Welcome back to the ABCs of college football in the state of Texas. 

Every Monday, Mike Craven from Dave Campbell’s Texas Football will walk you through quick hitters from an action-packed weekend of football. 

Week 5 featured a comeback win by Sam Houston in the Battle of the Piney Woods, a second straight loss by Texas A&M and the continued greatness of Texas running back Bijan Robinson. Only two of the 12 FBS teams in the state remain undefeated through five games of the season. 

Antonio and Aaron – Texas A&M’s defense remains one of the best units in the state despite consecutive losses to SEC opponents. Antonio Johnson (15) and Aaron Hansford (13) combined for 28 tackles and helped keep Mississippi State to 1.8 yards per rush. 

Bowling? – UTEP is 4-1 after a 28-21 win over Old Dominion. Quarterback Gavin Hardison threw for 191 and two touchdowns on just 10 completions. The Miners only need two more wins to reach the six-win threshold with Southern Miss, North Texas, and Rice remaining on the schedule. 

Constantine – Rice started three quarterbacks over the first four games of the season, but injuries may have allowed the Owls to find the right man. Senior Jake Constantine led Rice to its second straight victory with 192 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns in the win over Southern Miss. 

Dicker the Kicker – Texas’ red zone offense was atrocious in the win over TCU. Luckily for the Longhorns, place kicker Cameron Dicker was in the zone. The Lake Travis product made four field goals and 14 of Texas’ 32 points in the five-point win.  

Elite – SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai might be the most impactful transfer in college football. He’s up to a NCAA-high 24 touchdown passes and SMU is 5-0 after a 41-17 win over USF. He threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns in the victory and should be considered the best quarterback in Texas.  

Fast start – Houston was an underdog heading into the Friday night game at Tulsa. It didn’t take long for the Cougars to assert their dominance, building a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Houston did the same thing in Week 1 against Texas Tech before blowing that lead in the second half. It looked like the Cougars learned their lesson in the 45-10 win over Tulsa. 

Gulp – Texas A&M has lost two straight with Alabama up next on the schedule. A year of high hopes was dashed with losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State. Now, the Aggies will be fortunate to reach eight wins given the difficult games remaining on the schedule. 

Heisman contender – Sophomore running back Bijan Robinson ran for 216 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries in the 32-27 win over TCU. He’s now second in college football with 652 yards rushing on the season. Robinson is averaging 6.2 yards a carry in 2021 and should be mentioned amongst the Heisman favorites if the Longhorns can beat Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. 

Impressive response – A lot of people left Texas Tech for dead following the 70-35 loss to Texas that also cost the Red Raiders their starting quarterback. Backup Henri Colombi and Matt Wells’ crew rebounded with an impressive win at West Virginia to keep bowl hopes alive and Wells’ seat from feeling like a furnace. 

Jahari Kay – Sam Houston rallied from a 20-6 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat rival SFA for the 10thconsecutive time in the Battle of the Piney Woods. Kay led the way defensively with eight tackles, including 2.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also forced a fumble and broke up a pass. 

Khalil Harris – The West Texas A&M running back ran for 193 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries in a three-point loss to Western Oregon.

Landon McKinney – Howard Payne put up 73 points in a win over Sul Ross State with Harris completing 17 of his 30 pass attempts for 193 yards and a touchdown. 

McCaskill – The face of the Houston Cougars program as it inches towards Big 12 play is true freshman running back Alton McCaskill. The Conroe Oak Ridge product scored three touchdowns in the first half during the blowout win over Tulsa. He’s rushed for seven touchdowns through five games. 

No game – North Texas and Texas State were idle in Week 5. 

Owls – Rice is on a two-game winning streak after beating Texas Southern and Southern Miss in back-to-back weeks. The Owls defense held Southern Miss to 2.1 yards per carry and recorded four interceptions in the 24-19 win. 

Prince Umanmielen – Tarleton defensive lineman Prince Umanmielen blocked a punt that led to a field goal during the first quarter of the Texans loss to Eastern Kentucky. It was the only points Tarleton scored in the defeat. 

Question marks – The Baylor offense was questioned entering the 2021 season and those worries materialized during the Bears loss at Oklahoma State. Take away a 55-yard run by Abram Smith and Baylor ran the ball 28 times for 52 yards. Quarterback Gerry Bohanon completed 13 of 27 passes for 173 yards and zero touchdowns. 

Receiving weapons – Mordecai is racing towards the record books in his first year as quarterback for SMU, and his wide receiver core deserves a good chunk of the credit. The trio of Danny Gray, Rashee Rice and Reggie Rice Jr. combined for 20 catches for 199 yards and four touchdowns in the win over USF. 

Sarodorick Thompson – The Texas Tech running back missed the first few games of the season. He’s been solid in his return and helped the Red Raiders build a 14-0 lead after the first quarter with a pair of touchdown runs. He finished the game with 48 yards on 12 carries. 

Texas Southern – The Tigers knocked off North American by a score of 69-0 to earn the program’s first victory under head coach Clarence McKinney. It was the first on-field win by Texas Southern since 2018. 

Undefeated – UTSA and SMU remain the only undefeated programs in Texas at the FBS level. Just like we all predicted. 

Victors – With North Texas and Texas State idle, the five G5 programs in the state went 5-0 over the weekend. 

Wesleyan – Texas Wesleyan quarterback Dalton Dale was 15 of 20 for 297 yards and five touchdowns in the blowout win over Wayland Baptist University. Dale added 60 yards rushing on four carries. 

Xavier Gipson – The heart-breaking loss by SFA to Sam Houston shouldn’t undo the tremendous performance put on by wide receiver Xavier Gipson. He caught nine passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in the 21-20 defeat. 

Young offensive line – Much of the blame for Texas A&M’s struggles focus on the quarterback position, but the inexperience along the offensive line is a bigger concern. Only Kenyon Green entered the 2021 season with any real collegiate experience. The Aggies started two true freshmen in the loss to Mississippi State. 

Zach Evans – No matter the reason, TCU isn’t getting the ball into the hands of Evans enough. He either needs to get in better shape to handle the workload or the offensive staff at TCU needs to force feed him the football. He only received 15 carries in the loss to Texas. The Longhorns gave their star running back 35 carries in the game.