Texas Football: 5 reasons the Longhorns will upset Utah in Alamo Bowl

2. Sam Ehlinger and Tom Herman’s last chance to bounce back in 2019

A down season for the Texas football program saw a lot of the blame get placed on the shoulders of Herman and star junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger. Herman is solid in the postseason (career record of 3-1) and is undefeated in two tries with Texas. But there was a slight shift in the trend for Herman this season when he entered games as an underdog. Texas is 2-3 against the spread this season when they’re an underdog.

Don’t mind that for Herman in the postseason, since that has to be a rejuvenated coaching staff amid all the changes from “Black Sunday”.

A fairly big storyline that emerged within the last month for the Longhorns, that could be a potential distraction in the Alamo Bowl, was the request of feedback from the College Advisory Committee by Ehlinger. That sparked the thought of if Ehlinger would declare early for the 2020 NFL Draft if he received a good grade in return.

But most of the media speculation holds that Ehlinger should be learning toward, and would benefit from, returning to the Forty Acres for his senior campaign. Herman also appeared confident in media availability for the Alamo Bowl earlier this week.

Ehlinger comes into the Alamo Bowl with nearly 3,500 passing yards, 35 total touchdowns, and just nine interceptions from the regular season. His numbers are down from last season, but he didn’t get enough credit for how well he played most of the way. The offense did stall at bad times during the regular season, but they’ll be coming in with a largely new coaching staff and focus tonight.