Five questions: Should Herman name a full-time starting quarterback?

By Steve Habel, Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — The finish of Texas’ 40-34 double-overtime win Saturday over Kansas Statebefore a crowd of 90,462 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium may come, once the smoke clears on the 2017 season, to epitomize the sticktoitiveness and dogged attitude that provides the turnaround for the Longhorns’ program.

Maligned and often miscast running back Chris Warren III carried the pile two yards for the deciding touchdown as the Longhorns found a way to out-physical Kansas State and remain one of just two teams that heads to the second weekend in October undefeated in Big 12 Conference action.

Warren was stopped at the 3-yard line on his [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]winning run, but kept his feet moving, pulling the pile of Texas and Kansas State players along for the ride before crossing the goal line.

After two holding penalties on their possession in the second overtime, the Wildcats’ Matthew McCrane’s 53-yard field goal attempt hit midway up the left upright and fell back into the end zone, allowing Texas (3-2 overall, 2-0 in Big 12 play) to win on its possession.

Maybe the Longhorns will ride with Warren and tenacious freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger and make  refusing to back down from any challenge a habit. That might be asking too much, but Texas has the look of a team thats coming together, that believes in itself and is learning how to win.

“Yeah — we are getting there,” Texas coach Tom Herman said after the win. “We have tasted what it feels like to win and to win close games. We’ve also tasted what it’s like to lose close ballgames. We are well aware of the differences in those tastes and the steps necessary to make sure that we are on the right end of that.”

Ehlinger hit former quarterback Jerrod Heard on a 25-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime to give Texas a 34-27 lead.

Kansas State backup quarterback Alex Delton, who entered the game late in the third quarter when starter Jesse Ertz was dinged up, then ran eight yards to the tying touchdown in the first overtime period, sending the game into a second extra period.

Delton led the Wildcats (3-2 overall, 1-1 in Big 12 play) to a game-tying drive that was capped by his 2-yard touchdown run with 3:37 to play in the third quarter. He then ran for 11, 13 and 22 yards and hit Dalton Schoen on a 23-yard pass on Kansas State’s ensuing possession, which ended in Matthew McCrane’s 33-yard field goal that staked the Wildcats to a 27-24 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Texas’ Joshua Rowland hit a 34-yard field goal with 1:37 remaining in regulation to tie the contest at 27 but missed a 45-yard attempt with two seconds remaining that would have won the game for the Longhorns in regulation.

Rowland’s tying kick came after he missed a 27-yard attempt on the Longhorns’ previous possession.

The Longhorns ended up running 91 plays (that included seven snaps in overtime) and racked up 546 yards of total offense to just 394 for the Wildcats.

“I told our players that Texas is a team that’s gotten better virtually every game of the season,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. “This game all boiled down to execution and we didn’t really execute the things that we needed to do. There’s just a lot of things we need to do better.”

Ehlinger was named the starter an hour before game time and responded by passing for 380 yards and rushing for a team-high 107 yards on 20 carries. Texas’ three running backs — Warren, Porter and freshman Toneil Carter – carried a combined 20 times for 59 yards.

Reggie Hemphill-Mapps led the Longhorns with 12 catches for 121 yards. Ehlinger passed 51 times and hit of 30 of them with one interception — a miscue that came on the first play of the game — and was not sacked, even as he worked behind a patchwork offensive line.

McCrane line-drived a career-high 54-yard field goal to open the scoring before Ertz (224 yards passing) and Schoen, a sophomore walk-on, connected on touchdown passes of 82 and 12 yards in the first half for the Wildcats.

The first Ertz-to-Schoen touchdown pass came two snaps after UT’s Holton Hill was called for a pass interference penalty on third down that allowed Kansas State to move from its own 2 to the 17-yard line.

Texas countered with two 1-yard touchdown runs from Kyle Porter and an Ehlinger-to-Warren 33-yard scoring pass that allowed the Longhorns a 21-17 lead at halftime.

Rowland converted a 34-yard field goal on Texas’ first possession of the third quarter to expand the Longhorns’ advantage to 24-17.

Texas outgained K-State, 292-185, in the first half, and had a 103-16 edge on the ground. The Longhorns ran 43 plays in the first 30 minutes; they had 62 in the whole K-State game last year.

There are plenty of issues for Texas to work on as it gets ready to head to Dallas for next weekend’s Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma, which was stunned at home Saturday by Iowa State and could plunge out of the Top 10.

“We’ve got good momentum, and there’s a positive energy [amongst the players],” Herman said. “I’ve had numerous players tell me, ‘Coach, this is as close as we’ve been as a team in a long, long time.’ That feels good.”

Is it time for Herman to name Ehlinger the full-time starter?

