Tag: Chasing Colt

Chasing Colt: Sam Ehlinger inching closer to the Texas Longhorn legend

The latest update on Sam Ehlinger’s chasing Colt McCoy progress. He now sits just 12 touchdowns short of Texas history.

The 2020 college football season heads into it’s final run after this next week. The Texas Longhorns will enjoy their final bye week before preparing for two trips to the state of Kansas and a home game against Iowa State. The Horns are currently in a tie for third place in the standings and have their eyes locked on a Big 12 Championship game appearance.

Current Standings

Team W-L Big 12 W-L
Iowa State 5-2 5-1
Oklahoma State 5-1 4-1
Texas 5-2 4-2
Oklahoma 5-2 4-2
Kansas State 4-3 4-2

While Texas is chasing the top two teams in the conference, their quarterback Sam Ehlinger is chasing someone else. Ehlinger is inching ever so much closer to a record held by Colt McCoy. After two touchdown passes against the West Virginia defense, Ehlinger sits at 120 touchdowns responsible for.

With an average of three touchdowns over the next three games plus the bowl game, Ehlinger will tie Colt. This year through seven games, Ehlinger has 29 touchdowns this year. That breaks down to 4.1 touchdowns per game. It very well could happen if he is able to stay at that pace, however it he has slowed down the last couple games. That could have something to do with playing the top two scoring defenses in the conference.

Next time they take the field it will be a completely different story. Texas will play the worst scoring defense in the conference. Kansas has given up 48.4 points per game this year, 50.2 in conference play. So look for Ehlinger to go out guns blazing against that Jayhawks defense.

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Colt McCoy isn’t the only Longhorns legend that Ehlinger is closing in on as his senior season is coming to a close. With five more touchdown runs this year he will tie the school record for most scoring runs by a quarterback. Vince Young holds the record with 37 and Ehlinger is sitting at 32.

There was another accolade for Sam Ehlinger. After his touchdown pass to Jake Smith, he moved into the top 10 for touchdown passes in Big 12 Conference history. He passed Sam Bradford with his 90th touchdown pass. Ehlinger now just sits outside the top 10 in passing yards. Sam needs just 23 yards to pass former TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin for 10th all time.

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Chasing Colt : Texas QB Sam Ehlinger on pace to break two McCoy records

Texas Longhorns senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger is on pace to catch two more Colt McCoy school records. Another edition of Chasing Colt.

Going into his senior year, Sam Ehlinger was looking up at one name in the school’s record books for the most part. Ehlinger grew up watching Colt McCoy and as his supposed final year draws to a close he is inching towards Texas history. One record that might be too far out of reach is the all-time passing leader in Longhorns history.

McCoy set the mark 13,253 yards in his four years as the signal caller. The original benchmark was set by Major Applewhite at 8,353 yards. Colt also broke Major’s record of touchdown passes. The record now sets at 112 total. Both records are out of reach for Ehlinger without a monster run the rest of the way. He would likely need the Big 12 Championship and a run to the National Championship game to match him.

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Ehlinger became only the second quarterback to 10,000 yards in school history this season. He sits at 10,520 with four games left in the regular season. It could easily be six if the Longhorns run the table and get into the Big 12 Championship game and their eventual bowl game. His current pace would put him at 11,620 yards total. That doesn’t include any postseason games. He would still be 1,633 yards short of the mark.

As of right now, Colt McCoy owns the mark for the most total touchdowns in Texas Longhorns history. Ehlinger is hot on his trails and could snatch that mark from him by season’s end. His current pace would put Sam at 138 total touchdowns and six more than McCoy’s mark. That would be one of many records that Colt still owns.

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The other would be his touchdowns in a single season. During the 2008 season McCoy was responsible for 45 touchdowns. He threw for 34 touchdowns and ran for 11 more during the Longhorns 12-1 season. Ehlinger is on pace to match the mark in three less games. Ehlinger is averaging 4.5 touchdowns per game this year. That puts him at 45 with a potential of two more games to play. Just one storyline to observe the rest of the way.