Charlie Strong Must Rethink Texas QB Situation After Tyrone Swoopes' Game vs TCU

AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Longhorns had the opportunity to finish November undefeated, but fell 38 points short to No. 5 TCU on Thanksgiving. The 48-10 loss looks bad on paper, but the bigger issue for Texas was the regression of quarterback Tyrone Swoopes. 

Some may label it as unfair, but the quarterback position will almost always receive too much praise when a team wins and too much criticism in losses.

Because of that, Swoopes will receive a lot of the criticism for the Longhorns' loss to TCU, and the blame is not unwarranted.

The sophomore quarterback was responsible for five turnovers (four interceptions, one fumble) in the loss. Those led to half of the Horned Frogs' points and are cause for speculation on Swoopes' future.

All season, head coach Charlie Strong and quarterback coach Shawn Watson have been slow to openly discuss the Longhorns' quarterback woes.

But the coaches had a different message Thursday night.

"I just told him he has to play. You can't turn the football over. You can't get down on yourself. It's all about his demeanor," Strong said following the loss. "I said the only way we're going to drive the football, we're going to score, is you have to make it happen, and you have to play well. And he didn't—didn't make it happen tonight, just too many turnovers."

Strong went on to say he considered benching Swoopes but couldn't because the Longhorns don't have any other viable options under center.

And that's where the real problem begins.

Texas has two scholarship quarterbacks on campus: Swoopes and true freshman Jerrod Heard. Some people may question why the coaches did not give Heard a chance to take the field, but Watson has constantly said Heard is still learning and needs a redshirt season to develop.

Swoopes is therefore the only option Texas has, but that needs to change for the future.

"We've had a hand dealt us that we're playing with," Watson said. "That's what we were hired to come here and fix. When we got here, we haven't been able to impact the position in recruiting yet. We'll be able to do that now. So the big first step is to get competition in here."

The coaches were not dealt the most ideal hand when they took over at Texas. And to be fair, Swoopes is in fact a backup quarterback who has admitted he never expected to be the starting quarterback for Texas.

But it doesn't dismiss what happened on Thanksgiving.

Chris Covatta/Getty Images

Yes, Swoopes is young and yes, he's learning on the job, but turning the ball over five times is unacceptable for any player. And the sophomore understands his performance will not win him the job next season.

"It's unacceptable for a team to have five turnovers, especially coming from one person," Swoopes said. "It's not good and it doesn't put your team in the position to win. It was a tough day. I wasn't able to get out of the funk we got in and it didn't end well."

Swoopes has been up and down during his first season as the Longhorns' signal-caller. There were games when he looked like he had the "it" factor, then other times when he was the polar opposite.

Thursday's performance was his worst of the season and was further evidence how turnovers can destroy a team's chances of winning games.

In his six losses this year, Swoopes threw six touchdowns and eight interceptions. In his five wins as the starting quarterback, he threw seven touchdowns and two interceptions. 

He needs to show progress in leaps and bounds if he wants to be the quarterback of the future for Texas.

"When you do go out to recruit, guys have to understand that what is expected of this program, the expectations here, the standards here, the pride, tradition, it's all a part of it," Strong said. "That's what it's always going to be about. Some guys may not like it. They may not want to be here. That's fine. But we gotta get this program back to where it needs to and it's going to happen. We'll get it back there."

Thursday's game could be the icing on the cake for the Horned Frogs to secure a coveted spot in the College Football Playoff and could very well be the final time Swoopes starts a game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. 

There is a lot of unknown revolving around the future of the Texas quarterback, but one thing is certain, Swoopes' job will be up for grabs in 2015. 

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