“We want to try to be able to help people reach their highest potential,” McVay said.

That definition of leadership has little to do with a title. Head coaches are leaders. Bosses and managers are leaders. Parents and teachers are leaders. But a title isn’t required to influence what happens when you walk into a room. One of the best ways to evaluate our influence is to pay attention to what happens to the people around us.

Are they more confident when we are there? Are they comfortable admitting a mistake? Do they believe they can accomplish something they were unsure they could accomplish before? Or does everyone tighten up because they are worried about what we will say or how we will react?

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Week 1 gives us our first look at most of Division III, another chance to learn whether some surprising Week 0 results were real and a rivalry game that could matter when the SWAC West race reaches November.

I finished Week 0 with a 14-4 record picking winners and went 9-6 against the spread. Visit the Week 1 Scoreboard & Stream Guide for each game.

TEXAS SOUTHERN at PRAIRIE VIEW A&M

Date: Sunday, September 6, 2026

Zero Hour: 1100 hours — ESPN2

Intel: The 41st Labor Day Classic arrives with more than rivalry bragging rights attached. This is also the SWAC opener for two teams that gave us reasons to pay attention in Week 0.

Texas Southern fell behind North Carolina Central 14-0 and trailed by 10 at halftime before taking over in a 42-30 win. The Tigers finished with 462 total yards, including 277 rushing, while A.J. Renfro Jr. ran for 163 yards.

Prairie View lost 49-30 at No. 5 Tarleton, but the final score does not erase what the Panthers accomplished offensively. Prairie View produced 519 total yards, while Kevin Carter accounted for 309 passing yards and another 130 on the ground.

SITREP: There is not much separation between these teams right now. Texas Southern already showed it can respond after being punched early. Prairie View is the defending SWAC champion and has enough offensive firepower to turn this into another shootout.

The bigger picture won’t be clear until November. The SWAC West could be tight enough that we look back at the Labor Day Classic and realize this game helped determine who reached the conference championship.

My Pick: Prairie View 34, Texas Southern 31

ATS: Texas Southern +5

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Tigers head coach Jerheme Urban said Thursday on the Cory Hogue Sports Show that Horn will start Saturday against Texas Lutheran, although Franklin will also play. Franklin started for Trinity last season and helped the Tigers reach the third round of the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time since 2002.

“We’re going to go into Week 1 with Welker as a starter,” Urban said. “Both are really, really strong quarterbacks. Both are going to play.”

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Trinity head coach Jerheme Urban joins the show ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Texas Lutheran. We discuss expectations for the Tigers after last year’s run to the third round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, Trinity’s quarterback room, the development of Alejandro Tavares, and what makes veteran TLU quarterback Caden Bosanko dangerous.

Urban also explains how his background as a quarterback and NFL receiver influences how he coaches the position today, and why Trinity’s experienced locker room matters as the Tigers begin another season with high expectations.

The Weekend War Map leads with Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M meeting in the Labor Day Classic; West Florida traveling to Central Arkansas after both teams made statements in Week 0; No. 21 UMHB opening at Rowan; Ottawa, Ariz., visiting Wayland Baptist; and No. 15 NMMI facing No. 10 Navarro.

We also go “On the Radar” with Angelo State at No. 11 Western Colorado, Howard Payne at Pacific and McMurry at Southwestern before running through the rest of the board. That includes Tarleton at Bowling Green, ACU at Texas Tech, West Texas A&M at Grand Valley State, Texas A&M-Kingsville at Saginaw Valley State and the opening weekend across Division III and the SWJCFC.

The show opens with EARN and a leadership lesson from Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay. McVay describes great leaders as “elevators” who help the people around them reach their highest potential, raising the day’s question: Are you lifting people up?

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The FCS Oversight Committee approved proposed changes Monday that would replace the current spring practice and summer activity model, shorten preseason camp, allow joint practices and significantly alter off-campus recruiting. The changes are not official. The Division I Cabinet must approve the legislation when it meets Oct. 6-7 before most of the new rules could take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

The offseason proposal is the biggest departure from the current model. FCS programs could hold two out-of-season practice periods between Jan. 1 and preseason camp with 21 on-field practices combined. The two periods could span no more than seven total weeks, with neither lasting longer than five weeks. Schools would also have to designate at least nine weeks as discretionary or voluntary time when required athletic activities are prohibited.

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Nathan Brown remembers Omolo sitting on the couch in his office during a visit after Omolo entered the transfer portal. UCA was not handing him anything. Brown planned to bring multiple quarterbacks into the program and let them compete for the job.

“It doesn’t matter who you bring in, I’m going to win the job,” Omolo told Brown.

That confidence was one reason Brown wanted him back in Conway. It was also the same confidence Omolo needed when his first start for the Bears could hardly have begun worse.

Omolo threw a pick-six on UCA’s second possession on the road against No. 22 UT Martin. Twelve seconds after the Bears took possession near midfield, Trey Cotton returned the interception 55 yards for a touchdown. Brown did not need to tell his quarterback what had happened.

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The university announced Wednesday that McCullough’s contract had been terminated effective immediately. Pete Bennett, who had already been serving as interim head coach, will remain in that position for the rest of the 2026 season. Gardner-Webb said it had no additional comment.

