Case McCoy or David Ash? Texas Longhorns Need to Pick Their Quarterback

If you have two quarterbacks, then you have no quarterback at all.

That’s the old saying about a college football team that has a rotating quarterback situation.

And that is exactly the situation the Texas Longhorns find themselves in.

When you’re winning games and undefeated, everyone is happy and no one takes issue to the fact that your team continues to rotate snaps under center.

But once you lose, people start to take notice.

After getting manhandled by the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, the Longhorns need to stop splitting snaps between Ash and McCoy and choose one of them to lead the team the rest of the year.

Historically, the two-quarterback approach has rarely worked. Rotating quarterbacks in and out of games affects the team chemistry and leadership on the field.

Receivers can’t establish the same connection, the line doesn't get used to snap counts, and the entire offense has to adjust to something different every time a new quarterback comes onto the field.

Team leadership is also affected when multiple quarterbacks are playing because it negatively impacts the psyche of each player.

If a quarterback knows that he won’t be taken out of the game for making a few mistakes and that he will probably be playing the next series regardless, he’ll be a lot more confident in his ability to establish trust with his team and lead them to victory.

This group of Longhorns isn't like the 2006 Florida national championship team that used the combination of senior Chris Leak and freshman Tim Tebow as their quarterbacks.

On that team, Leak and Tebow both had uniquely different skill sets to offer the team. Leak was a great passer while Tebow was an athletic runner that would also work a lot out of the wildcat formation.

McCoy and Ash are both playing their first season as college quarterbacks and their skills do not complement each other. Both of them can run the ball and pass it and have shown a lot of promise.

But both of them also have a lot of learning to do before they become successful quarterbacks at Texas.

This is not a clear situation where one quarterback has more experience or better statistics than the other. With the exception of the Oklahoma game, both Ash and McCoy played well against BYU and UCLA and had no turnovers.

They have similar statistics this season, with McCoy throwing for 451 yards and two touchdowns, while Ash has thrown for 320 yards and three touchdowns. Both are completing over 60 percent of their passes and, prior to the disastrous Oklahoma game, had committed no turnovers.

Determining whether Ash or McCoy should be the starter the rest of the season is a tough decision, but Mack Brown has to take a chance on one of these quarterbacks moving forward.

It’s the best opportunity the Longhorns have of winning games the rest of the season.