You’ve heard it before, but now it’s undeniable: Texas football is back. That, plus Oregon’s struggles and a Notre Dame revelation in this week’s First and 10.

1. Texas football was lost but now it’s found in the SEC

A quick refresher for those forgetting just how unbearably lost Texas football was not so long ago. 

The big, bad Longhorns, the most valuable television property in all of college sports, the kings of excess and the good life, actually complained to the Big 12 because rival Oklahoma — are you ready for this? — flipped the Hook ‘Em hand gesture and pointed down.

Mommy, the mean men are making fun of us again!

It’s enough to make every red-blooded college football fan puke.

I’m not sure what was more emasculating for once loud and proud Texas: that it complained, or that the Big 12 capitulated and started throwing flags on those flashing horns down.

Personal foul, Team Soft. 

Now here we are, and the thought of that nonsense — with the ugly end to the golden era of Mack Brown, and the failed versions of Texas Is Back under Charlie Strong and Tom Herman — is far in the rearview.

Texas, everyone, is roaring into the SEC in its first season in the best conference in college football. Oklahoma is limping behind, scrambling for answers.

“We are capable of anything,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday at his weekly press conference. “We are entitled to nothing.”

Welcome, Texas, to officially being back. 

It’s almost like the program with every possible advantage has been drawn into some strange football vortex with its entry into the SEC, the conference with every possible advantage. From annoying once-was demanding everything or else, to surging what-is taking anything it wants.

Meanwhile, there is bitter rival Oklahoma, which seemingly snuck into the SEC party on the tails of Texas (more on that later) — despite dominating Texas since the birth of the Big 12 in 1994.

Even with two losses in three games to the Sooners, Sarkisian is doing just about everything right. Recruiting at an elite level, developing NFL Draft picks and, more than anything, changing the longheld narrative of Texas football. 

Elite players, elite coaching. We all know where this is headed.

2. Meanwhile, what’s up with Oklahoma football?

For every action, there’s a corresponding reaction. Or in this case, bad football at Oklahoma. 

By the time it ended last weekend, Oklahoma had 252 total yards, punted eight times and averaged 5.2 yards per pass attempt in a four-point win over Houston. 

All of that ugly underscored a growing narrative that – fair or not, real or not — has taken hold. Texas is is new SEC darling, the Sooners are the team tagging along.

Even though Oklahoma and coach Brent Venables have won two of three games against Sarkisian and Texas, even though one of Texas’ two losses in last year’s breakout season was to the Sooners, there’s skepticism in and outside Norman. 

The same Oklahoma that couldn’t stop anyone in Venables’ first season lost twice by a combined eight points in the 2023 regular season to straighten the curves. That is, until Arizona thumped the Sooners in the Alamo Bowl, and until fans booed often last weekend during the uninspiring win over a rebuilding Houston team that was blown out by UNLV a week earlier.

If you think that’s a problem, let me introduce karma: In two weeks, after this weekend’s home game against Tulane, Oklahoma will play its first SEC game against white-hot Tennessee. 

It was Vols coach Josh Heupel, who won a national title in 2000 as a plucky quarterback at Oklahoma, who helped kickstart the Sooner’s two decades of dominance over Texas with a Heisman Trophy finalist season. And it was Heupel who was summarily fired as offensive coordinator after the 2014 season – a move that, to this day, still motivates him. 

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3. Texas is back, The Epilogue

Elite players win championships. It’s why Alabama, Clemson and Georgia have dominated the first decade of the College Football Playoff.

It’s why Texas truly is back.

Sarkisian’s first four recruiting classes at Texas were ranked 15th, fifth, third and sixth in the nation, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.     

“It’s an acquisition game,” Sarkisian said in July. “How many impact players can you acquire, and can you develop them and get them to work toward the same thing?” 

Especially at the most important position on the field. 

The current Texas quarterback (Quinn Ewers) was the No. 1 overall recruit in 2021 and is a projected first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft. His backup (Arch Manning) was the No. 1 overall recruit in 2023.

Alabama, Georgia and Clemson combined for six national titles since 2016, and produced a combined four first-round picks at quarterback over that span. Every quarterback from those championship teams is playing in the NFL: Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and Stetson Bennett. 

Meanwhile at Oklahoma, the offense dried up once Lincoln Riley left for Southern California after the 2021 season. Even the last two seasons with Dillon Gabriel, while productive, haven’t been program-defining like the past (see: Hurts, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield).

