Texas Football: 3 takeaways from big-time win over TCU in Week 4

Texas football hosted TCU in a Big 12 battle to help determine which side would remain in the conference title hunt. Here is what we learned.

Texas and TCU battled in a back-and-forth thriller in Austin, with the Longhorns pulling away for a 31-16 victory with 21 unanswered points in the second half. The Longhorns will almost certainly be ranked in the AP Top 25 this week after the big victory at home, and they are beginning to return to prominence once more after several seasons in the doldrums.

The Longhorns slowly pulled away from TCU thanks to a deceptively good day from Sam Ehlinger. He finished 22-of-32 for 255 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and avoided any turnovers on the day. The offense punched in two rushing touchdowns even as they found it hard to gain much ground on any single carry. But they persisted, punching back with every TCU stop until the Horned Frogs were worn down defensively.

It was an impressive performance by a team coming off a big non-conference win over defending Pac-12 champion USC the week before. Tom Herman’s team could see its stock rise in a big way this weekend once polls are released on Sunday.

What did we learn otherwise from the defensive showdown in the Lone Star State on Saturday afternoon? Here are three things to take away from the big victory by Tom Herman’s crew in Week 4.