Texas QB Sam Ehlinger Thinks Fans Would Be 'Pretty Happy' with 7 or 8-Win Season

Texas football fell to 7-5 following a 24-10 loss at Baylor on Friday. The defeat ended a disappointing regular season after the Longhorns started the year ranked 10th in the Associated Press preseason poll. 

After the game, Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger provided an optimistic outlook on the team's year.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Ehlinger said per Jim Vertuno of the Associated Press. "If you had told Texas fans three years ago that we would have seven wins and headed to a bowl game and had a chance to win eight, I think people would be pretty happy...Overall, we did a great job."

Texas finished 5-7 three years ago, a campaign that marked the end of former head coach Charlie Strong's three-year tenure.

Strong went 16-21 in three seasons, and Tom Herman took over in 2017. A 7-6 campaign started the ex-Houston head coach's Longhorns era before Texas went 10-4, finished ninth in the Associated Press poll and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl last year.

After that win, Ehlinger told the Sugar Bowl crowd that Texas football was "back."

It sure seemed like it following the impressive victory, and the Longhorns rode that momentum into 2019.

However, Texas struggled to a 7-5 season, with its defeats coming by an average of eight points. The Longhorns also nearly lost to a 3-8 Kansas team at home before eventually winning 50-48.

Texas is bowl-eligible this season by virtue of hitting the six-win mark. Still, most Texas fans are used to winning 10-plus games a year and earning a prestigious bowl bid.

Under former head coach Mack Brown, Texas won 10 or more games from 2001-2009 and took home the 2005 BCS National Championship over USC.

The Longhorns won seven bowls during that span and also made the 2009 BCS National Championship, which ended in a loss to Alabama.

The 2010s have not been kind to Texas, however, with the team winning just 10 games once (last year). The Longhorns have only won eight or more games four times and have missed out on bowl season on three occasions.

Compared to the rest of the decade, Texas was around its par for the 2010s this season. However, Longhorns fans wanting more have been left disappointed.