Prior to the Alamo Bowl game the Texas Longhorns and Tom Herman decided to go a different route on offense. Tim Beck was the offensive coordinator but he was reassigned and ultimately left to join the North Carolina State football team as their new offensive coordinator. The offense proceeded to score three points above their average for that game.
Arrival of Mike Yurcich
During the offseason the team decided to go with former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. He was coming off a one-year run at Ohio State as the passing game coordinator and quarterback coach for the Buckeyes. That explosive offense averaged close to 47 points per game. Yurcich is on record stating that their goal is 45 points per game. The Longhorns finished with 35.2 in 2019.
The @Big12Conference is known for their offenses–and the newest offensive coordinator for @TexasFootball is no stranger to the league.@CoachYurcich told @Sportsiren, @Plankshow & @GabeIkard what it'll take for the Longhorns to win this season #HookEm pic.twitter.com/ArDgkUIPvB
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) May 28, 2020
That is bold goal for Yurcich and the offense. During his time with Oklahoma State, he only hit that number once. In 2017, the Cowboys averaged 45 points per game. They finished third in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma and Texas Christian.
At Ohio State, Yurcich coached Justin Fields who accounted for 51 touchdowns and 3,757 yards of total offense. Now it is important to point out that no one is expecting Sam Ehlinger to be Justin Fields. However, in an apples to apples comparison Ehlinger accounted for 39 total touchdowns and 4,326 yards of total offense.