Hopefully the indie wrestling show inside Apogee Stadium proved to be a more competitive event than North Texas’s lopsided 46-23 dismantling of SMU that was even more dominant than the final score indicates.

With the Mean Green riding high off last season’s nine-win season heading into head coach Seth Littrell’s fourth year at the helm and many more question marks surrounding the Mustangs, here are three takeaways from the night.

Believe the hype, North Texas is probably the best offense in the state

UNT was 0-3 in its previous three tries against DFW rival SMU heading into Saturday’s game including last season’s 54-32 loss. Considering the hype surrounding Littrell’s offense piloted by junior quarterback Mason Fine (More on him later), there was a lot of pressure on North Texas to make up for last year’s stumble out of the gate and put on a show at home.

They did that and more by completely running up, down and over SMU’s defense from the opening drive. Fine picked up right where he left off in 2017 throwing for 444 yards, three touchdowns and completing 40-of-50 passes, a new career-high for him. It all looked mind-numbingly easy for the Mean Green offense with effortless throws to Fine's top targets Jalen Guyton and Rico Bussey Jr. like it was a game of pick-up in the backyard.

All but four of North Texas’ drives resulted in a score and the unit also converted over 50 percent of their third-down situations.

Bussey Jr. finished with a career-night reeling in nine catches for 109 yards.

Either UNT has a defense now or SMU has taken a big step back…or both

The final score hints that the Mustangs' offense had a serviceable outing against a blazing hot North Texas. Only the latter part of that speculation is true. All of SMU’s points came during garbage time when the Mean Green defense took their foot off the gas.

Now, there’s a good possibility that the UNT defense has vastly improved from last season. But in the context of Week 1 and when you remember that the Mustangs did go bowling just last season, one might be more inclined to think that even if the unit has gotten better, UNT’s defense might’ve just taken advantage of a rusty SMU.

Yes, SMU is working in a new head coach and lost its two top receivers to the NFL, but Sonny Dykes’ offense isn’t that conceptually different than what Chad Morris ran, the offensive line is fairly experienced and senior Ben Hicks is still behind center. And yet six of the Mustangs’ opening eight drives ended three-and-out and another ended with a pick-six. SMU had just 24 total yards at halftime.

Hicks was harassed in the pocket and struggled to complete barely 50 percent of his throws, that’s credit to the North Texas defense.

Whichever way you slice it, make no mistake, North Texas took SMU to school and it wasn’t close.

Mason Fine is the best quarterback in Texas

We called the Oklahoma native the best quarterback in the state during our Top 50 Most Important Players countdown and Saturday night, he gave no reason to think otherwise.

Though he took more hits in the pocket than Littrell is likely comfortable with, Fine was in mid-season form and looked every bit of the part of one of college football’s elite quarterbacks connecting on 12 big-play throws that resulted in 15 yards or more. With an FBS transition program (Liberty), an FCS opponent (UIW) and an Arkansas team that has a lot of question marks on defense next up on the schedule, Fine could be looking at an incredible start to his junior campaign that will surely have the rest of the country peeking over to see just what exactly the people in Denton have been raving about.