College football fans were offered a cool drink after a long walk through the desert of the offseason during a fun Week 0 slate. It started with Houston Christian’s upset win over Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday night. Saturday kicked off with TCU’s loss in Ireland to Bill Belichick’s Tarheels. And the nightcap included FBS battles between four teams with playoff aspirations. 

Here are some thoughts from Week 0. 

Frogs Flattened 

TCU seemed bound and determined to enter the Week 0 clash in Ireland against North Carolina as the most dysfunctional team. The Tar Heels suspended their general manager and didn’t have a defensive coordinator who is on leave for personal reasons, but they looked like the cleaner and crisper operation in the 15-10 victory in Dublin. 

The Horned Frogs shot themselves in the foot from a public relations standpoint by revoking credentials to the local paper over a story about a fight in the locker room that resulted in the loss of a wide receiver to injury and a safety to dismissal. They continued shooting themselves in the foot in the loss – a bad snap on a punt that resulted in a safety, 10 penalties, and three turnovers on downs, including two in the red zone to end the game. 

The TCU faithful hasn’t been exactly pleased with Dykes entering the season despite back-to-back nine-win seasons and a trip to the national championship game in 2022. The Horned Frogs are 14-13 in Big 12 play since 2023 and that includes multiple losses as touchdown favorites. They were a touchdown favorite entering the North Carolina game, too. 

The big changes in the offseason were on offense. Gordon Sammis was hired to replace Kendal Briles at offensive coordinator and Jaden Craig was added in the portal to replace Josh Hoover, who is now at Indiana. 

The hope was an improved running game and fewer turnovers combined with more red zone efficiency would unlock TCU’s potential. Instead, the Frogs scored 10 points in four trips to the red zone, averaged 3.5 yards per game, and Craig looked like a former Ivy League quarterback who was struggling to adjust to the speed and complexity of a Power Four defense. TCU scored 10 points on its first two drives. Zero points were scored on the last seven. 

So, where does TCU go from here? The good news is that they are idle next week before closing non-conference play with home games against Grambling State and Arkansas State. The Big 12 slate starts with a trip to UCF and home game against BYU before another idle date. Dykes’ group needs to be at least 3-2 by the Week 7 trip to rival Baylor. 

It feels like this fan base won’t buy back into this program being in Big 12 contention unless the Frogs can upset BYU at home in Week 5. 

It is Week 0. And the new CFP structure makes non-conference resumés mostly obsolete for Big 12 and ACC schools. The goal is to win the conference and nothing that happened in Dublin – good or bad – was going to impact the Frogs’ chances to play for the Big 12 Championship in Arlington. 

The best part of the college football offseason is the optimism. The worst part of the start of the season is that half of the teams will lose and that optimism will instantly turn to panic. There were high hopes in Fort Worth that 2026 would be a return to Big 12 contention. 

But the TCU team that we saw on Saturday won’t be in bowl contention. If Dykes & Co. want the benefit of the doubt from the fan base moving forward, the Frogs better clean up their operation on and off the field by the time Big 12 play starts on Sept. 26. 

Houston Christian stuns Southland favorite 

Huskies head coach Jason Bachtel was confident that his program could set a record for wins in a single season this spring when we talked for the magazine preview. HCU returned over half of its starters on both sides of the ball and that’s becoming rarer in college football, especially at the FCS level. 

In a sport currently defined by change, continuity rules the day. Experience and age matter more than ever. HCU is an old team. And they played like one in the upset win on Thursday on the road against Southeastern Louisiana. 

Bachtel said his Huskies had a chance to surprise people in the Southland if they found a spark at quarterback and limited mistakes. The return of quarterback Cutter Stewart after a year in the JUCO ranks seemingly provided the answer at quarterback, passing for 173 yards and two touchdowns while adding 95 yards on the ground. HCU won the turnover battle and were perfect on special teams. 

The media picked the Lions to finish second in the Southland race this year behind defending champion SFA. The Huskies were picked ninth out of 10, just ahead of a Northwestern State team that just lost to a NAIA school. We need to adjust our expectations. 

The Huskies have never won more than five games in a season. They went 2-10 last year. If Week 0 is any indication, HCU is marching towards history. 

Lamar makes statement in ACU win  

There weren’t many FCS jobs in Texas that looked more dire than Lamar when Pete Rossomando arrived on the scene after the 2022 season. The Cardinals were 9-31 in the four seasons before his arrival. That includes a combined 3-19 record in 2021 and 2022.  

The struggles extend beyond the recent past. Lamar’s trip to the FCS playoffs in 2018 remains the only trip to the postseason since the Pecan Bowl in 1964. The Cardinals last shared a Southland Conference title in 1971. Their last outright conference championship was in 1965 under Vernon Glass.

Enter Rossomando. He’s improved Lamar in each of his seasons, winning six in his debut in 2023. The Cardinals won seven in 2024 and eight last season, earning a trip to the FCS playoffs for only the second time in school history. And he’s not done. 

Lamar started 2026 with a chance to make a statement against a perennial FCS playoff team. The 21-14 victory over Abilene Christian made it clear that a return to the playoffs and a push for a Southland Conference championship is the next stop in the program’s evolution. 

Tarleton rolls Prairie View A&M 

The Texans made a statement at home in front of a full stadium and a national television audience in the 49-30 win over Prairie View A&M. The score was 28-20 at halftime before Tarleton scored the first 14 points of the second half to pull away and stamp itself as the favorite in the UAC and one of the true national championship contenders in the country. 

The offense topped 500 total yards and was 4-fot-4 in the red zone and 7-of-10 on third downs. Quarterback Kaden Anderson threw for 224 yards and scored four total touchdowns, while running back Tylan Hines ran for 184 yards and a pair of scores. Marquis Willis led all receivers with 102 yards and two touchdown catches. 

Prairie View’s offense also faced little resistance. The Panthers gained 519 yards and averaged 6.7 yards a play. They settled for a couple of field goals in the red zone and turned the ball over on downs once, which is a killer in a shootout like the one against Tarleton. 

The loss shouldn’t dampen excitement at PVAMU. The Panthers looked every bit the SWAC West Division favorite and they get a chance to prove that next week against Texas Southern. 

Quick Hitters 

• Incarnate Word scored 76 in a win over Oklahoma Panhandle. It was 62-0 at half. Five different receivers caught touchdowns for the Cardinals. 
• Texas Southern knocked off NC Central at home and gave head coach Cris Dishman a Gatorade bath. The Tigers can open some eyes with a win over Prairie View next week. 
• UTRGV blanked UTPB to set up a fun Week 1 matchup with UTSA.