All indications are that Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will start against No. 19 Oklahoma on Oct. 12. It’s just that nobody associated with No. 2 Texas will come out and say it.

Oh, Sarkisian sure sounds optimistic about Ewers' strained abdominal injury.

After Saturday’s win over Mississippi State, Sarkisian said he planned to get several players back healthy against OU after the bye week. “You know, obviously, Quinn, Derek Williams, some guys like that.”

But on Monday in what will be his only time speaking with reporters this week, Sarkisian didn’t give any clear-cut indication.

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

Will Texas QB Quinn Ewers be healthy, ready to play for Longhorns vs. Oklahoma in Red River Showdown?

Ewers was questionable all week leading up to Mississippi State with strained abdominal injury before being ruled out.

“I mean, he’s just rehabbing, as he has been,” Sarkisian said. “I think he's been making steady progress, you know, one day to the next, which is a good sign. We haven’t had any setbacks. It’s been steady progress. I think he's getting stronger and more comfortable and more confident, and so we'll just kind of stay the course with that.”

Sarkisian then changed the topic to OU’s defense and moved on.

Ewers was listed as questionable on the SEC availability report last week right up until kickoff when he was moved to “out.”

The Longhorns could list Ewers as questionable next week just to give the Sooners something to think about. But the reality is there’s enough tape out there on both Ewers and backup Arch Manning that OU should be ready for both.

“OU’s defense, a couple of things stand out to me,” Sarkisian said.

First is OU’s sack total. The Sooners have produced 18 sacks in their first five games. Brent Venables’ unit has also recovered eight fumbles, which leads the nation, and has a plus-8 turnover margin.

“Those are both things that are kind of staples of Brent Venables defenses,” Sarkisian said.