McCullough was suspended Monday pending the outcome of what Gardner-Webb called an ongoing investigation. The university did not disclose the nature of the investigation then and provided no additional details when it announced his termination.

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Taylor said he developed the term years ago while completing an internship with the Cleveland Browns. A coach continually talked about “self-inflicted negatives,” and Taylor realized the initials spelled SIN. He has carried the concept throughout his coaching career, and the reason it works is simple. A team cannot control every great play an opponent makes, but it can control many of the mistakes that put it in a worse position.

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UCA head coach Nathan Brown joined the show to discuss quarterback Donovyn Omolo’s impressive debut, how he responded after an early pick-six and why Brown believes the traits separating good quarterbacks from great ones go well beyond physical talent.

Brown also explained why UCA’s veteran receivers and deep running back room can help Omolo, what impressed him about the Bears converting 10 of 15 third downs and committing just two penalties, and why West Florida already has UCA’s full attention.

Brown knows something about moving from Division II to FCS. He was Central Arkansas’ starting quarterback when the Bears made that transition, and he sees some similarities with what West Florida is doing now. After the Argos beat Southern Illinois in their FCS debut, Brown said he expects West Florida to remain in the UAC race into November.

His message to his own team after beating UT Martin was just as direct: stop patting yourself on the back.

We also break down the proposed FCS calendar changes that moved another step closer to becoming reality. The plan would allow more flexibility with offseason practices, permit one joint practice during the spring term, shorten preseason camp, reduce the transfer window and expand options for off-campus recruiting.

There are parts of the proposal I like. Joint practices could create better evaluation opportunities, and giving programs more control over when they use developmental periods makes sense in the transfer portal era. My concern is whether increased flexibility creates another advantage for programs with larger staffs and recruiting budgets.

The show opened with our EARN philosophy and a question inspired by Mercer coach Joel Taylor: Are you creating SINs?

Taylor calls them Self-Inflicted Negatives. In football, those are penalties, turnovers, missed assignments and other mistakes that make winning harder. The same idea applies away from football. Life provides enough adversity without us creating more of it ourselves.

We also discussed the latest development involving Gardner-Webb and former head coach Chris McCullough while avoiding speculation about details that have not been made public.

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*All times Central

Week 0 | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17

FCS | NCAA Division II | NCAA Division III | NAIA | NJCAA

Southland Conference | SWAC | United Athletic Conference

Lone Star Conference | ASC | Southern Athletic Association | SCAC

Sooner Athletic Conference | SWJCFC

FCS

Southland Conference

Saturday, September 5, 2026

2:30 p.m. – UTRGV at UTSA
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6 p.m. – Texas Wesleyan at McNeese
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6 p.m. – Nicholls at Kansas State
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6 p.m. – Houston Christian at Rice
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6 p.m. – Southeastern Louisiana at South Alabama
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6:30 p.m. – Northwestern State at Louisiana Tech
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7 p.m. – East Texas A&M at SFA
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7 p.m. – Lamar at Louisiana
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SWAC

Thursday, September 3, 2026

UCF 73, Bethune-Cookman 6
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Missouri 54, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14
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Saturday, September 5, 2026

4 p.m. – Alcorn State at Southern Miss
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5 p.m. – Lane College at Alabama State
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6 p.m. – Miles College at Alabama A&M
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6 p.m. – Kentucky State at Southern
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6 p.m. – Edward Waters at Jackson State
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6 p.m. – Central State at Grambling
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7 p.m. – Mississippi Valley State at Sacramento State
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Sunday, September 6, 2026

11 a.m. – Texas Southern at Prairie View A&M
Labor Day Classic
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3 p.m. – Florida A&M vs South Carolina State
Orange Blossom Classic
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United Athletic Conference

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Kennesaw State 47, West Georgia 0
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Saturday, September 5, 2026

11 a.m. – Tarleton at Bowling Green
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3:15 p.m. – North Alabama at Arkansas
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6 p.m. – ACU at Texas Tech
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6 p.m. – Austin Peay at Vanderbilt
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6 p.m. – West Florida at Central Arkansas
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6 p.m. – Eastern Kentucky at Jax State
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NCAA Division II

Lone Star Conference

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Grand Valley State 56, West Texas A&M 14
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Western Colorado 23, Angelo State 21
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New Mexico Highlands 55, Western New Mexico 32
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Saturday, September 5, 2026

12 p.m. – Midwestern State at Michigan Tech
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1 p.m. – Western Oregon at Southern Oregon
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3 p.m. – Colorado Mesa at Eastern New Mexico
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5 p.m. – Texas A&M-Kingsville at Saginaw Valley State
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7 p.m. – Central Washington at Cal Poly
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7 p.m. – Adams State at Sul Ross
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NCAA Division III

American Southwest Conference

Friday, September 4, 2026

5 p.m. – Mary Hardin-Baylor at Rowan
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9 p.m. – Howard Payne at Pacific
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Saturday, September 5, 2026

12 p.m. – Chapman at Hardin-Simmons
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4 p.m. – East Texas Baptist at Lyon
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6 p.m. – McMurry at Southwestern
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6 p.m. – Austin College at Schreiner
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Southern Athletic Association

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Millsaps 36, Belhaven 20
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Saturday, September 5, 2026

