Texas, Charlie Strong's Future Riding on the Legs and Arm of Jerrod Heard

The hot seat rumors around Charlie Strong quieted down this week, even after a blowout loss to TCU and some Twitter controversies.

On Saturday, his Texas team flat-out silenced that chatter with a 24-17 upset victory over undefeated No. 10 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. 

The huge rivalry win was led by the two figures that will ultimately determine Strong's future successes with the Longhorns—an aggressive young defense and redshirt freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard.

With the defense clamping down on a high-powered Sooners attack, Heard paved the way for Texas on offense with strong running and efficiency on his few chances through the air.

The freshman was second on the team in rushing attempts and yardage Saturday, finishing with 115 yards. Ten of his 21 carries against the Sooners went for first downs.

Heard combined with former starter Tyrone Swoopes, who scored two touchdowns in a highly successful power package, to create a deadly rushing attack against Oklahoma.

According to Guerin Emig of the Tulsa World, Heard and his teammates had a more successful performance on the ground Saturday than Vince Young had 10 years ago against a young Oklahoma defense:

For Heard, the win over Oklahoma showcased the improvement he's made in just a few games. 

He had already played in a few high-profile games for Texas, but none was bigger than the matchup against Oklahoma—the early kickoff between college football blue-bloods that always commands national attention.

LM Otero/Associated Press

And even though it was only his second victory as the Longhorns starting quarterback, Heard played like the winner Texas knew it was getting when he signed with the program last year.

After all, the former 4-star won back-to-back state championships in high school. On Saturday, Heard did what an in-state star quarterback is supposed to do in Texas—lead the Longhorns to big wins.

Heard didn't get rattled and didn't turn the ball over against an attacking Oklahoma defense. Although his biggest pass of the day was essentially a forward handoff to Marcus Johnson that went for a touchdown, Heard had his best performance in terms of pass accuracy all season with eight completions on 11 attempts.

The freshman's final passing stat line won't blow anyone away on first glance, but it did the job as he and the Longhorns excelled on the ground.

More importantly, it showed tremendous calm and leadership for a young quarterback playing in his first rivalry game against Oklahoma. As Wescott Eberts of Burnt Orange Nation noted, Heard especially came through for Texas on the final drive of the game.

"Heard managed the game beautifully down the stretch and iced the game with a key 14-yard run to help run the final 3:33 off the clock, setting off a wild and deserved celebration that featured a Gatorade bath for Strong and a brief stint crowd surfing on the shoulders of his ecstatic players," Eberts wrote.

Over the last few weeks, through all the challenges and frustrations facing this Texas program, Heard has become an emotional leader for a team that needed one.

He's improving week by week as a starting quarterback and a key figure for this transitioning Longhorn offense. By doing just that, he's proving that Strong and his staff made the right choice by hitching their collective wagons to Heard.

"Saturday provided the most resounding, positive answer of Strong's tenure, going well beyond the final score," Sports on Earth's Kyle Kensing wrote. "Look at which Longhorns stepped up: one underclassmen after another... Heard, a redshirt freshman, ran the offense with veteran poise."

The move to Heard wasn't necessarily the easier decision for Texas, as Swoopes had the experience edge a young team could lean on in 2015.

But the Longhorns went with the exciting potential of Heard and still found a way to keep Swoopes involved in the offense.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

As a freshman, Heard will continue to improve in several areas throughout the rest of the season and lead the Longhorns in the fight to get to a bowl game that the senior class desperately wants.

Saturday's performance for Heard was something the entire Texas program can build on for the rest of 2015 and beyond. 

One big game in an upset performance doesn't define an entire season, but it should turn a lot of things around for Strong.

Game statistics courtesy of StatBroadcast. Unless otherwise noted, other statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.