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AUSTIN – So, Shane Buechele, how are you feeling?

You’ve had a great start to your Texas career.

You’re completing over 71 percent of your passes, thrown for 524 yards and six touchdowns in two victories. One of them was over the nation’s 10th-ranked team where you played like a seasoned veteran during crunch time.

You’ve got the program off to a 2-0 start for the first time since your freshman year of high school.

You’re the unquestioned starter of the 11th-ranked squad in the country.

Your numbers are on pace to be better than Colt McCoy’s were during the season where he should’ve won the Heisman.

Program legends haven’t been shy about comparing you to perhaps the greatest quarterback to ever live.

You even wear jersey No. 7 because of your dad’s college roommate, family friend John Elway. That’s pretty cool.

Overreaction: Buechele is playing like a Heisman candidate.His stats compare well to 08 Colt thru 2 games.#Staturday pic.twitter.com/36RmYQHOes — Drew Lieberman (@DrewLieberman) September 11, 2016

It feels like you’ve done more in a matter of weeks than the five starting quarterbacks who took snaps between the end of Colt’s run and the start of yours combined accomplished.

But you’ve got another big test this week. You and your teammates will hit the road on Saturday to take on California (9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN), a team coming off of a loss to San Diego State.

It’s a Cal team that’s scheduled you for its home opener. It’s also a group of Golden Bears that claimed an agonizingly painful 45-44 win over Texas last September, so most of your teammates know firsthand they're capable of making the game interesting.

You might hear something about the Rose Bowl in 2004 from some folks in the stands, but don’t worry about that too much. Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch aren’t walking through that door and you were six when that went down anyway.

At any rate, back to the question at hand: how are you feeling?

“It’s another week. You’re just playing somewhere different.”

Really?

That Rose Bowl "snub" Cal fans haven't seemed to let go, the fact that your dad played ball at Stanford or the fact that you and your team represent a chance to salvage something out of the non-conference schedule before the Bears head into Pac-12 play should have the crowd pretty amped.

You sure you won’t be bothered by the crowd noise in your first start on the road?

“I don’t think it should be an issue at all.”

C’mon, Shane. I know you’re confident in yourself and your team. I know you already seem to have a good grip on how to properly pull the trigger the way Sterlin Gilbert wants it done in the veer-and-shoot.

But surely you’ve got to be a little bit nervous about playing on someone else’s field for the first time at this level.

“I’m excited to go out and play somewhere else and see what it’s like.”

Fair enough.

Moving on to other matters, how have things been around campus? People have to know who you are when you walk into a classroom, and I’m going to guess you’ve been stopped to sign an autograph or two during an average day.

“I don’t get around campus too much. I just go to class, leave class.”

That’s cool. Bill Parcells had not being a celebrity quarterback as one of his 11 quarterback commandments. Which, actually, you seem to abide by just about all 11 of them based on the early sample of your play on the Forty Acres.

Good on you for that.

There’s a lot you do well. There’s a lot you’ll need to keep doing well in order for this team to not stumble on the road.

The first three true road games last year were bad. Your teammates who were there will tell you they were unfocused and ill-prepared to play, resulting in losses to Notre Dame, TCU and Iowa State by a combined score of 112-10.

This team has to win on the road if it’s going to build off of this positive start and make it mean something significant. For that to happen you’ve got to keep that calm demeanor you’ve brought to the table through the first two games.

Charlie Strong said he digs that about you. Coach Gilbert said you guys talk about composure and confidence in the quarterback room, but he said being cool, calm and collected comes natural to you.

Isn’t that right, Sterlin?

“We talk about never too high, never too low, always in the middle, but it’s really part of his personality. He’s pretty natural with it.”

Shane? Any response to that?

“I’ve been taught from a young age to not get too big in the moment. Just be comfortable in your situation and if you’re comfortable in what you do you’ll remain calm and it’ll be a fun game for you.”

Sounds good. Scoring 91 points and piling up 933 yards of total offense in two games sounds like a blast.

Back to Cal specifically for a moment. I hope I didn’t pump this game up too much because y’all have a great chance to win. I say that because Cal’s defense is bad.

Cal is allowing >290/yds per game on ground, >30 yds worse than TXTech def #Longhorns faced on Thanksgiving.Foreman & Warren should run wild — Drew Lieberman (@DrewLieberman) September 13, 2016

Seriously, that Mansfield defense you had to move the ball against in the Class 6A playoffs last year was probably more fundamentally sound than the one you’ll see in Berkeley on Saturday night.

I can say that about your opponent when they enter this one ranked 125th nationally in run defense, 107th in total defense and return only two starters from a unit that allowed 650 yards in Austin last season. One of the guys you’ll be throwing passes to, Jerrod Heard, broke Vince Young’s single-game total offense record (527 yards) against a better version — on paper anyway — of the defense you’ll face this weekend.

They’re probably going to throw some crazy looks at you. Likely some stuff you’ve never seen before to try and confuse you because they've got to take some chances.

What do you think about that?

“If they do we just have to be ready for it. It’s just being able to react, seeing what’s going on on the back end and being able to get rid of the ball."

You know want to know something? Your poise, pocket presence, beautiful deep ball, toughness and the way you’ve looked the part and then some has a lot of people excited about you and your future. I’ll be honest, you look like the answer everyone who follows the program has been waiting to see emerge since the guy you worked out with over the summer took his last snap against Alabama in 2010.

Sterlin, is there a flaw here? I don’t see a whole lot wrong with this kid.

“By no means do we have a veteran quarterback. He’s got a lot of room for growth and improvement and he’s really honed in on it.”

Alright, I get that. But he’s already pretty good.

He’s eighth in the country in pass efficiency (188.3), tied for 11th in touchdown passes, 29th in total offense (295.5 yards per game) and he’s got as many 200-yard passing games this season (two) as the offense had all of last year. He completed 81.5 percent of his passes against UTEP (22-of-27) and didn’t commit a single turnover.

That’s gotta count for something, doesn’t it?

“Being able to come up with those kind of numbers at any time means you’re making some good decisions. With him it’s about getting better and continuing to see things, see pictures and knowing where to take the ball.”

Shane, I’m done with the questions.

You should be feeling pretty good. It looks like you’ve got a good handle on this thing.

Just keep doing what you’re doing and you should be fine.

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