11 a.m. – Maryville at Heidelberg
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1 p.m. – Bethany at Sewanee
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1 p.m. – Centre at Hanover
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6 p.m. – McMurry at Southwestern
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6 p.m. – Berry at Huntingdon
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7 p.m. – Texas Lutheran at Trinity
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7 p.m. – Washington (Mo) at Rhodes
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Southern Collegiate Athletic Association

Friday, September 4, 2026

5 p.m. – Gallaudet at Albright
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Saturday, September 5, 2026

4 p.m. – East Texas Baptist at Lyon
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6 p.m. – Austin College at Schreiner
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7 p.m. – Texas Lutheran at Trinity
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NAIA

Sooner Athletic Conference

Saturday, September 5, 2026

7 p.m. – Arkansas Baptist at Texas College
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1 p.m. – Maryville State at Oklahoma Panhandle State
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6 p.m. – Langston at Louisiana Christian
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6 p.m. – Texas Wesleyan at McNeese
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7 p.m. – OUAZ at Wayland Baptist
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NJCAA

SWJCFC

Saturday, September 5, 2026

12 p.m. – Snow at Cisco
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6 p.m. – Trinity Valley at Kilgore
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7 p.m. – New Mexico Military Institute at Navarro
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7 p.m. – Tyler at Blinn
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Opponent quality matters. A player dominating an opponent from a lower classification deserves credit, but I am going to give more weight to someone producing against equal or better competition. Context matters as much as the box score when deciding which performances deserve our attention.

These are not rankings. They are players who stood out nationally, across the conferences on my beat and among Texas programs during the opening weekend.

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Beginning this season, NPI becomes the sole criterion for selecting at-large teams for the Division II playoffs. Regional advisory committees will no longer rank teams for selection, removing much of the human judgment that has frustrated the process.

There is plenty to like about that change. Every team will be judged using the same formula. Strength of schedule matters. Quality wins receive additional value. Teams that win enough games can eventually remove victories that would otherwise damage their NPI. It is a much better foundation. My concern is what happens when Division II treats the formula as infallible.

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Beginning in 2026, NPI is the sole criterion used to select at-large teams for the Division II playoffs. Conference champions from leagues with automatic qualification remain protected, but the regional advisory committees have been eliminated, and the traditional regional rankings are gone. Instead, NPI will determine which teams receive the remaining at-large bids.

The easiest way to understand NPI is to look at what the formula is designed to reward. Division II uses a 25-75 split between winning percentage and strength of schedule. Winning percentage accounts for 25 percent of the formula, while strength of schedule accounts for 75 percent. That is a much heavier emphasis on opponent quality than Division III, which uses a 40-60 split, and it sends a pretty clear message about what Division II wants its playoff résumé to value. Winning still matters, obviously, but who you play and who you beat matter a lot.

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That makes nonconference scheduling especially important. Conference schedules are mostly predetermined, so those games give programs very little control over the strength of their résumé. Nonconference games are different. Those are the games programs can use to improve their schedule and potentially give themselves a better path into the postseason. One important limitation: only games against Division II opponents count toward NPI. Games against FCS, Division III or NAIA opponents are not included in the calculation. A victory is important, but a win over a Division II team that finishes with a strong NPI can become significantly more valuable than beating a poor team that struggles throughout the season.

The formula creates even more separation through a quality-win bonus. That bonus begins when an opponent reaches a 52 NPI. From there, the difference between the opponent’s NPI and 52 is multiplied by .500. Beat a team with a 56 NPI and the calculation starts with 56 minus 52, leaving four. Multiply four by .500, and the quality-win bonus is 2. Beat a team with a 61 NPI and the bonus becomes 4.5. The idea is straightforward: beating a good team should be worth more than beating an average team, and beating an elite team should be worth even more.

Where the game is played also matters, although not nearly as much as in DIII. Division II uses a 1.05 weight for road wins and home losses and a 0.95 weight for home wins and road losses. The NCAA studied five years of Division II results and found home teams won 52.5 percent of games, which led to the adjustment. It is intentionally small because schedules are not always evenly split between home and road contests. Still, it does recognize something everyone around small-college football understands: winning away from home is usually more difficult.

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Then we get to one of the parts of the formula most likely to confuse: 5.5 retained wins. That number does not mean a team must win six games to qualify for the playoffs. Retained wins are instead designed to protect successful teams from having certain victories lower their NPI. Once a team gets beyond six wins, the formula can stop counting a victory if including that win would actually damage the team’s rating.

Consider two hypothetical teams. Team A finishes 5-5, so all five victories remain in its NPI calculation because it did not cross the 5.5 retained-wins threshold. If two of those victories came against poor teams and those results lower Team A’s NPI, it can do nothing. Those wins remain part of the formula. Team B finishes 8-2. Because a team cannot retain half of a victory, the practical minimum is six wins, meaning the other two can potentially be removed if including them would lower its NPI. In other words, a successful team is not automatically punished for having to play and beat a bad opponent.

That makes seven victories an important threshold. A six-win team cannot throw away its worst victory, but a seven-win team can potentially remove one damaging win from the calculation. An eight-win team can potentially remove two. That does not mean the formula automatically throws those victories away. If all eight wins help the team’s rating, all eight remain. The system only removes a victory when doing so improves the NPI.