Yes. However, you have to respect the job incumbent starter Shane Buechele, who is battling an ankle sprain after missing two games with a bruised throwing shoulder, has done for Texas over the past season and the two games in which he has been healthy enough to play this year.

But it also is time to think with your head and not your heart. The Longhorns are a better team with Ehlinger on the field.

Call it moxie, or “ballsy” (which is how running back Warren described Ehlinger), but the proof is in the pudding. Ehlinger’s performance against Kansas State was just the third time in Texas football history that a quarterback has passed for 300 yards and rushed for 100 yards in the same game. Who are the others, you may ask? Colt McCoy in 2009 and Heard in 2015.

“Sam’s a tough kid — not just physically but mentally,” Herman said. “He certainly has room for improvement, but those mistakes he overcomes with tenacity and toughness, and moves on to the next play.”

After the game Herman still was not ready to say Ehlinger would be his starter moving forward.

“I’m not going to think about the decision of who’s going to play quarterback next week until I watch the film and see how healthy Shane is,” Herman said.

“That kid’s a hard-nosed baller,” Texas wide receiver Collin Johnson said of Ehlinger. “He’s a great runner, a great passer and a great teammate. He’s a great leader as well. So, when we come into overtime with him, we feel comfortable and we feed off each other. The offense feeds off of him and he feeds off of the offense as well.”

What was impressive about the Longhorns’ win over Kansas State?

We were impressed with the play of UT’s makeshift offensive line, which did not allow a sack in 51 pass attempts and had no holding penalties while battling one of the Big 12’s top defenses.

The Longhorns already were without All-America left tackle Connor Williams, who could be back late in the season if his injured left knee properly responds to rehabilitation. Then center Zach Shackelford rolled his ankle in practice this week and was ruled out just prior to game time.

Junior Terrell Cuney, who barely has played a meaningful snap in his three years at Texas, replaced Shackelford at center. Denzel Okafor, who Herman challenged to improve at the start of last week’s game preparation, got the start at left tackle ahead of Tristan Nickelson. True freshman Derek Kerstetter made his second consecutive start at right tackle.

“Their chemistry is getting better every day,” Warren said of the offensive line. “They definitely stepped up because three of those guys are playing more than they have played since high school.”

Herman lauded the offensive line as one of the game’s deciding factors.

“Kansas State has a good defensive front. The strengths of the team is its front four and its linebackers,” he said. “To have 546 yards and score 40 points on a team with that kind of defense, you don’t do that without good offensive line play.”

Who was Texas’ star of the game?

Ehlinger was fantastic, while defenders Brandon Jones (a game-high 11 tackles, nine of them solo and a tackle for a loss) and Malik Jefferson (10 tackles, a half-sack and a two tackles for a loss) also made a lot of great plays.

But the nod here goes to wide receiver redshirt freshman receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps, who got the most touches (13, on 12 receptions and a punt return) of his career while picking up the slack for Armanti Foreman, who wasn’t injured but never saw the field against Kansas State.

“When I’m on the field, I feel like I’ve grown up,” Hemphill-Mapps said. “When I redshirted last year it was like taking a year off of football. Playing the game, it’s the ultimate feeling.”

Herman said Hemphill-Mapps continues to improve as he becomes more comfortable with the speed of the college game and in his role within the team.

“Reggie is in the top five of the kids on our team who really loves to play football and who loves to practice — his name is one that pops up into my head at the upper end of that list,” Herman said. “His level of effort and passion for the game has never been an issue.

“It’s keeping him focused on the task at hand and not riding the roller coaster of emotion and being too high when things are good and too low when things are bad. He’s done a good job these last few weeks of maturing.”

What is the Longhorns’ biggest issue right now?

UT’s biggest issue isn’t the offensive line play, or the lack of impact from the running backs, or even the total lack of contribution from the shallow pool of tight ends. The main problems arise from two positions that were perceived as strengths when the season started — consistent play in the secondary and the ability to make field goals.

Kansas State passed for 254 yards and two scores, and the Wildcats likely didn’t even want to pass as much as they did. Simply put, Texas continues to break down in coverage. Schoen’s 82-yard scoring play came on a slant play that wasn’t defended well. That just can’t happen, especially from a unit that is as talented as the Longhorns’ defensive backs.

Rowland’s inconsistency makes every kick an adventure, the last thing with which a team fighting for every possession in a game wants to deal.

“You have to make field goals in Div. I college football,” Herman said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and figure out what happened.”

What’s next for Texas?

Texas needs to work on some issues as it gets ready to head to Dallas next weekend for the AT&T Red River Showdown against Oklahoma, which was stunned at home Saturday by Iowa State and could plunge out of the top 10.

“We have good momentum, and there’s a positive energy [amongst the players],” Herman said. “I’ve had numerous players tell me, ‘Coach, this is as close as we’ve been as a team in a long time.’ That feels good.”

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