Texas Football: 3 bold predictions for Tom Herman for remainder of 2020

2) Texas football HC Herman bold predictions

Sam Ehlinger has his best stretch of his career to date

When it comes down to it, the clutch play of the star senior Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger when it matters most late in games is what saved this team from certain defeat on a number of occasions. The late game heroics from Ehlinger nearly pushed the Longhorns to defeat the Oklahoma Sooners in the annual Red River Rivalry game back on Oct. 10.

Ehlinger also saved the Longhorns in wins over the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Texas Tech Red Raiders, both on the road and both in overtime. Out of the five wins that the Longhorns have so far, only two came by comfortable double-digit margins (against the UTEP Miners and Baylor Bears). The wins over Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia could all largely be chocked up to effective game management and minimization of mistakes from Ehlinger and Co.

In seven games played this season, Ehlinger registered a 58.8 completion percentage, 1,834 passing yards, 8.2 adjusted yards per passing attempt, 22 passing touchdowns, five interceptions, and a 145.5 passer efficiency rating. He also added 323 rushing yards (3.6 yards per carry) and seven rushing touchdowns.

The game-by-game stat lines for Ehlinger have actually degraded in the last few weeks, but he is greatly minimizing turnovers at key times during this three-game winning streak. If he can continue that trend while going back to putting up the types of numbers he did in the first three or four games of this season, the results could be wonderful for Ehlinger by the end of his senior campaign.