Another important part of understanding the system is remembering that NPI is dynamic. A victory’s value does not become permanent the night the game ends. A win that looks good in September can become much more valuable if that opponent finishes 10-1. The opposite is also true. A victory that looked impressive when it happened can lose significant value if that opponent finishes with only two or three wins.

Midwestern State offers a simple example from the opening week. Its win over Missouri Southern becomes more valuable if Missouri Southern continues to win throughout the season because the Lions’ improving résumé strengthens the value of Midwestern State’s victory. If Missouri Southern struggles the rest of the year, that same win becomes less valuable. That is why early NPI rankings will require some patience and context. The numbers can move significantly from one week to the next because every opponent’s résumé is still developing.

That also changes how fans should look at results around the country. Once your team beats someone, you suddenly have a reason to care what that opponent does for the rest of the season. A September nonconference opponent going on a long winning streak can help your playoff résumé months after you played them. The results of teams outside your conference can matter long after they disappear from your schedule.

In simple terms, NPI is trying to answer four questions: Did you win? Who did you beat? Where did you beat them? And how good did those opponents ultimately become? Division II has chosen to put significant weight on the final three questions, especially opponent quality, which means the best playoff résumé will require more than simply piling up victories.

The terminology will take some time to become familiar, particularly the 5.5 retained-wins rule, but the basic idea behind the system is not complicated. Win games, play good teams, beat good teams, then hope the teams you beat keep winning.

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EMCC fired him Monday because Buddy Stephens acted like Buddy Stephens.

That does not mean Stephens handled his criticism of the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) well. Calling conference leaders “idiots” was unnecessary. Saying he was surprised “there were actual people who have doctorates that came up with this” was guaranteed to anger administrators.

There is a massive amount of room between deciding those comments crossed a line and firing one of the most successful coaches in junior college football history after the season had already started. EMCC chose the nuclear option.

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The controversy started with changes to the MACCC football schedule and postseason. The regular season increased from nine games to 10, giving every program five home and five road games. The bigger change eliminated the four-team conference playoff. Now, the North and South division champions advance directly to the conference championship game.

Stephens had a legitimate football argument against that format. Two of his five national championship teams finished second in the North Division. Under the new system, those teams would not have advanced to the MACCC championship game and their national championship runs would have ended before they started.

Stephens also criticized the process that produced the change and suggested concerns about the cost of postseason travel influenced previous discussions involving the NJCAA playoffs. His delivery lacked diplomacy. The substance of the argument deserves an answer. Instead, the conversation became about his words.

EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks issued a statement saying the school “strongly disavows” Stephens’ comments and described them as inconsistent with EMCC’s standards for professionalism, respect and civility. The statement also said personal attacks have no place in constructive dialogue.

Who did Stephens personally attack? He did not name an administrator. He attacked a decision and the people responsible for making it. There is a difference.

Multiple sources told Cory Hogue Sports the MACCC was preparing to suspend Stephens for the entire season and that presidents from other conference schools, believing his comments were personally directed toward them, pressured EMCC leadership to cut ties with its longtime coach.

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If that is how this reached the point of termination, it makes the decision worse. If I am running EMCC, another school president does not get to decide my football coach’s employment status. Tell me Stephens crossed a line. Fine. Tell me the school needs to address his choice of words internally. Fine. A one-game suspension, reprimand or other punishment could be reasonable, but I am not detonating my football program in September because administrators at other institutions had their feelings hurt.

Stephens does not have a spotless disciplinary history. Anyone familiar with him knows that. He is abrasive. He can be confrontational. In 2015, Stephens received a two-game suspension following an on-field confrontation with a game administrator. Later that season, EMCC’s year ended following the infamous brawl against Mississippi Delta. Anyone who watched the first two seasons of Netflix’s “Last Chance U” also knows Stephens has never been confused with a diplomat. None of this was new information when EMCC continued employing him.

After 18 seasons of knowing exactly who Buddy Stephens was, this was suddenly the offense that required termination? EMCC made the situation even pettier in how it announced the transition. Athletics director Cade Wilkerson announced associate head coach and offensive coordinator Preston Rice as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Stephens’ name did not appear anywhere in the school’s announcement.

Eighteen seasons, five national championships, nine conference championships, national exposure through “Last Chance U,” a place in the NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and EMCC could not acknowledge his existence while announcing the person replacing him. That is not professionalism. It is pettiness disguised as professionalism.

Meanwhile, Rice inherits a football team already one game into a season with championship expectations. EMCC opened with a 14-6 victory over Southwest Mississippi, although Stephens did not coach the game. Now the players, assistant coaches and families are dealing with a head coaching change created by an administrative dispute.

There could be information we do not know. If additional facts emerge that materially change what happened, the situation deserves reevaluation. Stephens’ contract could also contain language that provides EMCC with grounds for its decision. I have not seen the contract, so I am not going to pretend to know whether Stephens has a viable legal challenge.

If I am Stephens, somebody is reading every word of that contract today because based on what is publicly known and what sources have told Cory Hogue Sports, the punishment does not fit the offense.

Stephens could have chosen better words. He could have criticized the MACCC without calling anyone an idiot. EMCC had every right to tell its coach that his comments fell below the professional standard it expected.

