Texas Football vs. USC: 5 overreactions from win over Trojans

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AUSTIN, TX – SEPTEMBER 15: Sam Ehlinger #11 of the Texas Longhorns rolls out to pass under pressure by Cameron Smith #35 of the USC Trojans in the first half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 15, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /

2. Sam Ehlinger is the clear answer at quarterback

A huge showing from sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger marked the second straight week where he showed massive improvement. Ehlinger was big for the Horns in the win over the Golden Hurricane last week, but he hadn’t faced competition similar to that of the USC defense up until Sep. 15.

Also for the second straight week, Ehlinger did not make a costly mistake down the stretch that would ultimately cost the Horns. Now, Ehlinger did get away with a key error made on what should’ve been called a safety. For some reason, the refs did not overturn the call that he was tackled outside the end zone after a lengthy review.

Yet, Ehlinger was able to get away with that and move forward to seal the victory against the Trojans. That is something that he might’ve not been able to do last year, or even against the Maryland Terrapins in the first week of the 2018 campaign. Ehlinger is managing the game a lot better now.

In this game, Ehlinger tied his career high in total touchdowns with three. Two of his touchdowns were through the air and the other was on the ground. Up to this point, Ehlinger had eight total touchdowns on the season with just two interceptions. Take away that fourth quarter against the Terps, and Ehlinger is perfect in terms of touchdown/interception ratio this year.

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