for a 14-yard gain, then connect with Quintrevion Wisner for 18 yards and then found DeAndre Moore Jr. for a 31-yarder.

Ewers got a huge charge from a 3-yard touchdown grab by Matthew Golden, who made a one-handed snag in the end zone. Ewers also had completions of 20, 27, 16, 24 and 25 yards after Golden’s catch. The 27- and 25-yard catches resulted in two touchdowns for Moore.

“Quinn played lights out,” Sarkisian said. “I was really proud of him. I was proud of Quinn for his response coming off of last week’s game, and then for the game to start the way that did, you get a tip ball interception, then I think he completes 17 balls in a row with three touchdowns in there. I think it's just a sign of his character.”

Ewers said Sarkisian said all week, “Don’t count your plays. Make your plays count.”

And if anyone is counting down the plays until a certain backup quarterback is inserted into the lineup, there’s no telling how long you may be waiting.

“I relate back to the culture that we have on this team,” Ewers said. “If the next man up, we don’t expect there to be any drop off when the next man’s up and when other guys get their opportunities. We expect them to go play to the highest standard that we play. I mean, the end of the day, the standards are the standard.”