AUSTIN — It seems like light years ago when Texas lost to Maryland in the season opener.
The Longhorns rebounded by narrowly defeating Tulsa in the home opener, but they made a comeback. The Texas Longhorns are currently on a five-game winning streak and a Golden Hat trophy clinching moment in Dallas. These are all signs of significant progress according to Texas quarterback, Sam Ehlinger.
"We're continuing to get better and the only thing stopping us is ourselves in certain situations," said Ehlinger.
All of the success the Longhorns have experienced this young season so far may not have happened if they were not all in. Literally, in the sense of "all in," in the form of a poker chip.
"One chip every practice. If you don't live up to each practice, you don't earn a chip," said defensive back, B.J. Foster.
This is a motivational idea by Tom Herman and his coaching staff, which began after the Maryland loss.
"Either you're going to give it all you got or you're not going to play. That's what he told us," said Foster.
It is motivation through poker chips.
"I guess just have a visual picture of actually being all in," said defensive back Brandon Jones.
The process of earning poker chips begins on Sundays.
"To earn your chips that we get on game day, you have to get through practice, watch film, etc.," said defensive back Caden Sterns.
Before each game, the Longhorn sit down at an imaginary poker table and turn in poker chips to show that they're all in.
"We turn them (poker chips) in every game day just to show we're going all in," said receiver Lil' Jordan Humphrey.
They're "all in" for a hand to beat Baylor Saturday. The game is set to kick off in Austin at 2:30 p.m.