Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger didn't exactly light the world on fire Saturday afternoon in the 34-29 loss to Maryland. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound sophomore completed just 53.8 percent of his passes (21 of 39) for 263 yards, two touchdowns and two picks, both of which came in the fourth quarter with the Longhorns down five. Despite that, Ehlinger will remain as the starting quarterback -- at least for now.
Coach Tom Herman was asked Monday if he'd consider inserting former starter Shane Beuchele back into the lineup, and he confirmed that he's sticking with his guy for the time being.
"I don't think now's the time to do that, I really don't," he said. "You start, you're going to wind up in the same situation that you were in last year. We made a decision. I don't think, certainly Sam didn't play perfect, but nobody did, and his errors weren't egregious enough to merit just dumping him on the depth chart."
The primary reason, Herman said, was stability.
"So you're going to -- if you start doing that, you're going to start riding a roller coaster and we've got a tremendous amount of confidence in him, he said. "If we need Shane, we've got a tremendous amount of confidence. By the way, and I told him privately yesterday, and I will tell anybody that wants to listen, you want to talk about a mature, grown man, on the sideline, you should have been on the headset with Shane Buechele coaching the heck out of Sam Ehlinger."
Ehlinger's ability to make things happen on the ground is an asset to a team that has struggled to move the football during Herman's short time in Austin. He rushed for 30 yards against the Terrapins on Saturday, and led the team in rushing with 381 yards and two touchdowns in 2017. Ehlinger and Beuchele split time as the starting quarterback for Herman last year, as the Longhorns fought to a 7-6 record.
Texas hosts Tulsa Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
