Did anyone expect North Texas to be THIS good? Five questions that have to be asked after college football Week 11

Show of hands, who had Seth Littrell as Texas' top G5 coach before the season started? The talk heading into this year seemed to revolve around Frank Wilson at UTSA and Chad Morris at SMU and rightfully so following their respective 6-7 and 5-7 seasons in 2016 that only hinted towards upward trajectories. As that buzz swirled, North Texas’ Seth Littrell simply waded in the background in Denton and the Mean Green have done nothing but take Conference USA by storm and put themselves in position to win the CUSA West topped by their 52-49 barnburner win over Army. Despite falling to the aforementioned SMU early in the season, North Texas is the talk of the state sitting pretty at 8-3. With some big in-state programs potentially opening up, North Texas might shackle his leg to Apogee Stadium. Was this the nail in the coffin for Kliff Kingsbury? It's hard to say that anyone expected Texas Tech to beat TCU, but only scoring three points and losing to a Horned Frogs team with no Kenny Hill, Darius Anderson and a true freshman quarterback that only completed six passes is something entirely different. Now, TCU’s defense is good. Not even in the sense that they're good for a Big XII team. They're actually good. Even that doesn't excuse Tech’s high-octane offense being completely shut down for only 153 yards through the air and 4.3 yards per pass attempt. TCU only won 17-3 yet it never felt as if the Red Raiders really had a shot. Not to mention with the offense sputtering, Kliff Kingsbury did himself no favors keeping a struggling Nick Shimonek in the game (17-of-33 for 137 yards and an interception) as well as choosing to settle for field goals (Of which Tech went 1-of-3) in crucial redzone situations. With Texas and the best defense in the conference coming up next Friday, the chances of Tech missing out on bowl season for a second season looks high. It’s too late for fix SMU’s defense, but was Saturday officially rock bottom? You can’t score 45 points and lose. Well actually, you can if you give up 66 points and that’s what SMU did Saturday at Memphis. Chad Morris had nothing negative to say about his offense and quarterback Ben Hicks who played a near-perfect game racking up six total touchdowns to just one turnover. The defense couldn't stop anything, however. "Offensively, your job is to score one more point that you give up," Morris told the Dallas Morning News. "It's hard to win when you have to score 67 points." It’s the SMU's third consecutive loss and the second in which the team scored 40 or more points and still lost. About a month ago, the chatter around the state was how far Morris had brought SMU and if he was destined for a Power 5 promotion. The job the former Lake Travis head coach can't be understated, but the glaring deficiencies on defense have stunted what could've been an even more impressive season. It's still a successful year at SMU, who will go bowling for the first time since 2012, but 7-5 or 6-6 is a lot less satisfying than where the Mustangs perhaps saw themselves finishing midway through the year. Sam Ehlinger, freshman lapses or turnover prone? Texas going bowling is the big story from this game, but an underlying thread is Sam Ehlinger’s tendency to make at least one head-scratching decision per game it seems. Now it should be noted that he's battled injury this season and that could also be part of it. Still though, his third quarter interception against West Virginia that was returned 94 yards for a score by Kenny Robinson was the only reason the Mountaineers had a chance Saturday after quarterback Will Grier went out with a broken finger. From his time at Westlake and so far through his early stint at Texas, it’s clear that Ehlinger is a gamer, but almost to a fault right now. The pick was reminiscent of his game-ending interception against Oklahoma State and key fumble against USC. Are these simply freshman mistakes that’ll get cleaned over time or are they just side effects of Ehlinger’s competitive mentality? Either way, he does have three more years to clean them up. Could 8-4 (again) be enough at Texas A&M? It seems like a foregone conclusion that Texas A&M will make a coaching change, but check this: What if Texas A&M goes into Death Valley next weekend and knocks off top 20 ranked LSU to close the regular season and finished 8-4? Yeah, it’d be the third straight season in which the Aggies ended the regular season with eight wins and it isn't an exciting record by any means. But Kevin Sumlin can easily make the case that he played most of the season with a quarterback who wasn’t ready to start in Kellen Mond and once he got his chosen starter back healthy in Nick Starkel, the team clicked. Not sure if it’ll work at this stage, but it’s possible.