The Texas Longhorns made the decision to pull Garrett Gilbert against the BYU Cougars.

Gilbert was replaced in the second quarter by a Case McCoy and David Ash tandem after completing only two of eight pass attempts for eight yards and two interceptions.

“If something’s not working, change it,” said Coach Mack Brown. “There were two interceptions, one wasn’t Garrett’s fault, but it was a product of are you moving the ball and are you scoring points? As a staff we said let’s try something else and it doesn’t mean we won’t go back to it.”

Gilbert returned to the field on one drive to a chorus of boos from the fans. But he never once gave up his team.

“I give Garrett a lot of credit, because he was the biggest cheerleader on the sideline, he’s a great young man that wants Texas to win,” said Brown. “he tried to help both of the other quarterbacks. He did it at halftime, he was high fiving people, saying great score before the half, let’s pick it up and go.”

McCoy and Ash combined for 92 passing yards on nine completions of 11 attempts. Ash rushed for an additional 39 yards. Ash even caught a trick pass from receiver Jaxon Shipley for 23 yards.

“…I thought the other two quarterbacks handled the change in gameplan well,” said Brown. “Brian had to go away from everything he had played with Garrett to make it work between the two.”

But one shouldn’t count Gilbert out of this quarterback competition completely. For starters, he did win the starting job, it wasn’t just handed to as others believe from last year. If the offense should stall, the Longhorns may need someone with experiences in adversity to come in and manage a game against a tough opponent.

And one can never forget about the injury. Any given play could take out one of the McCoy/Ash tag team and lead to Gilbert seeing the field again.

Grades:

Garrett Gilbert: D
I’m not going to give Gilbert an F. He was the quarterback who got the win against a much improved Rice team (who defeated Purdue last week). He was a prolific passer at Lake Travis, and he proved he could play well on the NCAA level against Alabama in the National Championship. But something with his psyche has been rattled. Last season weighs heavily on him, and he still doesn’t look like he’s having fun on the field. Any ounce of confidence was completely sapped when DKR booed him mercilessly.

Case McCoy: B
McCoy looked impressive, but I feel the dual quarterback system is both a gift and a curse. The QBs come in refreshed and may have seen a hole in a defensive structure from the sideline, but sometimes it can break a player’s rhythm. But McCoy looked impressive, doing what he was asked to do and completing seven passes. One of them was ill advised into triple coverage, but Shipley managed an excellent catch.

David Ash: B
Ash also looked good, but I stand by argument about the dual system. It’s hard to get a feel on how their play will continue and who will get more snaps. But I want to see more passes from Ash. He was another excellent passer in high school. And yet, most of the game we saw him running the option. While it worked at first, he began to hold the ball one too many times and was swarmed at the line of scrimmage.