Sam Ehlinger has record passing day for Texas as Heisman hopes surge

You have to do a double-take with Sam Ehlinger’s first-half stats vs. UTEP.

Sam Ehlinger broke the UTEP Miners before halftime with his powerful right arm.

The Texas Longhorns starting quarterback set a career-high in passing with 429 yards and five touchdowns. His first pass of the game went for a touchdown, in a sign that he could be in for a big night.

Ehlinger did all this in the first half against an overwhelming Miners defense. Ehlinger’s previous career-high in yardage came last year vs. the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns with 401. He previously threw four touchdown passes in a game five times before, including four times last season as a junior.

Sam Ehlinger is very much in the 2020 Heisman Trophy conversation.

Though there has never been any doubt about Ehlinger’s character, leadership and running ability, he does unfortunately get critiqued as a passer. Because his head coach Tom Herman is an Urban Meyer disciple, Ehlinger gets labeled as his version of Tim Tebow or Dak Prescott, mobile quarterbacks who were great college players, but with questionable NFL arm talent.

Well, that doesn’t really matter right now, as Ehlinger just set a school record for the most passing yards in a half. While Big 12 teams like the Iowa State Cyclones and the Kansas State Wildcats were embarrassing themselves, Ehlinger somehow outshined Spencer Rattler in his stellar first start for the Oklahoma Sooners. He also outworked Trevor Lawrence of the Clemson Tigers.

As long as the defense holds its own, can absolutely finally be back this season. Of course, they’ll need to win the Big 12 to likely punch their ticket into the College Football Playoff for that happen.

While this was UTEP, you have to love what you saw out of Ehlinger in his 2020 debut. He’s more than ready to take his beloved Longhorns to the promised land. The Austin native could return to school in 2021 if he really wanted to, but what if he ends up being this year’s Joe Burrow? That’s not to say he comes out of nowhere, but maybe he sees a meteoric rise in his NFL Draft stock?

If Ehlinger can perform like this regularly against Big 12 play, he’s a lock to be a Heisman finalist.

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