OSU Preparing For Ehlinger and Buechele, Ehlinger’s Status Unknown

STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State defense is preparing for two quarterbacks Saturday.

Texas’ starter Sam Ehlinger sprained his AC joint against Baylor two weeks ago, and his status for Saturday is still unknown. Buechele battled in the offseason for the QB1 slot, but Buechele’s action against Baylor after Ehlinger’s injury was the only playing time he has gotten this season.

At his presser Monday, Texas coach Tom Herman said Ehlinger threw about 10 passes with a Nerf ball and about 15 with a regular football Sunday. Herman said Ehlinger usually throws between 75 and 80 balls a day, but the plan was to slowly increase to that number this week.

Herman said he should know if Ehlinger will be able to play Thursday.

“Sam Ehlinger is on schedule from everything I’ve been told,” Herman said. “… There’s a protocol, if you will, for overhead throwers with AC sprains that we want to make sure we adhere to as aggressively as possible without making sure we don’t have any major setbacks that could be lingering.

“If he’s healthy and he’s himself, then certainly he’ll start.”

Buechele went 20-for-34 with 184 yards, a touchdown and an interception after coming in against Baylor.

Ehlinger and Buechele bring slightly differing styles. Ehlinger is thought of more as a runner who can throw, whereas Buechele is a thrower who can, on occasion, run.

Ehlinger is 136-for-207 for 1,534 yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions this season. He has also added six touchdowns on the ground.

OSU defensive tackle Enoch Smith said the Cowboys are gameplanning for both quarterbacks, but OSU coach Mike Gundy said not too much will change.

“The schemes are relatively the same,” Gundy said. “(Buechele) doesn’t run as much as (Ehlinger) does based on, I’m guessing, body structure. (Ehlinger) is a really thick, strong kid, so they seem to have more designed runs for him than with (Buechele). Little bit of difference, but not a lot. We’re not gonna know who’s going to play would be my guess, so we have to do the best job we can to try to get ready for both styles.”

Herman said there won’t be any overarching change to the playbook if Buechele has to play.

“I think our offense, it’s very easy to plug and play,” Herman said. “It’s not like we carry in a gameplan only these plays when Sam’s our quarterback and only these plays when Shane’s our quarterback. Now, would you major in some more than others when one guy is in vs. the other? Yeah.”

Herman said he talked to Ehlinger throughout the bye week on the importance of Ehlinger communicating any pain he is in. With Ehlinger’s bruiser style, he’s going to take some pops if he plays Saturday.

“If he’s playing, he’s going to get hit, regardless,” OSU defensive end Jordan Brailford said. “We’re going to do a good job trying to keep him contained and hopefully get some good shots in on him.”