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

1. The State of Texas has SEVEN conference championship contenders

Texas and Texas A&M both have legitimate College Football Playoff chances. SMU is an ACC Championship contender in its first season. Meanwhile, Texas Tech, North Texas and Sam Houston each have one loss. Don’t forget about Texas State like I did on this week’s ROF podcast. The 3–2 Bobcats are very much alive in the Sun Belt.

2. The Reports of Conner Weigman's Demise were Premature

Weigman’s lackluster season opener against Notre Dame, combined with Marcel Reed’s 3–0 run as starting quarterback, brewed a narrative that Reed was a better fit for offensive coordinator Collin Klein’s offense. Saturday’s 41-10 beatdown of Missouri was proof that take needed more time to bake – Weigman’s arm talent changes Klein’s playbook. Weigman went 18-of-22 for 276 yards, and the Aggies still had five rushing touchdowns.

3. You don't win games with field goals

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire got the road monkey off his back with a 28-22 win over Arizona behind a defense that bent but didn’t break but actually broke a little bit. Arizona’s high powered offense, headlined by the dynamic duo of quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, attempted six field goals and scored one touchdown in the red zone. Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was a monster. He had a sack in the first quarter, deflected a Fifita pass into an interception, then made the play of the game in the fourth quarter when he forced a fumble on McMillan.

4. Texas Longhorns won the bye week

Texas will reclaim their No.1 ranking on their week off. According to The Athletic’s Matt Brown, Saturday marked the first time in history that two top-five SEC teams lost to unranked opponents on the same day. Alabama lost 40-35 to Vanderbilt and watched their No.1 ranking sink like the goalpost that Vanderbilt students threw into the Cumberland River. Meanwhile, No.4-ranked Tennessee lost 19-14 to Arkansas.

5. Sam Houston's KC Keeler is the mid-season Coach of the Year

Sam Houston lost just one starter to the Transfer Portal this offseason and is still a completely different team. Last year, the Bearkats started 0–8; this season, they’re one win from bowl eligibility on October 6. Sam Houston averaged a measly 88 yards rushing per game in 2023; in 2024, they’re the first Conference USA program with four consecutive games of 250+ rushing yards since FAU in 2018.

Head coach KC Keeler’s team is 8–2 in its last ten FBS games because of the culture he created when the team was winning FCS National Championships. But the 65-year-old coach didn’t stubbornly stay the course. He adapted. Sam Houston moved its spring football practices to the latest they’ve ever been, allowing for eight straight weeks in the weight room. That resulted in a physical transformation for the second-year FBS program, and one of the nation’s biggest surprises.

6. Houston, we have a quarterback

Houston pulled a shocking upset over TCU on Friday night behind a defense that forced four turnovers and a new QB1. Zeon Chriss, who transferred from Louisiana this offseason, was an efficient 15-of-18 for 141 yards and a score and also had a 71-yard rushing touchdown in his first start. Chriss piloted the nation’s worst scoring offense, which hadn’t scored a point in the last two games, to 30 points.

7. The UCF loss may have broke TCU

Well, actually, TCU hasn’t been the same since the 65-7 National Championship loss to Georgia. Sonny Dykes started his TCU tenure 12–0. He’s 9–12 since. He admitted they never mentally recovered from last year’s season opening loss to Colorado. This season, the loss to UCF after blowing a 28–7 lead is thus far the straw that broke the Horned Frog’s back. In the last three games, TCU has 12 turnovers, two losses and one coach ejection.

8. Sonny Dykes is following the Dave Aranda arc right now

Both Dykes and Aranda have one good season (TCU’s national championship run in 2022, Baylor’s Big 12 Championship in 2021) with a majority of players from the previous regime. The results have tapered dramatically once their recruiting classes have entered.

9. Texas State's defensive line, even minus Ben Bell, can dominate the middle-pack of the Sun Belt

This season might be the worst iteration of Troy since before Texas State joined the FBS, but the Bobcats’ 11 tackles for loss and six sacks are impressive no matter the competition level. Potentially losing star defensive end Ben Bell for the season takes Texas State out of the running for the Group of Five’s best defensive line, but the unit is deep enough to handle most Sun Belt programs. 

Last season, Bell’s ten sacks dwarfed the Bobcats’ second-best (3.5). But head coach GJ Kinne made enough offseason moves to weather Bell’s absence. UIW transfer Steven Parker has 6.5 tackles for loss in five games. Meanwhile, redshirt junior Kalil Alexander has been one of the state’s biggest surprises. He leads the team with 4.5 sacks and was all over the field against Troy.

10. UTEP faced its blueprint Thursday night – a Mike Craven joint.

The 2024 UTEP team has plenty of parallels to last year’s Sam Houston, as pointed out to me by DCTF senior writer Mike Craven. Both were entering a new era (Sam Houston to the FBS, UTEP with a new coach and many former FCS players) and both endured a brutal first half of the schedule. Sam Houston won three of its final four games, giving it positive momentum before a transformative offseason. UTEP needs to pick up some late October wins against Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State and FIU to get on the right track.