Texas has taken the Oklahoma offensive model, added some beef and bravado on defense and sped past the Sooners.

4. Notre Dame and the lost intangibles

College football has quickly become talent vs. experience and chemistry. The current formula is a roster of high school recruits mixed with transfer portal additions built to win now.

But that road many times lacks core principles of championship teams: the organically-built intangibles of leadership and chemistry. Case in point: the Northern Illinois upset of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has 12 players on its two-deep roster that are either true freshmen, or transfers from the portal. There’s one true freshman on the Northern Illinois two-deep. And a whole lot of organically-developed upperclassmen. 

It’s still about talent, but once emotion and motivation enter the picture, the dynamic of what should be a glorified scrimmage turns into a white-knuckle ride. It’s no different than the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, where a team full of one-and-dones is eliminated in the first round by a mid-major full of players – grown men – who have been with the program for years.

5. The Weekly Five: Southern California’s flex

Five teams that are better than we thought … maybe. 

1. USC: New DC D’Anton Lynn’s unit has given up 20 points in two games, and QB Miller Moss is the next in a long line of prolific Riley quarterbacks. 

2. Iowa State: Primed to roll in the next six weeks: Arkansas State, at Houston, Baylor, at West Virginia, Central Florida, Texas Tech. 

3. Vanderbilt: With a win over Georgia State, Commodores will be 3-0 for the first time since 2017.

4. Syracuse: Ohio State gave up on QB Kyle McCord, who has changed his fortunes with the Orange..

5. San Jose State: New coach Ken Niumatalolo isn’t all about the triple option anymore.

6. An NFL scout’s view of Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan

An NFL scout analyzes a draft eligible player. This week: Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan. (The scout requested anonymity to protect the team’s draft preparations.)

“Tall, long and strong. He’s not a burner, but he does just about everything else at a high, high level. We’re so consumed with getting guys who can run well to stretch defenses that we overlook what the position is all about. It’s gaining separation and making difficult and routine catches. You’re talking about a guy who is all of 6-feet-5, with a large catch radius and terrific body control.”

7. Power Play: Tennessee moving up

This week’s College Football Playoff Poll (the 12-team bracket ranking and first four out) — and one big thing.

1. Georgia: Kentucky quit in last week’s loss to South Carolina, and now gets the king.

2. Ohio State: A lot of hype for an offense that has played two truly pitiful defenses (Akron, Western Michigan).

3. Miami: The defense – eight sacks, five turnovers forced, third-down conversion rate of 18.1%.  

4. Oklahoma State: Don’t ignore a bad Tulsa team with Big 12 opener against Utah on horizon.

5. Texas: The Georgia game on Oct. 19 can’t get here soon enough.

6. Ole Miss: QB Jaxson Dart is averaging a whopping 14.7 yards per attempt. 

7. USC: Two weeks to prepare for the first Big Ten game at Michigan.

8. Tennessee: If you’re not a believer in QB Nico Iamaleava and the Vols, check your pulse.

9. Alabama: Some things never change: Tide has 14 pass breakups, 13 QB pressures and five sacks. 

10. Penn State: The Bowling Green struggle – an anomaly or an indicator?

11. Missouri: After two gimme putts, time to see if Mizzou is for real against Boston College.

12. Oregon: Ducks have 17 penalties, and only five other Power Four conference teams have more.

13. LSU: Same as it was – LSU is 107th in the nation in average yards per play (6.18), and 95th in third-down conversions (40.9%). 

14. Utah: QB Cam Rising has seven touchdowns, no interceptions, 11.9 yards per attempt.   

15. Clemson: Was way too early to file away QB Cade Klubnick and OC Garrett Riley.

16. Kansas State: Time to crank up dynamic QB Avery Johnson.

8. Mailbag: What’s up with Oregon?

Matt: Gently, please. Should I be worried about my Ducks? — Mindy Baker, Seattle. 

Mindy: One is an anomaly, and two is … time to wonder what in the world is going on with a team full of talent on both sides of the ball that just can’t seem to play complementary football.

After games against Idaho and Boise State, Oregon is 84th in the nation in scoring defense (24 ppg) and 72nd in scoring offense (30.5 ppg). The problem this season is the very area where Dan Lanning made the greatest impact in his first two seasons: the lines of scrimmage.

The Ducks aren’t winning consistently at the point of attack on either side and are significantly worse on the offensive line. It’s not just missed assignments, it’s penalties (false starts and holding), bad snaps, poor technique from offensive tackles in pass sets and a lack of intensity from the middle three.

