In this edition of The Daily 5, I'll give you five questions I have about the Texas Longhorns' non-conference schedule now that the Horns247 staff has finished its look at the three games to open the 2015 season.

Whether it's Swoopes or Heard emerging as the starter, the Longhorns need to get settled at the quarterback position as soon as possible and go with one.

1. What turns does the quarterback battle take?

There are two scenarios I can see playing out by the time the Sept. 5 season opener against Notre Dame arrives. One is Charlie Strong enters the season with Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard sharing reps as the starter; the other is Heard continues his upward trend he was taking at the end of spring practice and eventually overtakes Swoopes as the starter.

Just because a starter is declared doesn't mean things will be settled. Assuming Heard becomes the guy, at some point it's almost a given he's going to struggle, which would be normal for a redshirt freshman. Texas will likely need Swoopes to help win a game coming from the backup role this season, but will it happen within those first three games and turn a battle into a full-blown controversy?

The quicker roles get defined at that position – as much as they can given the circumstance – the quicker the Longhorns can truly begin to move forward as a program. If the Longhorns have a defined starter, a defined backup and start to form an identity entering Big 12 play, the program can truly start going down the right path.

2. Will the Longhorns find an offensive identity?

Shawn Watson and Joe Wickline have had a full year to get to know the offensive personnel on campus, have been able to welcome Jay Norvell and Jeff Traylor into the staff meeting room to help implement new ideas and had spring practice to figure out where the offense needs to go with the new approach. So there's no excuse the Longhorns shouldn't find consistency on offense in 2015.

Too often last year it seemed like the offense was stuck in the mode of a prolonged evaluation process. Bryan Harsin, with a young offensive line that wasn't overly-talented and two inexperienced quarterbacks, got Texas on the right track in 2011 by using gimmicks and gadgets, but at least he found something useful in an offense void of elite and/or experienced talent in key positions.

Gimmicks aren't a bad thing, especially considering that Texas team was 6-2 at one point, and, had the Missouri game gone another way, could have won 10 games. Gimmicks or not, Watson and Wickline should have been able to figure out by now the few things the Longhorns can do well.

Watson and Joe Wickline have had plenty of time to figure what the Longhorns can do well and should plan accordingly entering the season.

3. Can Texas look good against Rice?

Think back to the season opener of 2010. Texas was a preseason top-5 team having played for the national title that January and opened the season in Reliant Stadium against Rice, a game where many folks expected the Longhorns to hammer the Owls.

Texas won that game 34-17, but it took a Keenan Robinson fumble return for a touchdown to open the gap as the Longhorns trailed 3-0 at the end of the first quarter and were denied a touchdown on a fourth-and goal, a game that set the stage for a 5-7 disaster of a season. The Texas program is in a different place now than it was then and so are the Owls; David Bailiff has led Rice to three winning seasons in a row and two bowl victories, a run highlighted by the Owls winning the 2013 Conference USA title.

Still, the Longhorns are a more talented team and Rice is entering the 2015 season as one of the most inexperienced teams in the country. No matter the expectations from the fans or the media entering a season, Texas should beat Rice to the point where there are no discussions as to where Texas is headed following the season.

4. How quickly will the young Longhorns get acclimated?

The chances are high that Texas will be talented but very young in 2015. Based on what was seen in the spring it's likely Malik Jefferson, Edwin Freeman, John Bonney, Lorenzo Joe and Connor Williams will be called on to play a lot despite having little to no experience on the field, and that's not counting the number of true freshmen who've yet to arrive on campus who will be asked to step up.

The Rice game could be the game where Strong and the coaches decide to go with a youth movement similar to what he and his staff did at Louisville. If the young bucks are going to get thrown to the wolves with the hopes of a big payoff down the road, it'll be imperative a few of them get their feet wet and have some level of comfort being on the field by the time the Longhorns host Oklahoma State.

Like with the quarterback situation the quicker the young players making their debuts or get significant action for the first time in their college careers get settled, the quicker the Longhorns can start to think about truly trending upward. This strategy worked for Strong at Louisville and he recruited the talent in his first full class and has invested in enough inherited talent at Texas to make it work in a similar fashion.

Jefferson will be one of many young players looking to get acclimated early in the season.

5. What's the outcome of the Cal game?

All of the aforementioned factors play into the most pivotal game on Texas' non-conference schedule. Certainly the Notre Dame game will everything fans on both sides of the fence talk about this summer and leading into the fall, but the Sept. 20 home game against Cal will be huge when it comes to what direction the season takes.

The Golden Bears were 5-7 last season, but according to Phil Steele Sonny Dykes has the second-most experienced team in the Pac-12 returning. Quarterback Jared Goff was recently tabbed as a potential top-10 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft by ESPN's Todd McShay and the Golden Bears had one of the top offenses in the country in 2014.

If Texas wins this game it'll feel similar to the way the 2011 victory over BYU felt with a young group of Longhorns defeating a solid opponent to set the stage for a hopefully successful run through the rest of the schedule. Should Texas emerge with a 2-1 record coming out of that game it'll give the Longhorns a lot of momentum entering the Big 12 portion of the schedule.