Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger can make bold Heisman statement vs. Texas Tech
Texas football heads to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech in Week 4 and it’s a golden opportunity for Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger to make a big Heisman statement.
When it comes to discussions for who could win the Heisman Trophy this year, a lot of the attention is focused on the projected No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft Trevor Lawrence. Meanwhile, few people have Texas Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger as someone who could legitimately win college football’s most prestigious award.
Ehlinger has a chance to really prove himself this weekend and he’ll get to do so against a shaky Texas Tech defense this Saturday in Lubbock.
Texas curb-stomped UTEP in their season opener by a score of 59-3 and Ehlinger looked poised for a big season, throwing a touchdown on the first play of the game. The Longhorns signal-caller went 25-of-33 for 426 yards and five touchdowns on the day before taking the rest of the game off with the game decided.
Sam Ehlinger should be able to replicate that performance against a Red Raiders defense that was torched by Houston Baptist.
Texas Tech has never been a team known for their great defense and that was clear as day when they couldn’t put away the Houston Baptist Huskies. The Red Raiders defense surrendered 572 yards through the air and allowed Huskies quarterback Bailey Zappe to throw for 567 yards and four touchdowns.
If Houston Baptist was able to do that kind of damage against Texas Tech, Sam Ehlinger is licking his chops because he knows he’ll be able to potentially throw for even more yards than that.
Historically, Ehlinger has been quite good against his in-state foes, going 2-1 against them in that span. His freshman year was his worst performance against Texas Tech, but that was to be expected. He threw for 239 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss, but since then, he’s been on fire when it comes to facing the Red Raiders.
In 2018, Ehlinger tossed for 312 yards and four touchdowns in a Texas victory and in 2019, he threw for 348 yards and two touchdowns. That sets up his 2020 performance against the Red Raiders to be his best yet and if he can put up big numbers against Texas Tech, it might officially put him on the Heisman Trophy watch list.
As of now, Lawrence and Spencer Rattler of Oklahoma lead the way in the Heisman Trophy watch list, so Ehlinger is going to have to put up insane numbers on a weekly basis. It’s easy for him to throw for 426 yards and five scores against lowly UTEP, but it’ll be much more impressive when he does it against Power 5 programs.
After seeing Houston Baptist’s offense take Texas Tech’s defense to the woodshed, there’s no excuse for Ehlinger not to have a big game this Saturday in Lubbock. The only excusable reason would be if he were removed from the game due to Texas having a huge lead over the Red Raiders and wanting to protect Ehlinger from potentially getting injured.
Ehlinger has the next two weeks to really pad his stats because Texas’ fourth game of the season comes in Norman against the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners. It’ll be Ehlinger vs. Rattler and that could be a Heisman Trophy defining game, even this early in the college football season.
Ehlinger has a long way to go before passing Lawrence on the Heisman Trophy favorite list, but fortunately, there’s still a lot of football to be played and he’s shown in one game how lethal he can be.
Next. Heisman watch: Lawrence, Big 12 QBs top Week 3 rankings. dark
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