9. The numbers game: Introducing Jahvaree Ritzie

5. NFL scouts call it a money year – a final season when players reach their ceiling, knowing they’re playing for NFL money. College coaches call it development. Some players simply take longer to reach their potential. 

Welcome to the argument, North Carolina DT Jahvaree Ritzie, who had eight career starts and 2½ career sacks in three previous seasons as a cog in the middle of the defensive line.

Now he leads the nation in sacks (five) as an interior lineman, no less. The obvious grand (and ridiculous) statement is Ritzie is on pace for 30 sacks.

The North Carolina single-season record for sacks is 16, set by Lawrence Taylor in 1980. If UNC plays 13 games (12 games plus a bowl game), Ritzie needs to average a sack a game to tie Taylor’s record. 

10. The last word: Ryan Williams, Cam Coleman lead freshman receiving class

In this quarterback-heavy sport, we often become fixated on the most important position on the field and ignore the rest of the offense.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the ridiculously talented freshmen receiving class. 

After two weeks, blue-chip recruits Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State), Cam Coleman (Auburn), Ryan Williams (Alabama) and Bryant Wesco Jr. (Clemson) have combined for 25 catches and eight touchdowns. 

More impressive is the combined average yards per catch of 26.7, and big plays of 84, 76, 70, 55 and 51 yards. They also have four combined plays of at least 41 yards. 

We’re two games into the season, and this group already is must-see.

Matt Hayes is the national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at MattHayesCFB.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to defy the Biden administration after a federal agency instructed him to remove what was built on an island local officials said has become a hot spot for Mexican drug cartels. 

In a letter Monday to President Biden and Vice President Harris, Abbott said the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (U.S. IBWC) told the Texas General Land Office (GLO) to restore Fronton Island to “pre-construction conditions.” 

Fronton Island sits on the border between the U.S. and Mexico on the Rio Grande. The 170-acre island has seen an assortment of cartel activity, including gunfights and illegal immigration.

“For years, the cartels were ‘running rampant’ in Fronton Island’s ‘thick vegetation’ and ‘bullet-pocked structures’ along the river to stage illegal entries, surveil state and federal law enforcement, stash weapons, plant explosives, evade apprehension, and engage in open warfare against rival cartels and against state and federal officers,” Abbott wrote. 

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“On one occasion recounted in the citations below, authorities found ‘six assault rifles, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, 20 ammunition magazines for various-sized weapons and three packages of what appeared to be C-4 plastic explosives’ hidden on the Island,” he added. 

“On another, Texas soldiers found an improvised explosive device ‘buried amid a stash of weapons and semi-automatic rifle ammunition.’”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to defy the Biden administration over an island on the Rio Grande. (Mega/Getty Images)

The Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers were recently given permission to patrol and police the island by local authorities. 

“Law enforcement has found some ammunition, suspicious devices on it. And we just feel like with the border crisis, it was really important to ensure that Texas law enforcement have access to these islands so we can help secure our border,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham previously told Fox News Digital. 

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This map shows Fronton Island on the Rio Grade between Texas and Mexico. (Gov. Greg Abbott)

In 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, an aggressive effort to combat the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into Texas from Mexico. Texas National Guard soldiers and law enforcement have also set up razor wire fencing and other barriers along the border and have floated buoys on the Rio Grande to make it more difficult to cross. 

In addition, the GLO has built two sediment bridges, placed concertina wire and “cleared vegetation” on the island, Abbott said. The U.S. IBWC, the American partner in the International Boundary and Water Commission, is a joint body formed by the U.S. and Mexican governments to regulate the southern border. 

The Biden administration said the island is part of federal land. However, Abbott said the island is owned by Texas. 

“Your open-border policies have allowed an invasion at the southern border and incentivized criminal activity that threatens the lives of Texas law enforcement, soldiers, and citizens,” he said. “Yet, in the wake of a crisis that it helped create, the federal government has refused to enforce federal laws – even in dangerous areas like Fronton Island.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott’s office, the White House and the IBWC.

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The effort has resulted in clashes between Abbott and the Biden administration. Texas secured the island in October, saying it had been used by Mexican drug cartels as a base. 

“For years, Fronton Island was overrun with violence. Texas secured it against the cartels,” Abbott wrote on X. “The Biden-Harris Admin now demands that Fronton Island return to its prior condition. Today, I told Biden & Harris that Texas will not comply.”

