Texas Football: 4 players/coaches to blame for Longhorns struggles

3. Sam Ehlinger

Since the Texas football program relies on junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger to shoulder the load pretty much completely on his own to power the offensive side of the ball, blame has to go to him to some degree. Ehlinger didn’t play well in three of the last four games. He just hasn’t looked the same since Texas lost to the rival Oklahoma Sooners back on Oct. 12.

In the loss to Baylor last weekend, the Longhorns saw Ehlinger amass just 200 passing yards and no touchdowns to go along with one interception. That makes it six passing touchdowns and six interceptions for Ehlinger combined in his last four outings. He also didn’t have any rushing touchdowns in each of the last four games.

If Ehlinger isn’t on for the Longhorns, it’s hard to see them winning much. When he’s outplayed by the likes of Baylor junior quarterback Charlie Brewer and the Iowa State Cyclones sophomore quarterback Brock Purdy, Texas is going to falter. Granted the special teams didn’t help Ehlinger and the rest of the Longhorns out at all in the two-point Week 12 loss to Iowa State.

The one interception Ehlinger had against Baylor came when it looked as if the Texas offense was finally starting to find a good rhythm. He woefully underthrew his target on a deep route and Baylor snagged it. Ehlinger is already on pace to double his interception numbers from his sophomore season.