The 411 on the first week of college football in Texas

[caption id="attachment_25110" align="alignright" width="350"]DCIM103GOPRO Photo by Diana Porter[/caption] How was that for an opening weekend? Texas FBS teams went 10-2 to start the season, and one of those wins came at the expense of one of those losses. It was a good weekend. Let’s take a look at the 4-1-1 in college football with four observations, one question and one prediction. Four Observations#HTownTakeover The talk of the college football world is stationed in Third Ward. Tom Herman’s Cougars earned the signature win they needed to make a push towards a berth in the College Football Playoff. Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. was impeccable on third down. The defense settled in as the game went on and the special teams created an important touchdown. It was the perfect start to the season for Houston and no program enters Week 2 with more momentum. Huge weekend for smaller schools 2015 was forgettable for the G5 programs not coached by Herman. Rice took one on the chin against Conference USA favorite Western Kentucky, but it was a good weekend for the other programs. SMU won a road game and covered the spread against North Texas. Everett Withers started his tenure in San Marcos (well, Athens) with a triple-overtime victory over favored Ohio. UTSA started the Frank Wilson era with a win. UTEP welcomed Aaron Jones back in a win over New Mexico State. Add in Houston’s win over Oklahoma and it was a banner weekend for G5 programs in the state. The Aggies showed this could be a special year Texas A&M’s defense is good enough to win the SEC. I repeat, Texas A&M’s defense is good enough to win the SEC. The issue becomes offense. Oklahoma transfer Trevor Knight grew into the game and scored the winning touchdown in overtime to beat UCLA, but it was the Aggies' defense that stole the show. The defensive line is stellar and the secondary is emerging. If the linebackers can duplicate the performance against UCLA, only the offense is holding Kevin Sumlin’s team back from competing in a slumping SEC. The Horns are a threat again Texas completed a dominant weekend for the state of Texas. The Longhorns made Texas 10-2 in Week 1, with one of those losses coming to an in-state opponent. Charlie Strong cemented himself as the head coach of the Longhorns, erasing any doubt about the direction of the program in the double-overtime win. In the process, Texas might have found the first competent two-quarterback system in recent memory. The defense is a concern, but Texas looked as good as any Big 12 team in the opening week. One Question Is the TCU defense as bad as it showed in a win against South Dakota State? With Oklahoma not looking like future champions in a game against Houston, TCU could have become the favorite to win the conference with an inspiring effort at home against the Jackrabbits. Quarterback Kenny Trill and the offense put up the points, but Gary Patterson’s defense showed no improvement from 2015. That’s a bad sign for the Horned Frogs moving forward. Luckily, TCU escaped with a win and has time to right the mistakes. One Prediction Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes will own the single-season total yards record in the Big 12 by breaking the 6,000 yard mark before he leaves Lubbock. Mahomes’ 2015 season of 5,109 total yards ranks third all-time in the Big 12 behind B.J. Symons (5,976) in 2003 and Graham Harrell (5,614) in 2007. Mahomes is on pace after one game, passing for 483 yards and rushing for 57 in a win over SFA. He accounted for four touchdowns.

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