What’s in a name? That which we (Texans) call an accountability system would smell just as foul. My apologies to Shakespeare, but the dilemma of our public schools certainly feels tragic.  You might wonder how this issue climbed to the top of the “story of the day” under the Texas education section. After all, it would be easy to delve into public education’s lack of funding or the battle over educational savings accounts, aka vouchers. While those issues are certainly on the minds of anyone connected to public schools and being written about and discussed quite frequently, the issue up for review is the A-F accountability system- our state’s not-so-sneaky plan to punish or, even worse, attempt to extinguish Texas public school districts.

I spent 30 years in public schools as a teacher and campus administrator. In that time, I watched our state move from TAAS to TAKS to STAAR tests. Throughout that time, I remember hearing how each assessment was so much “better” and more rigorous than the previous one.  I remember hearing how each assessment would hold schools accountable for student learning, which I always found interesting.  In my mind, I always felt accountable to my students for their success or lack thereof.  I never felt like I needed the state of Texas to make me feel that.  The many people I worked alongside throughout my career seemed to hold the same belief.  We all felt accountable. 

I want to go on record and say I am not against some form of formal accountability.  We are all vested in ensuring children learn and can be successful adults.  My contention lies within the system and its ultimate intent.  I don’t think most people would believe one multiple-choice test a year would be a valid and reliable indicator of a student’s success beyond their formative years into adulthood.  None of those assessments tests for empathy, perseverance, or being able to work cooperatively with others.  Traits I hear many employers talk about needing in today’s world. 

I could go on and on about my issues with the tests themselves, but that’s not my intent.  My concern lies with the accountability system itself.  I recently read an article about school districts suing TEA over accountability ratings for the second year in a row, and I began to reflect on how ridiculous the system has become. 

In my last year as a high school principal, we had the “pleasure” of implementing the state’s remediation plan for students who did not pass the STAAR.  The plan, which was basically untenable for 99.9% of all school districts, had a prescribed directive requiring more time and staff than schools had.  Ironically, schools have had plans in place for years for students who did not pass these tests, and while I won’t pretend all plans were successful for all students, campuses and districts working in tandem were able to show significant gains from year to year. Again, the people working each day with kids feel accountable.

This lawsuit from five districts across Texas against TEA stems from yet another example of punitive measures against public school districts.  The initial lawsuit from a year ago included over 100 school districts across the state.  Superintendent Brent Jaco from Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD said, “We wholeheartedly believe that accountability is a good process to measure a district’s success.  However, we also believe the proposed adjustments to the A-F Accountability Ratings system do not accurately reflect our students and staff’s hard work and progress.”  According to the current suit, the districts assert, “Commissioner Morath did not provide notice of the measures, methods, and procedures he would use to evaluate school districts and campuses.” The other issue involved College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) accountability scores- particularly that “students who already graduated were being measured against new standards that were not even in place when they were in school.”  Yes, that’s correct.  Students who have already finished their high school careers would have their scores recorded on their CCMR.  Except, not really.  Students were not going to be called back to high school because of the new scoring formula. 

What was going to happen and would have happened if not for the lawsuit and the TRO issued by a Travis County judge was districts and campuses would be penalized retroactively.  The worst part is schools are unable to even help the students who now no longer meet the standards because they’re off to… college or military or to perform a trade/start a career. What’s the saying? From the ridiculous to the sublime.  

I encourage you to read the article I mentioned earlier to get a full perspective of what is involved in this suit.  TEA says the A-F accountability system is “good for kids and gives parents a clear understanding of how well their schools are performing.  I agree that parents can understand that an A is a good score and an F is a bad one; what parents don’t understand is the convoluted, unfair way TEA arrives at those ratings.  As far as “good for kids,” the only people who would say and actually believe this are folks who have spent little to no time in a public school talking to public school children, their teachers, or their parents.  Trust me when I tell you, none of those people would ever say that current state testing is good for kids without their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. 

In case you’re wondering if other options/solutions to the current accountability system have been presented.  They have.  Many and often.  And disappointingly, our state continues to not listen to the very folks who work with kids every day.  Until that day comes, I am not hopeful that it will happen anytime soon.  The system that’s supposed to be good for kids is the one that continues to punish them.  The system that’s supposed to give parents a clear understanding does no such thing. 

I can tell you Texas public schools are not afraid of accountability.  They thrive in it.  They feel it every day they step into a classroom, on campus, or in a district administration building.  All working together to hold themselves accountable to the children and to the parents of the very community they serve.  That accountability by any other name would smell…well, you know the rest.