And so ends the Garrett Gilbert era.

One play in the first quarter Saturday summed up his career at Texas, and frankly should end it.

Late in the first quarter David Ash replaced Gilbert as Longhorn Head coach Mack Brown wanted to give his young quarterbacks some real game experience. Texas moved the ball well from their own 3 yard-line up to the 50 after a terrific catch and run by D.J Monroe.

Ash called a time-out and ran to sideline. Gilbert came in, called a deep pass and threw an interception into coverage. It was his second interception of the quarter and it was ugly.

Gilbert returned the next series, went 3 plays and out, losing one yard. Texas punted, Gilbert never returned. His box score? 2 completions in 8 pass attempts for 8 yards—and 2 interceptions. Ouch.

As much as it must hurt Longhorn Head coach Mack Brown, a man known for his loyalty to his veteran players, it must be done. Gilbert simply just doesn’t have what it takes to lead this team.

Gilbert does not lack talent; he lacks the leadership skills necessary to win at this elite level.

Listen to wide receiver Jaxon Shipley talk about second-string quarterback Case McCoy after the game, “When Case came in, I think, he played a real leadership role for us. He immediately came into the huddle and was pumping us up and telling us to trust him, and that he was going to lead us down and deliver a victory. I think there was just a lot of energy that he brought in. As you can tell he played a great game. He's a great leader for us.”

You won’t hear players saying that about Gilbert.

The storyline against BYU was one of youth. McCoy to Shipley (still sounds good doesn’t it?), Ash to Monroe, Malcolm Brown leading the team in rushing… again; most of those guys are freshmen (with the exception of McCoy, a sophomore who saw the field only a handful of times last year and D.J. Monroe who has a chapter of the playbook devoted to special plays for him) and if the Longhorns are to return to greatness, it will be on their offensive backs.

Malcolm Brown again proved he is the future of the Texas running game. The Longhorn coaching staff will have some explaining to do if he is not named the number one tailback next week and doesn’t get the ball at least 20 times. The kid is exciting, strong and makes everyone around him better.

Brown said early in the season, he would play the guys who give the team the best chance to win, no matter their name, no matter their seniority. Now is the time for Brown to prove it. He needs to bench Gilbert and move Senior Fozzy Whitaker to second-string, starting Malcolm Brown at tailback.

Let’s not leave out some accolades for the defense. After getting punched hard in the first half, they held BYU to just 43 yards rushing and shut down their passing game.

The defense has their nasty back.

Here’s how I saw Texas goal accomplishment:

• Play under control. Overconfidence clearly was not a problem. The young team has gained a quiet confidence, and their understanding of the new offensive and defensive schemes grows every week.
• Keep the offense balanced. Texas didn’t need to. The Longhorns gained 166 yards on the ground. When the run game is working that well, you stay with it. Case McCoy by the way showed the same uncanny accuracy his brother had. McCoy completed 7 of his 8 passes for 57 yards.
• Don’t get carried away with trickery. The offense lined up in Wildcat a couple of times and Jaxon Shipley threw a pass, but other than that this was a hard-nosed, win it in the trenches football game. The offensive and defensive lines both dominated. And Texas ran the ball well.

Here’s how the statistical keys to the game turned out:

• Run the ball at least 40 times. Give Malcolm Brown the ball 24 times and average over 4.5 yards per carry. Texas ran the ball 43 times. Brown got 14 carries and again led the team in rushing with 71 yards. He averaged almost 5 yards per carry.
• Allow Gilbert to throw deep at least six times and keep him off of the ground (no more than one sack). Well, not so much. Gilbert threw deep once and was intercepted. Gilbert may be dropping on the depth chart this week. No Longhorn QB was sacked, big kudos to the O-line.
• Defensive dominance.Sack BYU’s Jake Heaps three times. Do not allow more than one big play beyond 20 yards. The defense only sacked Jake Heaps once, but they were in his face all day forcing him to hurry his passes 4 times, and they shut down the BYU run game. They allowed only two plays o fmore than 20 yards, both in the first quarter. Texas dominated.
• Win the turnover battle. Get at least two, do not lose any. The Texas defense intercepted Heaps twice. But BYU intercepted Gilbert twice in the first quarter. Awful. Call it even, but Texas must do more to get the ball away from opposing offenses.

Texas travels next week to Los Angeles to play UCLA a team that owns Texas. The schedule sets up well for the Horns, playing teams of increased difficulty and heading on the road early. Texas does not need to beat UCLA, they simply need to play well, and keep it close. A win of course would put Texas on a path to success this season that no one expected.