Instead, one of the most successful coaching tenures in junior college football history ended because Stephens publicly criticized a decision made by people in power. EMCC knew Buddy Stephens for 18 years. Apparently, that became unacceptable when powerful people didn’t like what he had to say.

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“How many people would quit right now?”

Then he keeps going. Bosh discussed that mindset during a recent conversation with Ryan Holiday, and the question is worth remembering because anyone chasing consistent success will eventually reach that moment. It is not a possibility. The work will get hard. Progress will slow. Something you thought would work will fail. You will get frustrated, tired or bored.

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We spend plenty of time talking about talent, intelligence, connections and opportunity. All of those things matter. But eventually the work becomes work. Maybe nobody is watching. Maybe nobody is reading. Maybe you have put everything you have into something and the results are nowhere close to what you expected.

Are you going to quit? That question is at the center of EARN: effort, attitude, response, no quitting or excuses.

There is an important distinction here. Changing direction after a thoughtful and reasoned evaluation is not the same as quitting because the work became uncomfortable. Sometimes a plan does not work. Sometimes circumstances change. Continuing down the wrong path because you refuse to admit it is wrong is not toughness.

The question is why you are stopping. Are you stopping because this is the wrong path, or are you stopping because you reached the hard part?

Everyone loves the beginning. A new goal has energy. A new job feels exciting. A new business is full of possibilities. A new season begins, and everything seems possible. Then comes the middle. The middle is repetition. It is doing the same work after the excitement of the beginning has faded, and the reward is still somewhere in the distance. It is showing up again after a bad day. It is working when nobody is applauding. It is continuing when there is no immediate evidence that continuing will pay off.

That is where people begin to disappear. When Bosh asks how many people would quit right now, I do not hear arrogance. I hear perspective. He recognizes that he has reached a point difficult enough to make a lot of people stop.

Maybe continuing today is the accomplishment. That does not mean every day will be productive in the same way. Your best effort today might not produce the same result it did yesterday. Sometimes earning a win means doing everything possible with the energy, circumstances and opportunities available that day without allowing one difficult moment to knock you completely off the path.

You also will fail. There will be a bad game, bad week, bad meeting or bad decision. You might waste an hour. You might handle a situation poorly. You might fall completely off the path for a day. You cannot change what already happened, but you can change what happens next.

That is where response becomes so important. The goal is not perfection because perfection is impossible. The goal is to recognize when you have moved away from the habits and decisions that create consistent success, and get back to them as quickly as possible.

A bad day does not have to become a bad week. A bad week does not have to become a bad month. You can EARN a victory in the next moment. Give your best effort. Maintain the right attitude. Respond properly when something goes wrong. Refuse to let excuses become permission to stay where you are.

The desire to quit will eventually arrive again, too. There is no finish line where difficult work suddenly becomes easy forever. That is part of pursuing something worthwhile. When that moment arrives, remember Bosh’s question. How many people would quit right now?

Then decide whether you are going to be one of them.

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Then we turned to one of the biggest stories in junior college football. Buddy Stephens is out at East Mississippi after 18 seasons, five national championships and nine conference titles. We went through exactly what Stephens said about the MACCC’s new postseason format, read EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks’ response and discussed why I believe the punishment went far beyond what Stephens’ comments warranted. I also shared what my sources are telling me about a potential season-long suspension from the MACCC and pressure from other conference presidents before EMCC ultimately fired Stephens.

We also updated the situation at Gardner-Webb, where head coach Kris McCullough is officially suspended pending an investigation. There wasn’t much new information from the school, and that’s fine. We talked about why Gardner-Webb should give the investigation time to establish the facts before making any permanent decision.

The second half of the show went deep into Division II’s new NCAA Power Index. We explained how NPI determines at-large playoff selections, why strength of schedule and nonconference games matter so much, how quality-win bonuses work and what the confusing 5.5 retained-win number means. Then we discussed why I like NPI as a foundation but don’t believe it should be the only metric deciding playoff access.

We closed with the best performances from Week 0. The list included national standouts from every level, the best performances from conferences on the Cory Hogue Sports beat and additional Texas standouts. Opponent quality matters in these evaluations, so this wasn’t simply a list of whoever accumulated the biggest numbers.

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South Dakota State posted the highest overall grade among FCS teams at 96.2, while South Dakota followed at 94. Those performances are more confirmation than revelation for two Missouri Valley programs already expected to compete nationally.

Incarnate Word was third nationally at 93.7 after overwhelming Oklahoma Panhandle State. The Cardinals looked like the superior team from the opening minutes and never allowed the game to become competitive. That’s what should happen when an FCS program with national contender expectations plays an overmatched NAIA opponent, but being expected to dominate and doing it are different things. UIW did what it was supposed to do.

The offense looked explosive again with Emmett Brown at quarterback, while the defense controlled the game and generated pressure. The area worth watching is tackling. That wasn’t nearly as clean as the rest of the performance. UIW doesn’t need another blowout to prove anything. The better test will be whether the quarterback play and defensive pressure continue when the opponent can fight back.

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North Dakota and Illinois State tied for fourth nationally with 91.7 overall grades, but they reached the number differently. North Dakota produced one of the more balanced performances between offense and defense. Illinois State’s grade was driven more by its offense.

