Longhorns vs TCU Post-Game 5 Questions

Five Questions – TCU

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

Has carrying the Longhorns worn down Sam Ehlinger?

Ehlinger will be the first to tell you that UT’s success has been accomplished by the whole squad, and we all know the game is a team sport. But it already has been proven that Ehlinger has to play well for Texas to win, and when he doesn’t — and he didn’t against the Horned Frogs in Saturday’s 37-27 Texas loss in Fort Worth — the chances of a UT victory decrease.

“We got a lot to work on,” Ehlinger said. “We got to come together after a loss like this.”

Sam Ehlinger on being mentioned alongside other legendary UT quarterbacks from The Jim Rome Show on Vimeo.

Ehlinger finished with 321 yards and two touchdowns passing and ran — it was actually scrambling, rather than designed running plays — for another 43 yards, totals that usually would have been more than enough to lead Texas past TCU.

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But then there were the four interceptions, a career high for Ehlinger, and his sudden knack to force balls into tight windows deep in his own territory.

“They didn’t do anything exotic or cut anybody loose,” Ehlinger said afterward about the TCU defense. “They did a good job of bringing pressure but also being balanced and making it difficult for our guys to get open.”

Ehlinger moved up the list of the team record books with his two touchdown passes against TCU. He passed Vince Young for the second-most total touchdowns in school history. After Saturday, Ehlinger has now accounted for 82 in his career.

Who was the Longhorns’ best player against TCU?

That would be wide receiver Devin Duvernay, who had eight catches for a career-high 173 yards and a 47-yard touchdown. Through eight games, Duvernay has caught 69 passes for 800 yards and seven touchdowns; his receptions and receiving yards are the most for a Longhorn through eight games in school history.

Duvernay is only the second Texas receiver in the past 20 years to record at least 700 yards through eight games; the other was Jordan Shipley, who had 777 yards through eight games in 2008.

Texas also got a great game from wide receiver Collin Johnson, who hauled in seven passes for 101 yards.

Those performances were needed as receiver Brennan Eagles, normally a starter for the Longhorns, was suspended for missing Tuesday’s practice for personal reasons, Herman confirmed afterward. Eagles was in uniform but would not have played unless there was an emergency.

“The right thing to do when you miss a practice around here is not go in the game,” Herman said.

The TCU game marked the first time this season that Texas boasted two 100-yard receivers. “We need everybody — that’s what Coach (Herman) always tells us,” Duvernay said of Eagles’ suspension. “That was a pretty big shot we took when that happened.”

Why couldn’t Texas stop the Horned Frogs?

Well, here’s another question: Why can’t the Longhorns stop anybody?

Yes, Texas, which has lost five of its last six games against TCU, has suffered a series of injuries to its top-drawer defensive backs that has forced unproven players into the mix against some really good playmakers, and that has taken its toll, and yes, we all knew during the preseason that one of the questions the Longhorns would need to answer was about their ability to build quality depth and develop playmakers on defense after the team lost eight starters from 2018.

“Right now, we’re not good,” Herman said afterward. “We need to be better, and we’ve got to do a better job as coaches to coach the guys that are out there. We gotta get them ready to play. We got to make plays and put them in position to do so.”

Herman was asked Saturday if he still has confidence in defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and was quick to say “yes.”

“These things don’t happen by calling magic defenses or magic offenses,” Herman said. “They happen by coming to work every day as coaches, giving everything we have to our players, teaching them, putting them in the right position to make plays.”

The Texas defense has allowed 30 points or more points in five straight games, including 119 points over the past three contests.

Losing, and playing defense the way the Longhorns have been doing this season, hurts. Just ask defensive tackle Keondre Coburn, who was holding back tears on his way off the field Saturday.

“I hate losing,” he said afterward. “I feel like we worked so hard to be on that field, and then to come out with an ‘L,’ the tears have to come.”

[See Don Bender’s Amazing Field-Level Photos]

What was the biggest factor in UT’s loss?

The Longhorns didn’t take advantage of several opportunities the Horned Frogs gave them.

• Kicker Cameron Dicker missed a field goal after forcing a fumble on a TCU kickoff.
• Defensive lineman Malcolm Roach whiffed on a would-be sack in the first half that could have resulted in a safety, which would have given the Longhorns two points and put a lot of doubt in TCU’s minds,
• UT was forced to kick field goals on two trips to the red zone.

And then there were the four Ehlinger interceptions, which exceeded by one the quarterback’s entire total over the first seven games.

“You’re not going to win a game on the road turning over the ball four times and not scoring touchdowns in the red zone,” Herman said. “(TCU) is by far the best defense in our conference. I thought we played fairly well in the first half, but we didn’t put our guys in great position in the second half. Our defense was put into too bad a position too many times and wore down.”

What’s next for the Longhorns?

Texas will get a much-needed week off before finishing the regular season with games at home Nov. 9 against Kansas State, on the road Nov. 16 against Iowa State and Nov. 23 at No. 14 Baylor, and then back home against Texas Tech on Black Friday.

It could be a November to remember … or one to forget.

“When you don’t perform at your best, you know, you’re disappointed,” Herman said. “There’s no set back here. We’ve got to push more, and we’ll figure out what we did wrong. We’re going to get guys healthy, and we’ve got to get back to work.”

The Longhorns are expected to get safeties Caden Sterns, B.J. Foster and DeMarvion Overshown, linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch and maybe running back Jordan Whittington back for the Kansas State game.

“We need the bye week because we have been playing football for four weeks straight now, and it takes a toll on your body,” Coburn said. “We will rest, get our bodies healed and get some players back that we actually need back.”

Right now, the Longhorns need all hands on deck to right the ship and for the team to play to its potential.

“There’s not a coach on the staff that’s going to allow any kind of wallowing or self-pity,” Herman said, “and a really cool thing is, I think our leaders and our older guys are at the forefront of that. There are no excuses. We’ve got a lot of football left ahead of us.”

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