Week 9 contained plenty of fireworks, and those didn’t stop after the games ended on Saturday. TCU and head coach Gary Patterson parted ways after 20-plus years in charge of the Horned Frogs. Baylor and Houston won intrastate contests against rivals, and UTSA announced a major extension with head coach Jeff Traylor. 

Each Monday, Mike Craven from Dave Campbell’s Texas Football walks readers A through Z of the week that was in college football for teams in Texas, including some notes from the FCS level. 

Aranda stock grows – The race to become Big 12 coach of the year should be over with Baylor head coach Dave Aranda lapping the field in 2021. The Bears improved to 7-1 on the season with a seven-point victory over Texas. Aranda should be in the running for national coach of the year and his name will begin circulating when major jobs come open at the collegiate level. Maybe even at LSU.  

Bear backers – The Baylor Bears win football games thanks to its running game, confident quarterback and an elite defense. That defense is anchored by its linebacker play. That was evident in the win over Texas when Baylor held running back Bijan Robinson to 43 yards on 17 carries. The trio of Dillon Doyle, Terrel Bernard and Jalen Pitre combined for 21 tackles and a sack. 

Casey Thompson – Stop listening to college football voices asking for Texas quarterback Casey Thompson to be benched following Texas’ third straight loss. Thompson threw for 280 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the loss to Baylor. He threw for more yardage and for fewer interceptions than Baylor quarterback Gerry Bohanon. Unless Thompson can play offensive line, he’s not the reason the Texas offense sputters down the stretch. Anyone saying otherwise holds an agenda. 

Déjà vu – The open week didn’t help the Texas Longhorns overcome their second-half collapses. Texas blew a double-digit lead for the third consecutive game in the 31-24 loss to Baylor. The Longhorns did the same thing in losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Texas is 4-4 in Steve Sarkisian’s first year at the helm. 

Extension – UTSA was idle in Week 9 but that didn’t stop the undefeated Roadrunners from making news. UTSA and head coach Jeff Traylor agreed to an extension through 2031 valued at $28 million dollars. The agreement comes with a $7.5 million dollar buyout. 

Former linebacker – Baylor running back Abram Smith carried the offense in the 31-24 win over Texas. He rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries in the win, more than Texas ran for as a team in the entire game. Not bad for a guy playing linebacker in 2020. 

Gilpin – Southwestern’s Landry Gilpin threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown in the win over Austin College. 

Houston Cougars – A thrilling 44-37 victory over the previously unbeaten SMU Mustangs increased Houston’s winning streak to seven and its conference record to 5-0. The Cougars possess an inside track to the AAC championship game because Cincinnati is not on the regular season schedule. The only blemish on the season was a Week 1 loss to Texas Tech. 
Idle – Texas A&M and UTSA, arguably the two best teams in Texas, were idle in Week 9. The Aggies host Auburn in Week 10, while UTSA hopes to remain undefeated after a trip to El Paso. 

Just short – UTEP’s comeback attempt on the road against FAU came up three points short in the 28-25 loss. It was the Miners’ first loss in conference play. UTEP was down 28-10 with 11 minutes left in the game. UTEP is 6-2 on the season and host UTSA on Saturday. 

Kickoff return – The Houston vs. SMU game featured two 100-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns. The last came with 17 seconds left in the contest when Houston’s Marcus Jones scored the game-winning touchdown. It was the fourth special teams touchdown for Jones in 2021 and his ninth total in his college career. 

Losses – It was a tough week for the FBS schools in Texas. The group went 3-7 with all those wins coming over fellow intrastate schools. The state of Texas went 0-4 against out-of-state competition at the FBS level. 

Mutually agreed – TCU fell to 3-5 on the season in a loss at Kansas State on Saturday. Less than 48 hours later, the Horned Frogs and head coach Gary Patterson agreed to mutually part ways with Jerry Kill taking over as the interim head coach. Patterson spent parts of four decades coaching at TCU, taking over as head coach in 2020. 

Nathaniel Dell – The best offensive player in Texas that no one talks about enough is Houston wide receiver Nathaniel Dell. He caught nine passes for a career-high 165 yards and three touchdowns in the win over SMU.  

Overtime win – North Texas couldn’t afford a loss at Rice. The Mean Green entered the contest on a six-game losing streak. It took overtime, but North Texas earned its second win of the season in the 30-24 victory. Austin Aune led the team in passing and rushing. Ayo Adeyi scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime. 

Paul Odidi – SAGU improved to 6-3 on the season with a win over Wayland Baptist on Saturday. Odidi caught six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Barlow completed 22 of 38 passes for 419 yards and six touchdowns. 

Quit – It’s hard to talk about the TCU loss to Kansas State on Saturday without using the word quit. The TCU offense didn’t score a touchdown until 15 seconds left in the game. Kansas State was up 21-5 at halftime and 31-5 with 1:36 left in the game. It was clear that the Horned Frogs weren’t playing for their coach, and that is why Patterson and TCU parted ways over the weekend. 

Rice Owls – The Owls had a chance to move to 4-4 on the season with a win at home over North Texas, but Rice continued to be struck by bad luck at quarterback with Wiley Green injured. Jake Constantine did throw for 242 yards and a pair of touchdowns in relief. Jake Bailey caught 10 of those passes for 143 yards and a touchdown. 

Shut-out loss – Texas State was shut out in a 45-0 loss to Louisiana. The Bobcats managed to stay in the game through a scoreless first quarter until the defensive dam finally broke. Texas State is now 2-6 on the season without a single win in regulation. 

Tune – The headlines entering the Houston vs. SMU showdown featured Mustangs quarterback Tanner Mordecai. Not many people were discussing the possibility of Houston quarterback Clayton Tune winning the duel, but he did just that in the win. Tune passed for 412 yards and four touchdowns in the victory. 

Undefeated – The only FBS program still undefeated in the state of Texas is in San Antonio. UTSA is 8-0 ahead of a trip to El Paso to take on the 6-2 Miners. UTSA moved up to 16th in the AP Poll despite not playing a game over the weekend. 

Valiant effort – SMU found itself down 17-0 with seconds left in the first quarter, but that didn’t stop the Mustangs from making a comeback attempt. SMU rallied back to take a lead early in the third quarter, but the offensive exploits by Tune were too much for the Mustangs. Mordecai did throw for 305 yards and three touchdowns in defeat. 

Weapon – The Texas Tech offense shuffled through two quarterbacks in the 52-21 loss to Oklahoma. The defense gave up six touchdown passes to Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams. The bright spot in the loss was the reemergence of playmaker Erik Ezukanma who caught eight passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball twice for eight yards. 

Xavier Worthy – The best freshman wide receiver in the nation wears burnt orange and he put on another big display on Saturday in the loss to Baylor. Worthy, a California native originally committed to Michigan, caught four passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. 

Yo – The Sam Houston offense put up huge numbers in the win over in the 45-27 win over Tarleton. Quarterback Eric Schmid threw for 301 yards and five touchdowns. Ife Adeyi caught 10 of those for 70 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Ramon Jefferson registered 179 yards rushing on 23 attempts. 

Zachary Johnson – Johnson was another beneficiary of the big day by the SAGU offense in the win over Wayland Baptist. He caught five passes from Barlow for 103 yards and three touchdowns.