Huddle up! Here’s a look back at the first full week of the football season, with three key takeaways from the state’s football scene.
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Longhorns take a big step back
It certainly didn’t take long for a lot of criticism to be heaped on new Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.
That’s what happens when not only you lose to an unranked opponent, but you get embarrassed doing so.
After looking so good in a season-opening win over a then-ranked opponent in Louisiana, the Longhorns got rocked at Arkansas, falling behind 33-7 en route to a 40-21 loss.
Those Texas boosters who forked over $15 million to buy out Tom Herman and his staff so Sarkisian could be brought in obviously aren’t giving up on Sarkisian just yet.
But still, losses like that -- particularly to an SEC team that became the butt of jokes on social media about how Texas faces future doom once they become a full-fledged member of the SEC -- are a bad look.
An encouraging opener for Prescott
Despite a 31-29 loss at defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay, the season opener couldn’t have gone much better for the Cowboys in one key regard.
Following a gruesome ankle injury last year and being limited during the preseason due to a shoulder issue, there were understandable concerns how quarterback Dak Prescott would perform in his first live action in almost a year.
In a great sign for the Cowboys for the rest of the year, Prescott was terrific, going 42 of 58 for 403 yards and three touchdown passes against one of the NFL’s top defenses from last year.
If there ever was a time a loss felt like a win, this was it for the Cowboys.
Gritty win or alarm bells for Texas A&M?
A win was a win for Texas A&M on Saturday, which pulled out a 10-7 victory over Colorado thanks to an 18-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Zach Calzada to running back Isaiah Spiller with 2:41 remaining.
But while it was a gutsy way to pull out a win on a day where little went right, there might be some troubling signs going forward for the Aggies.
First of all, they struggled against a Colorado team picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 South before the season started.
More importantly, starting quarterback Haynes King suffered a lower leg injury on the second drive of the game and didn’t return.
King was on the sideline for the rest of the game in crutches and with his foot in a boot.
If he’s out for an extended period of time, that could be a problem for the Aggies once they get into SEC play.