Texas put Sam Ehlinger in the game against Oklahoma, and he looked great. Granted, they have a lot of work to do, but the plan with Ehlinger should be fairly simple. He can do three very big things that will make him the perfect leader for this team going forward, and Tom Herman can get around all the problems with personnel that he had at the beginning of this season.
Why now?
I think Tom Herman should get a lot of credit for knowing that he had to make a change. He changed to the right person, and he had that kid ready to go. It was perfect, and it made so much more sense for him to do it when he knew that he was losing.
He gave the fans a reason to think that he was trying really hard to win, and it worked out because Ehlinger looked amazing. You might be disappointed that he did not win the game, but that was deinfinitely a debut. Literally every other part of the team needs work, but now Ehlinger can be the leader this team needs.
The leadership aspect
I would tell Ehlinger that this is his team. There is no turning back, and I would tell him to do everything. I would give him free reign to lead this team, and I would wait to see how good he could be by the end of the season. If he can get these guys to follow him, you are going to have almost an entire year of this kid running the program. That is what you need because you can then get this kid to do all the heavy lifting that is required in the huddle.
The team will do what he says, and he will help make everyone better. It will be the Jordan effect, and it will work.
Bending the offense
I would immediately make the offense more conducive to what this kid does well. He is obviously a very good player, and you just need to make sure that he is happy with it. That does not mean you let him dictate the offense, but you make sure that he is comfortable running it.
You have clearly landed on something good, and you will be able to get the offense to be much more efficient by even the end of the season. You can do that right now so that you do not have to wait until next year. You then have all the buzz and the press for the kid to get on the Heisman short list, and you will get a decent ranking to start the season because people think that you can actually be good.
We will forget how this season started, and then we will have a new Texas team that can actually perform.
Texas has found the answer, and they do not have to find offensive pieces. They can fix their defense, and they can pick up offensive linemen for next year.
