Sam Ehlinger had his worst game against TCU last year. Can the Frogs rattle him again?
Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger had a forgettable day when he faced TCU last season. He completed less than half his passes and threw a career-high four interceptions.
Ehlinger had thrown just three interceptions in the Longhorns’ first seven games before his struggles in Fort Worth in a 37-27 loss.
But TCU isn’t banking on last year’s success when it travels to No. 9 Texas on Saturday. The Frogs know Ehlinger will be determined to redeem himself against a defense that caused him so many issues a year ago.
“I don’t know if we got him out of his game,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “They still scored close to 30 points. The bottom line is try to find a way to win, score one more and hold them to one less. In this league, it’s always been that way. That’s never going to change.
“We were fortunate in a couple situations. We got up on them, so they had to take some chances. You have to give credit to our kids, they played well and did some things and made some plays.”
Ehlinger’s first interception came on the heels of a TCU interception in the first quarter. Frogs linebacker Garret Wallow got the ball back deep in Texas territory, although the Frogs had to settle for an early game-tying field goal to make it 3-3.
The next three interceptions by Ehlinger came in the second half by TCU safeties Ar’Darius Washington, Trevon Moehrig and Innis Gaines. Washington’s pick set up a TCU TD drive that gave them a 27-20 lead in the third quarter. Moehrig’s led to a field goal drive to make it a two-possession game (30-20) early in the fourth quarter. And Gaines’ sealed the victory with less than a minute left.
But, as Moehrig said this week about facing Ehlinger and Texas again, “It’s a new game.”
Yes it is.
TCU’s defense got off to a slow start in the season-opening loss to Iowa State on Saturday, allowing big plays and more than 200 yards rushing. This is a Frogs defense that is replacing its best defensive tackle (Ross Blacklock) and top two cornerbacks (Jeff Gladney and Julius Lewis) from last season.
Texas, meanwhile, has shown offensive firepower early on this season. The Longhorns routed UTEP 59-3 in the season opener, and then had a 63-56 overtime victory at Texas Tech last Saturday.
As Patterson quipped when asked about Texas’ offense this week, “They scored 60 points. … That pretty much says it all.”
Added Moehrig: “They’ve got some really good receivers, some really good backs that we’ve seen. Of course the QB, Sam Ehlinger, is a really good quarterback, so they’re pretty loaded everywhere. We’ve got to match up and execute and do our job.”
Credit Texas’ early-season offensive success to Ehlinger. He’s completed over 70% of his passes for 688 yards with 10 touchdowns and just one interception.
But TCU is hoping to derail that fast start on Saturday.
“It’s a big game. It’s an exciting game,” Moehrig said. “Anytime we play Texas it’s going to be a fun game. But I think the key is just executing as a defense and eliminating big plays and making the offense uncomfortable, just like we did last year.
“It’s a new game, but we’ve just got to come fully prepared.”
