Believe it or not, we're past the halfway mark of the 2023 college football season after an exicting Week 7 across the Lone Star State. Each of the state's 13 FBS programs have all played at least six games. Four teams played midweek with UTEP, SMU, and Houston winning before Saturday. Sam Houston fell to 0-6 in its maiden voyage into the FBS ranks after a loss to New Mexico State. Three teams – Texas, Baylor, and Rice – were idle. The rest of the state played on Saturday. 

The weekend brought mostly positive results for the Lone Star State. In-state teams won four of the six games with a comeback win for Texas State overe ULM headlining the slate. 

The 411 provides readers an opportunity to catch up with the happenings around Texas after each week of the college football season by providing four truths, one question, and one prediction. 

FOUR TRUTHS 

Mustangs flexing on defense: SMU is known as an offensive football team. The recent resurgence by the Mustangs over the last decade was because of offensive coaches like June Jones, Sonny Dykes, and Rhett Lashlee. They allowed 32.9 points per game during a 10-win 2019. The 28.4 allowed during an eight-win 2021 was the only time SMU has allowed fewer than 30 points per game in over 10 seasons. The defense allowed over 40 points per game in 2015 and 2016. 

But that has changed in 2023. In his second year as defensive coordinator, Scott Symons is leading the most improved unit in the state of Texas. The Mustangs allowed 33.8 points per game en route to seven wins in Lashlee’s first season as head coach. The defensive unit is only allowing 17 points per game through six games in 2023. That number drops to 13 per game in two AAC victories. 

SMU is 4-2 entering the second half of the schedule. The Mustangs only play one more team that currently has a winning record and that isn’t until Memphis in Nov. 18. Their next three opponents – Temple, Tulsa, and Rice – are a combined 8-11. They don’t play fellow AAC favorites Tulane or UTSA in the regular season. With the defense playing at a championship level, SMU might ride into a conference title game. 

A $15 million dollar play: The doomsayers were out in Third Ward when visiting West Virginia took a 39-35 lead over the Cougars with 12 seconds left in the Thursday night game. A loss meant that Houston would drop to 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in Big 12 play with a home game against Texas on deck in Week 8. Add in a trip to Kansas State in Week 9 and a 2-7 start with a five-game losing skid to start their maiden voyage into Power Five play was staring the Cougars in the face. 

Stare closely enough and you can see the seat warming under head coach Dana Holgorsen as fans began heading to their cars. Houston signed Holgorsen to an extension that brough his total compensation through the end of his contract (December 31, 2027) to $22.5 million dollars. If bought out, he’s owed 100 percent of that in 2024 and 2025 and 60 percent in 2026 and 2017. Add in the money required to hire a replacement staff – and probably the buyout for that coach – and the Cougars would need over $15 million to make the move. 

That calculous was on the mind of every Houston fan with 12 seconds left in the game. And then a crazy thing happened as time expired. Donovan Smith’s 49-yard Hail Mary bounced into the arms of Stephon Johnson to give the Cougars their first ever Big 12 victory. Suddenly, 3-3 isn’t a damning record and a bowl bid feels within reach thanks to games remaining against the likes of Baylor, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, and UCF. 

A new day in San Marcos: The win against ULM is small in the grand scheme of things and needs to be backed up with more results for us to look back at the comeback as a true fulcrum moment in Bobcat football. But as a person on the field as the game ended, it was hard not to appreciate how far Texas State football has come in 12 months. The fact that over 27,000 people were in Bobcat Stadium for a game against an opponent with a losing record is almost proof enough. And that was after a loss the week before by Texas State. 

The win means the Bobcats already eclipsed the four-win seasons of 2022 and 2021. Even if Texas State doesn’t win another game – and the schedule is tough – the team will post its most wins in a season since 2014. The Bobcats have never gone to a bowl. If the 2023 season changes that, fans in attendance on Saturday night saw why. 

North Texas has its quarterback: Watching Chandler Rogers play quarterback for the Mean Green in Week 7 forced a single question – how the heck did he not enter the season as the starter? The junior threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns in North Texas’s 45-14 victory over Temple. The Mean Green are now 3-3 on the season ahead of a tough conference stretch that includes Tulane, Memphis, UTSA, and SMU in consecutive weeks. 

ONE QUESTION 

What is Texas A&M’s final record? 

The Aggies fell to 4-3 on the season with a Week 7 loss to Tennessee. It was the second straight SEC lost for Texas A&M. The offense only scored three points in the second half during both of those losses. They’re now 0-2 on the road in 2023. They were 0-4 on the road in 2022 and 2-2 away from Kyle Field in 2021. The Aggies are now on an eight-game road losing streak dating back to a win over Missouri on Oct. 16, 2021. 

The general feeling is that Jimbo Fisher needs at least eight wins to be safe. His team needs to go 4-1 down the stretch to pull that off. And that route includes road games against Ole Miss and LSU. If Texas A&M loses both of those, the best the 12th Man can hope for is a 7-5 record. That’s not why Fisher is paid $10 million dollars a year. Home games against South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Abilene Christian feel more manageable. 

Does a 7-5 record seal Fisher’s fate? Do the Aggies even get to seven wins? The idle week comes at the perfect time for an Aggies squad facing a ton of questions – about the present and the future. 

ONE PREDICTION

Texas wins out: We’ve all seen enough. The Big 12 is a two-team race between Oklahoma and Texas. The Longhorns were idle in Week 7 following the last-minute loss to the Sooners in the Red River Rivalry. Not only will the teams meet for a rematch – the winner goes to the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma should roll in at 12-0 or 11-1. A 12-1 record with a Big 12 title and two wins over Texas should be enough to reach the dance. Conversely, a 12-1 record with a revenge win over Oklahoma to claim a Big 12 crown would send Texas to the four-team invitational, as well. 

Texas plays Houston on the road in Week 8 in what might be a crowd that is 70 percent burnt orange. The remaining home games are against BYU, Kansas State, and Texas Tech. Other than the trip to Houston, Texas is on the road against TCU and Iowa State. 

WEEK 7 SCOREBOARD 

UTEP 27, FIU 14
New Mexico State 27, Sam Houston 13
Houston 41, West Virginia 39
SMU 31, East Carolina 10
North Texas 45, Temple 14 
Tennessee 20, Texas A&M 13 
TCU 44, BYU 11 
Kansas State 38, Texas Tech 21
Texas State 21, ULM 20
UTSA 41, UAB 20

Idle: Texas, Baylor, Rice