Herman, Longhorns go a long way in solving identity problem

DALLAS — From a seated position on the training table inside the pop-up medical tent Texas uses for quick sideline examinations, it is impossible for a person to see the Cotton Bowl bleachers or the field of play.

But if a patient stands up, as Sam Ehlinger kept insisting on doing while Saturday’s wild Red River tussle hung in the balance, he can peek through a gap in the synthetic material and at least tell which side of the stadium is cheering.

Freshman legacies

If Ehlinger never had seen the interior of that tent, things might have turned out differently on a day Oklahoma won 29-24. There were no guarantees, of course, but with every savvy move and every absurdly poised throw, the kid was venturing closer to the legacies of Peter Gardere, James Brown, Colt McCoy and all of the other UT freshmen who refused to blink the first time they faced the Sooners.

Then his helmet slammed into the ground, and he wobbled on the way up. Trainers forced him into the tent, and team physician Dr. James Bray kept telling him to sit down. When Bray asked him to count backward from 100 by sevens, he just about lost it.

“I’m good!” Ehlinger said he told Bray. “93! Come on!”

The Longhorns’ hopes for an upset might well have perished on that training table.

By the time Ehlinger passed the tests necessary to convince UT’s staff he had not been concussed, his less-mobile backup had taken a sack, and Ehlinger returned to the field facing a second-and-17.

That turned out to be the one jam Ehlinger could not dance his way out of Saturday. But later, when a reporter voiced concern about whether he had been dazed by the hit, Ehlinger wanted to make one thing clear.

“I wasn’t ever confused about where I was, at all,” Ehlinger said.

And for perhaps the first time in seven years, the Longhorns shouldn’t be, either.

There are no moral victories in the UT-OU rivalry, and neither Ehlinger nor coach Tom Herman tried to claim one Saturday evening. This was the second time in a month they had an opportunity to pull off a monumental, program-defining victory over a national powerhouse, and it was the second time in a month they couldn’t quite do it. Eventually, they will need to win a few of these before anyone buys in to the all-too-familiar hype about UT being “back.”

Team goals become clear

But as they left the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns had a sense of clarity about three subjects that had been mysteries since their long, agonizing descent began in September 2010: They know who they are.

They have a pretty good idea about where they are going.

And at long last, they know how they intend to get there.

For most of the second decade of the 21st century, the Longhorns have been a program caught between denial and self-delusion, never quite accepting how far they had fallen or what exactly they needed to do to get back up.

By the end of Mack Brown’s tenure, he had refused to believe there was a problem. Charlie Strong understood the program’s shortcomings better than anyone, but he never could make up his mind on a solution.

But Strong was not entirely wrong when he said UT’s cake just needed a little icing. This team was humiliated by Maryland, yes, but it also was almost good enough to beat USC, OU and just about anyone else.

And now, in Ehlinger, Herman has what his predecessors lacked. No program in today’s era of college football can win with uncertainty at quarterback, and uncertainty has been UT’s most consistent starter since 2010.

So even in losing Saturday, the Longhorns might have had a breakthrough.

No confusion now

After the game, for the first time, Herman suggested Ehlinger had proved enough to keep the starting job even if Shane Buechele is healthy.

“I’ve seen everything I need to see from Sam Ehlinger,” Herman said.

If he had been able to see three more plays from him Saturday, Herman might have ended the day in a much better mood.

We never will be certain what would have happened if Ehlinger had not stepped into that medical tent.

But he insisted he never was confused about who he was. And if his program can say the same, well, that’s at least a start.