A vast majority of the success that the Texas Longhorns have had this season can be directly attributed to the quarterback. Sam Ehlinger is a senior and the leader of the football. While the success can be attributed, could you also make a case that the failures fall on him as well? Based on the game against the Oklahoma Sooners, absolutely. While the defense wasn’t able to slow down the offense in the overtime, the failures in the second and third quarters weren’t helped by Ehlinger.
Going back to the Texas Christian game as well, there were instances where if Ehlinger played a bit better maybe the outcome is different. The loss doesn’t fall directly on the shoulders of Keaontay Ingram’s fumble. The team had ample opportunities to put points on the board and couldn’t come through. While four touchdown passes against a TCU defense should be enough, the untimely penalties and turnovers are to blame as well.
For Ehlinger, the biggest knock on his draft stock has been his ball placement and deep ball accuracy. In the two losses, it has been increasingly noticeable. Throwing beyond 20 yards down the field against the Sooners, Ehlinger was 0/11 with one interception. That came on a pass to Joshua Moore where Woodi Washington climbed the ladder to take away an underthrow pass.
Against the Horned Frogs he was 1/4 with one touchdown and one interception. All in all it hasn’t been good in the losses. We break down the deep passes for Ehlinger in the wins and in the losses.
| Game Result | Deep Left | Deep Middle | Deep Right | Yards | TD-INT |
| Wins | 1/7 | 5/9 | 1/2 | 179 | 3-0 |
| Losses | 0/4 | 1/7 | 0/4 | 45 | 1-2 |
The Longhorns essentially have no deep ball game especially when throwing outside the numbers from their senior quarterback. Ehlinger needs to get better in this aspect if offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich is going to continue calling the deep routes on offense. Overall, Ehlinger has completed just 24.2% of his passes on the throws beyond 20 yards.
It hasn’t just been the deep throws on the outside that have been the issue, Ehlinger also struggles when throwing beyond the sticks. On passes from 10-20 yards, he again hasn’t been able to connect consistently. Another issue when trying to keep drives alive for the offense.
| Left | Middle | Right | Yards | TD-INT |
| 2/6 | 14/21 | 3/8 | 418 | 4-1 |
Most of the damage through the air from 10-20 yards came in the wins against UTEP and Texas Tech.
| Results | Left | Middle | Right | Yards | TD-INT |
| Wins | 1/2 | 6/10 | 2/3 | 194 | 3-0 |
| Losses | 1/4 | 8/11 | 1/5 | 224 | 1-1 |
Throwing behind the line of scrimmage to 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage has never been an issue for Ehlinger. However, if this team wants to win consistently in the conference, the quarterback play needs to be better. There are other instances where the offense can improve but the focus here is on the quarterback throwing the ball.
The full breakdown on Ehlinger
| Distance of throw | Left | Middle | Right | Total | Yards | TD-INT | NFL Passer Rating |
| 20+ | 1/11 | 6/16 | 1/6 | 8/33 | 224 | 4-2 | 69.7 |
| 10-20 | 2/6 | 14/21 | 3/8 | 19/35 | 418 | 4-1 | 123.3 |
| 0-10 | 7/10 | 29/36 | 5/8 | 41/54 | 425 | 6-1 | 127.5 |
| Behind LOS | 9/10 | 16/16 | 6/6 | 31/32 | 144 | 2-0 | 106.3 |