Here's a recap of everything that happened in Texas college football in Week One to prepare you for the Sunday dinner and Monday water cooler conversations.

1. It's the same old song and dance for TCU, Texas Tech and North Texas

TCU head coach Sonny Dykes spent all offseason trying to rectify what was a poor situational football team in 2023, from red zone offense to third-down conversion percentage. On the first defensive drive of the season, the Horned Frogs had a pass interference negate a 3rd and 13 stop, a facemask negate a 3rd and 18 stop, and allowed Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels to scramble for a first down on 3rd and 18. Later, Josh Hoover threw a dime to Jack Bech to get the Horned Frogs inside the five-yard line, then fumbled the exchange. TCU escaped Palo Alto with a 34-27 win, but Dykes even admitted they made the mistakes to lose.

Texas Tech needed to start fast after puttering out of the gate to 1–2 last season. Instead, they allowed over 600 total yards and 51 points, coming within a two-point conversion away from losing to FCS Abilene Christian.

North Texas head coach Eric Morris decided not to change the 3-3-5 defense this offseason but spent every day in defensive meetings. While the Mean Green did force South Alabama to punt twice (which was enough in a 52-38 win), their 582 yards allowed was the worst in the American Athletic Conference.

2. Texas is the state's only Playoff contender

Considering the lack of change we saw from the teams mentioned above, it was refreshing to watch Texas answer questions about their red zone offense and pass defense. The Longhorns scored a touchdown on all seven of their red zone trips, and the secondary held Colorado State, which ranked ninth nationally last year with 306.5 passing yards per game, to just 74 yards. 

The new wide receiver core looked dominant, running backs Jaydon Blue and Jerrick Gibson performed well in Cedric Baxter's absence, and the defense flew around the field. There were no clear concerns in the 52-0 win over Colorado State, a nice ramp-up for Michigan in Week Two.

3. Conner Weigman isn't a finished product

Weigman was excellent for Texas A&M in a short sample size in 2023, throwing for 979 yards and an 8:2 TD:INT ratio in three-and-a-half games. He received high praise this offseason from The Athletic's Draft Expert Dane Brugler, stating scouts viewed him as the potential QB1 in the 2025 Draft.

Weigman completed 12-of-30 pass attempts in the season opener against Notre Dame and threw as many interceptions (two), as he had in his entire career up to that point. The struggles can be chalked up to facing a stout Fighting Irish defense with an All-American secondary while trying to knock off the rust. Or, it's indicative of his fit within offensive coordinator Collin Klein's scheme. 

4. Sam Houston could be a surprise G5 darling

Sam Houston was a better football team than its 3–9 record last season. But for a team which prided itself on losing just one starter to the transfer portal, questions swirled about its ceiling for 2024. After a 34-14 throttling of Rice, the Bearkats showed they could contend in Conference USA. With new quarterback Hunter Watson, the return of wide receivers Ife Adeyi and Qua'Vez Humphreys and new defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity's debut, Sam Houston has made the necessary improvements.

5. Houston, we have a problem

Just a brutal start to the season for Houston's college football teams. Houston fell on its face in Willie Fritz's home opener, losing 27-7 to UNLV. Meanwhile, Rice got rolled by a second-year FBS program to kick off the seventh year for Mike Bloomgren, the second-longest tenured head coach in Texas.

6. UTSA could not run the football

The Roadrunners sprinted to a 21-3 lead with 10:40 left to go in the second quarter, then took a two-quarter break, not scoring again until 3:44 left in the game. Owen McCown broke the program record with 340 pass yards in the season opener, but UTSA couldn't maintain possession when needed. The offense managed 76 yards on 34 carries, a lackluster 2.2 yards per attempt. 

UTSA has the potential Group of Five game of the year next week against Texas State.

7. Baylor is fixed!

New offensive coordinator Jake Spavital's unit put up 442 total yards and 45 points, which was the most since late October 2022 against Texas Tech. Dave Aranda's defense could've won an Oscar for the way they were Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. The Bears allowed just 181 total yards and nine first downs.

Ok, it was against FCS Tarleton, but Baylor will take the good vibes where they can as they shed the bad juju from last year.

8. SMU is still platooning QBs

Preston Stone took the lion's share of snaps in a come-from-behind win against Utah State in Week One. On Saturday in a blowout against Houston Christian, Kevin Jennings went 10-of-14 for 148 yards and a touchdowns, while adding 54 yards and a score on the ground. 

It feels like the Mustangs are rotating quarterbacks through the first few drives before deciding on their guy for the game.

9. Time of possession is a concern for UTEP

UTEP made it fun for a quarter in Scotty Walden's debut, playing Nebraska to a 7-7 tie with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Then, the Miners hung its defense out to dry on five-star freshman Dylan Raiola's highlight mixtape. Nebraska won the time of possession battle 38:32 to 21:28 and ran 80 plays to UTEP's 53. 

The Miners prioritize snapping the football every 12 seconds to keep the defense off balance, but it hurts their defense more when they stack three-and-outs.

10. All of a sudden, North Texas at Texas Tech in Week Three is interesting

This game originally was written off as blowout potential due to Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks's dominance against a weak North Texas rush defense. But if Abilene Christian diced up the Red Raiders secondary, what could North Texas head coach Eric Morris scheme up for new quarterback Chandler Morris? Chandler threw for 415 yards and had five total touchdowns in his Mean Green debut.