Western Illinois is another team worth watching. The Leathernecks finished seventh nationally at 89.2, with the defense driving much of that performance. Western Illinois hasn’t been part of the national FCS conversation recently, so one strong week doesn’t suddenly put the Leathernecks there. It does give us a reason to keep checking.

Tarleton finished ninth nationally with an 88 overall grade, and we’ve already seen where the separation exists. The Texans’ offense looked like a national championship-level unit against Prairie View A&M. Caden Anderson led an explosive passing game behind excellent protection. At the same time, Tylan Hines gave Tarleton a running back capable of creating yards when nothing was clean.

The defense didn’t perform at the same level. That’s not enough to declare a problem after one game, especially against a Prairie View offense with legitimate FCS talent. But Tarleton’s defensive grades in pass rush and coverage are worth tracking because better quarterbacks will punish a defense that can’t consistently generate pressure or cover behind it.

UTRGV rounded out the national top 10 at 85.3, and the most encouraging part of the Vaqueros’ performance was the lack of an obvious weakness. UTPB may prove to be a struggling Division II team this season, so the opponent needs to remain part of the evaluation. Still, UTRGV handled the matchup the way an ascending FCS program should.

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The passing game worked with two quarterbacks, the defense was solid, and the tackling was clean. New programs often lose yards through mistakes that have little to do with talent. UTRGV avoided many of those mistakes in its season opener, which is encouraging for a program beginning its second season.

Stephen F. Austin’s numbers carry more weight because they came against McNeese in a Southland Conference game. The Lumberjacks generated pressure and consistently put defenders in position to create negative plays. The problem was finishing those opportunities because the tackling wasn’t good enough. A poor pass rush can point toward problems with personnel or scheme. SFA’s defenders were getting where they needed to be. They didn’t always finish the play. If the tackling improves while the pressure remains, that defense could become a major reason the Lumberjacks contend for another Southland title.

Texas Southern also produced one of the more interesting Week 0 performances. The formula was simple: run the football, stop the run and create pressure. Athian Renfro Jr. wasn’t simply taking advantage of easy rushing lanes. He created yards, which gives the Tigers something they can potentially build an identity around. Coverage wasn’t as impressive, but Texas Southern’s win over North Carolina Central carries meaning because of the opponent’s quality.

Houston Christian had another example of why PFF grades need to be examined beyond one number. The Huskies protected the quarterback well but struggled to create movement in the running game. Instead of saying HCU has an offensive line problem, the better takeaway is that run blocking is something to monitor. The run defense was encouraging and gives the Huskies another area to compare when more data becomes available.

Prairie View’s defensive numbers require similar context. If Tarleton’s offense becomes one of the best units in FCS, what happened to the Panthers defensively will look different a month from now. The offense was the more encouraging part for Prairie View. Tevin Carter showed he can create problems as a passer and runner, giving coach Tremaine Jackson multiple ways to attack a defense.

Lamar beat an ACU program with consecutive United Athletic Conference titles, and that result carries more weight than producing a prettier grade against an overmatched opponent. Lamar protected the quarterback better than its passing production would suggest, which means blaming the offensive line for every issue in the passing game doesn’t fit what happened Saturday.

East Texas A&M finished with the lowest overall grade among the Texas FCS teams that played, largely because the offense struggled during the first half against Mercer. The Lions trailed 23-0 at halftime but still gave themselves a chance to win late. Micah Simpson caught 10 passes for 168 yards, the defense was much better against the run, and the second-half response looked nothing like a team accepting another lopsided loss.

Given expectations around East Texas A&M, simply reaching the point where a road loss leaves people believing the Lions should have won is progress.

Once we get three or four games into the season, we’ll know which Week 0 numbers identified something real and which ones were created by the matchup. For now, they’re giving us a list of things to watch.

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More important than the final score was how Tarleton produced those points. The Texans showed quality quarterback play, strong protection, an explosive passing game and a running back capable of creating yards when the blocking is not perfect. That is a championship-level offensive profile.

Caden Anderson completed 15 of 21 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. His performance earned a 94.2 overall grade and 93.8 passing grade from Pro Football Focus, but the most interesting number might have been his 15.4-yard average depth of target.

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Tarleton was not building Anderson’s numbers with screens and short completions. The Texans attacked Prairie View downfield, and Anderson remained efficient. He finished with two big-time throws and did not have a turnover-worthy play.

The QB’s job becomes much easier when the offensive line protects the way Tarleton did Saturday. Xavier Parker earned an 84.5 pass-blocking grade, Derek Joyner finished at 84.0, and Niger Daniels graded at 81.1. Tarleton finished with an 83.1 pass-blocking grade as a team, giving Anderson enough time to find receivers downfield.

The combination puts a defense in a difficult position. Bringing additional defenders toward the line of scrimmage creates opportunities for Anderson to attack vertically. Keeping safeties deeper creates more room underneath and makes life easier for the running game.

That is where Tylan Hines becomes a problem for opponents. Hines rushed for 185 yards, with a whopping 148 coming after contact. He also forced 10 missed tackles. Tarleton has a running back who can create yards when everything isn’t blocked perfectly.

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The Texans also showed multiple options in the passing game. Tanner Schmidt caught five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown while seeing seven targets from the slot. Tarleton repeatedly attacked Prairie View with slot fades, and Anderson consistently put the football where his receiver had an opportunity to make the play.

