We’re entering what might be the best Week 1 in the history of college football and the Lone Star State is front and center as the Texas Longhorns travel to Ohio State for the first time since 2005 to face the defending champions. Baylor kicks off the weekend at home with a showcase game against Auburn on Friday night. And the weekend ends on Monday night with the TCU Horned Frogs welcoming Bill Belichick into college football when they head to North Carolina. 

Here are my three biggest questions entering a loaded Week 1. 

3. Can TCU avoid an egg-on-face moment? 

The three-year tenure of Sonny Dykes in Fort Worth is colored by three bad days at the office. First, the 65-7 loss to Georgia in the national championship game unfairly resulted in a national perception that the Horned Frogs didn’t deserve to be there despite beating Big Ten champion Michigan the week before. A Michigan team that won the national championship a year later with mostly the same players. The second bad day was the opener in 2023 when Deion Sanders led the Colorado Buffaloes past the Frogs in his first game as an FBS coach. The third happened in 2024 when Dykes was ejected against SMU, a team he used to coach, in the last scheduled visit to the Hilltop. 

But those three bad days shouldn’t define the national perception of Dykes’ time at TCU. He’s 27-13 overall over three years. His Frogs are 26-11 in the regular season and 18-9 in Big 12 play. The only team with more Big 12 victories over that span is Kansas State. TCU finished 2024 by winning six of seven, and the only loss was by three points against a Baylor squad that won its last six regular season games. The program was 16-18 overall and 11-16 in the Big 12 over the three years before Dykes’ arrival. 

TCU enters 2025 under the radar. In-state Big 12 headlines have gone towards Texas Tech for most of the offseason. Even Baylor received more preseason buzz. The Frogs won’t lack an early spotlight, however. The nation’s eyeballs will be on North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick on Monday night and it is the Frogs’ job to rudely welcome him to college football. A loss would be another egg-on-the-face moment for TCU and could cause a similar spiral as the one in 2022 after the Colorado loss. A win would buoy in-house expectations that this team is a Big 12 contender and as talented as the 2022 squad. 

2. Will the Baylor secondary hold up against Auburn's talented wide receivers? 

The Bears enter 2025 with Big 12 championship aspirations. The offense returns mostly intact with QB Sawyer Robertson, RB Bryson Washington, and WR Josh Cameron forming the best Triplets in the Big 12. The defense improved with Dave Aranda calling plays, cutting points allowed from 33.3 in 2023 – 116th in the nation – to 26.7 in 2024, which was 81st nationally. Not good enough to win the Big 12, but a step in the right direction. Baylor won its last six regular season games and were a trendy pick to win the conference alongside Kansas State, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Utah, and Iowa State. 

Nothing that happens in Week 1 against Auburn impacts Baylor’s eventual Big 12 hopes, but the Bears secondary will receive a proper test against a Tigers wide receiver core that includes super sophomore Cam Coleman and talented transfer Eric Singleton. The Bears’ secondary was once again abysmal in 2024. They ranked 94th in passing yards allowed per game, 92nd in passing touchdowns allowed, and 93rd in passing yards per attempt. Somehow, those were improvements from the year before. 

To play for a Big 12 title, the Bears must improve against the pass. To beat Auburn in Week 1, they must keep Jackson Arnold from finding confidence early in the passing game. An improved pass rush will help and we expect better edge play with transfers Matthew Fobbs-White and Emar’rion Winston on campus. Baylor thought it landed a potential star at safety to play next to Devyn Bobby but Devin Turner was lost to a season-ending injury late in spring practice. Worse yet, nickel back Carl Williams IV isn’t healthy enough to play against Auburn. 

1. Does Arch Manning, Texas live up to preseason hype?

Longhorn Nation has waited over two years for the heralded five-star quarterback with the famous last name to take the reins. Manning has played some during his first two years on campus and even started a couple of games last season when Quinn Ewers is hurt, but the Week 1 heavyweight battle against defending champion Ohio State is his first true introduction to the national stage. Manning is the biggest star in college football and we’re not even sure if he’ll be a star on the football field. A big game against the Buckeyes would send Arch Madness into a new stratosphere. A bad performance on the road will be overly dissected on national shows like First Take. With Manning, there will be no middle ground. 

Texas is used to that type of narrative. The Horns are either loved or hated. There isn’t a ton of in-between or nuance when discussing Texas. The Longhorns were habitual underachievers in the dozen or so years between Mack Brown and Steve Sarkisian. They were routinely overvalued in preseason polls and typically fell short of expectations. But the narrative is changing as Sark’s squad won the Big 12 two years ago and reached consecutive College Football Playoff semifinals. Texas has also produced more NFL draft picks over the last two years than any team in college football. Texas isn’t just back. The Horns are better than ever. 

Texas enters 2025 as the No. 1 team in the country and the betting favorite to win the national title. All with an inexperienced quarterback who will be playing behind four new starters on the offensive line. Texas also lost a wide receiver and tight end to the NFL. Manning won’t be alone, of course. Texas signs Top 5 recruiting classes yearly. But the spotlight will be solely on Manning this Saturday at The Shoe. Fair or not, that’s life as football royalty. There is a feeling across the nation that Manning and the Horns have been given too much benefit of the doubt heading into the season. On Saturday, we’ll see if it was deserved.  

Week 1 Picks Against the Spread 

Baylor +2.5 over Auburn
UNLV -9.5 over Sam Houston
Texas -1.5 over Ohio State
Texas A&M -24.5 over UTSA
Utah State -5.5 over UTEP
Louisiana -12.5 over Rice
Texas State -13.5 over Eastern Michigan
TCU -3.5 over North Carolina

2025 record: 1-0