There were plenty of positives for Texas fans to take away from 2018, but 2019 promises to be special with the return of budding superstar Sam Ehlinger.
Texas came up a few plays shy of winning the Big 12 for the first time since 2009 on Saturday vs. Oklahoma but the Longhorns showed plenty this year to suggest 2019 could be their year.
The loss to the rival Sooners is going to sting, especially since they’ll likely be playing in the College Football Playoff, but once that subsides, there are a lot of positives to take from this season.
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger asserted himself as the answer under center. After competing with Shane Buechele for the starting job early in his career, his play left no question who the leader and face of the program is. Ehlinger had 38 total touchdowns, including 13 on the ground, where he looked like the team’s best ball carrier for large chunks of the year.
He completed 64.4 percent of his passes and rarely turned the ball over. He only had five interceptions all year. Unfortunately, his final pass in the Big 12 Championship Game was an interception. Expect that to fuel Ehlinger all offseason and play with a larger chip on his shoulder next season.
Even in losses, Ehlinger showed himself well with eight total touchdowns in the losses to Oklahoma State and West Virginia. He also had two touchdowns in the season-opening loss to Maryland. What’s most encouraging for Texas is how he responded after that loss. Texas went on to win six straight, including a win over Oklahoma, to put them in the Big 12 title race.
Ehlinger was especially impressive vs. Oklahoma with nine total touchdowns against the hated rival. The road to the Big 12 goes through Norman and Texas has a quarterback who isn’t daunted or intimidated by the team up north.
With Ehlinger returning, he should have Collin Johnson back as his top weapon. He had eight catches for 177 yards and a touchdown in the Big 12 Championship Game and could be the top receiver in the conference next year.
When Texas did lose, they were never blown out and in every game late. Maryland, Oklahoma State and West Virginia combined to beat Texas by nine total points. A play here or there was the difference between Texas having a perfect regular season. The margin of error is so slim and Texas was reminded of that this year, but this is so much positive momentum after not even being in contention to play for a championship.
Tom Herman is doing a wonderful job on the 40 Acres and next year’s team might be his best one yet. He had a big rebuilding job on his hands with the biggest challenge being changing the culture that deteriorated in the final years of the Mack Brown era. Now that he’s done that and brought Texas back, he’s reloading the roster with top recruits and stacking top recruiting classes on top of each other.
The next phase is deploying those recruits on the field and letting them develop and show what made them elite recruits. 2019 will be the first year Oklahoma doesn’t have a Heisman contender playing quarterback for the first time in four years. This is the time for Texas to strike while Oklahoma is rebuilding, West Virginia is without Will Grier and the rest of the conference is trying to get on Texas’ level.
It’ll be a long offseason, but Texas fans should take a lot of positives from this season because these growing pains could be what results in a Big 12 championship next year.