Add everything together, and Tarleton earned a 91.3 offensive grade, including a 92.9 passing grade, 83.1 in pass protection and 80.9 receiving. This was not one player producing a huge game while covering weaknesses elsewhere. Nearly every part of the offense worked.

One game does not tell us what Tarleton will be in November. Prairie View will not be the best defense the Texans face, and every opponent now has film of what Tarleton wants to do offensively. But championship offenses tend to have answers. Take away the deep ball, and Tarleton can hand the football to Hines. Load the box against Hines and Anderson has already shown he can punish a defense downfield. Generate pressure, and Tarleton has an offensive line that showed it can protect.

The larger question after Week 0 sits on the other side of the football. Prairie View scored 30 points and remained competitive despite Tarleton’s offensive production. The Texans finished with a 66.2 defensive grade, including 66.4 in tackling, 62.2 in pass rush and 63.5 in coverage. The run defense was better at 72.9, but the overall defensive profile was nowhere near what Tarleton produced offensively.

There is no reason to panic after one game, especially considering the opponent. Prairie View has legitimate FCS athletes and entered the season expecting to compete for another SWAC title and an HBCU national title in the Celebration Bowl. Many teams will struggle defensively against the Panthers this season.

But the combination of an inconsistent pass rush and coverage is worth watching. Those two areas work together. Consistent pressure reduces how long defensive backs are asked to cover. Strong coverage gives the pass rush another second to reach the quarterback. When neither is operating at a high level, better quarterbacks eventually find openings.

The Texans travel to Bowling Green next, and the result will not determine whether Tarleton can win an FCS championship. It will provide another data point. Tarleton showed enough on Saturday for me to believe the offense can carry a championship team. Tarleton will be very dangerous if the defense improves

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Tucker Parks started Saturday’s 20-17 loss, but John David Black finished the game. Parks completed 4 of 8 passes for 65 yards with two interceptions. Black was 15 of 24 for 142 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Patterson said Monday that naming a starter before the opener could have damaged the confidence of another quarterback ACU might eventually need.

That turned out to be exactly what happened. Black’s number was called, and he gave ACU a chance to win. Now Patterson has another decision to make. The quarterback competition should not be decided by one game, especially when Parks had eight attempts, and Black had three times as many. But after Week 0, Black has the advantage.

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The underlying numbers say it’s still an open competition. According to Pro Football Focus, Black earned a 62.7 overall grade and a 65.0 passing grade against Lamar. Parks finished at 52.5 overall and 56.4 as a passer.

Neither grade suggests ACU received elite quarterback play. The difference was how each quarterback managed the offense. Black did not have an interception or a turnover-worthy play. Parks threw two interceptions and was credited with another turnover-worthy play. Eliminating turnovers often determines many outcomes, and ACU lost by three points, while giving away two of 13 possessions.

One number might create a significant advantage more when the Wildcats travel to face Texas Tech, a team many consider a national title contender. Black’s average time to throw was 2.29 seconds. Parks averaged 3.42 seconds. Black was getting the football out more than a second quicker. That will matter when facing a nasty, hungry FBS defensive line.

That does not automatically make Black the better quarterback, but it gives ACU something else to evaluate because the offense was more productive with Black behind center. He threw both Wildcat touchdowns, finding Romello Boykin in the second quarter and Christian Driver in the fourth. ACU also generated several of its better passing plays after Black entered the game.

Parks showed enough to make this a legitimate competition, and he showed flashes of why Patterson is keeping the position open heading into Lubbock. One of the more interesting PFF splits showed some of that upside. Parks produced explosive results on a tiny sample of qualifying dropbacks. That is not enough to ignore the interceptions. It is enough to understand why ACU is not closing the competition after one Saturday.

The Wildcats also have more to fix than quarterback. ACU finished with a 59.7 offensive grade against Lamar. The Wildcats graded 62.7 in passing, 61.7 in receiving and 54.9 in run blocking. This was not two quarterbacks operating an offense that was otherwise humming.

The encouraging part was pass protection in spots. Guard Caden Carr earned an 82.3 pass-blocking grade and allowed one pressure in 37 pass-blocking snaps. He graded 83.6 on true pass sets without allowing a pressure. Steady pass protection gives Patterson and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell a better opportunity to evaluate what is happening at quarterback instead of spending every snap trying to determine whether protection made the position impossible to judge.

Nobody should treat the result of Saturday’s game as a referendum on the Wildcats. Texas Tech entered the season with College Football Playoff expectations. ACU is an FCS program going into Lubbock for the Red Raiders’ season opener. The result is not the most important part of Saturday for the Wildcats. Figuring out the quarterback position might be.

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Texas Tech’s pass rush should force both quarterbacks to make decisions faster. It should test who protects the football, who avoids negative plays and who can keep ACU functioning when the environment becomes difficult. Patterson said Monday that he has thoughts about how the Wildcats will move forward, but he was not ready to share them. He also said he wanted to encourage all four quarterbacks on the roster.

Maybe Parks starts again. Maybe Black does. Maybe ACU continues rotating both quarterbacks. Patterson could even decide to expand the competition if the situation demands it. The most revealing information Saturday might not be who takes the first snap. Watch who gets the meaningful ones.

