Texas Football: Tyrone Swoopes' Improved Play Reviving Longhorns Bowl Game Hopes

Texas Longhorns fans have gone out of their way to do a play on words off of the 1994 Tag Team song "Whoomp! (There it is)" by changing it to "Swoopes there it is."

Saturday night showed that the fans could be on to something.

Quarterback Tyrone Swoopes led the Longhorns in a late fourth-quarter drive to give Texas its third win of the season.

And he did it in dramatic fashion.

The Texas Longhorns and Iowa State Cyclones were tied 45-45 with 20 seconds left on the game clock. Head coach Charlie Strong was going to let the game go into overtime, but a 28-yard kick return by Roderick Bernard changed Strong's decision.

"Actually I was going to send the game into overtime," Strong said. "I said, 'Hey, let's wait and see how many yards we get on this kickoff return.' Then Hot Rod (Bernard) was able to get the ball out, and I thought, 'Hey, let's go for one.'"

The coach made the correct decision.

Swoopes completed a 39-yard pass to Jaxon Shipley and followed it up with 29-yard completion to John Harris to set up a Nick Rose field goal and give the Longhorns the W.

But Swoopes showed something more than being able to complete passes in crunch-time. His performance proved he can lead the team and may have revived the Longhorns' dwindling bowl chances.

"I go back to spring practice and the spring game and was like, 'Wow, can he play quarterback?' I was going to tell him to move to another position," Strong joked following Saturday's loss. "It's really great and it's great to see that happen for our offense." 

The more the sophomore progresses, the better the chances are that Texas makes it to the postseason.

And Saturday night's performance was a big step in the right direction.

"I had a candid conversation with him at the end of spring," quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson said of Swoopes. "He invested himself this summer, and in training camp he invested himself, and when his opportunity came along, he's grown with us and grown with the team. He's becoming something special right now." 

For the second consecutive week, Swoopes has grown right in the middle of the public eye. He has led his team in a manner that could make Texas fans believe the Swoopes era has officially begun.

And with every step forward, the Longhorns' bowl future looks brighter and brighter.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Taylor Gaspar is Bleacher Report's featured columnist covering the Texas Longhorns. Follow Taylor on Twitter: @Taylor_Gaspar.