If Black begins receiving consecutive series and most of the important downs, that will tell us more about where this competition stands than an official starter designation. The same applies to Parks if he responds to the Lamar game and begins separating himself.

ACU has time before United Athletic Conference play begins, but the schedule leaves little room for an extended quarterback experiment. After Texas Tech, the Wildcats host Stephen F. Austin before traveling to Idaho and hosting Mercer. Those games will matter significantly more to ACU’s FCS playoff résumé.

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That is why Texas Tech offers a valuable opportunity. Play both quarterbacks. Gather another set of information. See how each responds against a defense that can expose mistakes quickly. Then ACU needs to start finding an answer.

Right now, that answer is leaning toward Black. He protected the football. He produced both touchdowns. He operated the passing game faster. Most importantly, ACU had a chance to win with him at quarterback.

Parks has enough upside to change the conversation this week. One strong performance could level the playing field again. But if the separation looks anything like it did against Lamar, ACU’s quarterback competition might not remain a competition much longer.

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There wasn’t much the Pioneers could do about the gap. Alpine doesn’t have a hotel that could accommodate the approximately 55 rooms Wayland needed, so the team stayed an hour away. That meant spending around three hours in the hotel lobby before boarding the bus.

But that doesn’t mean they were enjoying the air conditioning. The lobby doors were open while the carpets were being cleaned, letting the West Texas heat work its way inside as players tried to rest wherever they could find room.

Wayland arrived at Jackson Field after an hour drive and found another problem. The locker room didn’t have air conditioning, and a bar across the doors prevented any airflow. Head coach Marcos Hinojos Sr. eventually unscrewed the latch so he could remove the bar and open the doors.

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“If you’re going to play competitively, sitting in a hot room does not benefit you,” Hinojos said.

This is part of small-college football that never appears in a box score. There are long bus rides, inconvenient hotel situations and facilities that don’t always provide ideal conditions. Wayland wasn’t the first team to deal with those issues and won’t be the last.

But the Pioneers still had to play a football game. They looked like a team that had spent much of the day fighting the heat early. Sul Ross led 6-0 before Malik White scored on a 10-yard run late in the second quarter to give Wayland a 7-6 halftime lead. The Lobos moved the football while the Pioneers’ offense searched for answers, forcing a veteran Wayland defense to keep the game within reach.

The game changed after halftime. Jaxson Percoats returned a blocked punt 34 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter. Less than three minutes later, Kye Callicoatte scored on a 3-yard run. A one-point halftime lead had become 21-6, and everything the Pioneers had dealt with before kickoff suddenly mattered less.

“We forgot all of the hot rooms that we were in, and we decided to play football,” Hinojos said.

Wayland finished the job with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and left Alpine with a 34-20 win over an NCAA Division II opponent. It was another step forward for a program coming off a 6-3 season, its most wins since 2016.

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The win carried some history, too. Hinojos said Wayland’s previous win over Sul Ross came in 1930, before WBU eventually discontinued football. The program returned in 2012, making Saturday its first win over the Lobos in the modern era. That history matters. So does the level of the opponent. NCAA Division II programs can offer more football scholarship equivalencies than NAIA programs, and Hinojos acknowledged Wayland isn’t in a position to fund the NAIA maximum.

“They had 11 kids out on the field just like we did,” Hinojos said.

That sentence says plenty about where Wayland football is under Hinojos. The Pioneers understand their resources. They understand where the program has been. They also aren’t interested in allowing either to become an excuse. The same perspective appeared when Hinojos discussed the significance of Saturday’s win.

“We’re 1-0, we’re not 10-0, and we haven’t accomplished more than what we did last year yet,” he said.

That mindset is part of the culture Hinojos has worked to establish in Plainview. He talks openly about developing players beyond football and the time his staff spends on spiritual growth. Winning matters — every college football coach is ultimately judged by it — but Hinojos has a broader definition of what tells him whether the program is succeeding.

“If we don’t win any more games and everybody continues to talk about our team having great culture, then we’ve accomplished something,” Hinojos said. “Now, the people that hire me may not care so much about that, but at least I have a clear conscience.”

Winning still provides evidence that the culture is translating to Saturdays. Wayland needed patience against Sul Ross. The offense was trying to determine how to use multiple quarterbacks best and identify which players could make plays in their first meaningful action of the season. White was playing his first college game and needed time to adjust to the speed before making crucial late runs that helped Wayland keep possession and drain the clock.

The defense gave everyone time to adjust. Nine returning defensive starters helped Wayland survive the first half while the offense struggled to sustain drives. When Sul Ross moved into scoring position, the Pioneers repeatedly kept the Lobos out of the end zone. Once the special teams provided a spark, Wayland took control.

Now comes a different test. Perennial Sooner Athletic Conference contender Ottawa University Arizona visits Plainview at 7 p.m. Saturday for Wayland’s home and conference opener. Hinojos has made no secret about what Ottawa represents to his program.

“They are the type of program that we want to be,” Hinojos said.

He wants Wayland mentioned with Ottawa, Louisiana Christian and Texas Wesleyan when people discuss the top programs in the conference. There’s one way to enter that conversation. Beat them. A win Saturday would move Wayland closer to where Hinojos wants the program to go. His perspective won’t change if it happens.

The Pioneers would be 2-0. Nothing more. Then they would get back to work.

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