Texas FBS rankings week 12
A spectacular touchdown catch in Lubbock keeps the Longhorns Big 12 title hopes alive
Nov 14, 2018, 6:31 am
Sam Ehlinger had a big game. Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
No. 12: Rice
Things continue to get uglier for the Owls, who lost their tenth straight game in week 11 after falling to Louisiana Tech 28-13. This season has turned out to be an extremely disappointing start for new head coach Mike Bloomgren. At this point Bloomgren can only hope to get through the last two games and begin rebuilding hope for 2019.
No. 11: UTEP
After securing their first win of the season in Week 11, the Miners were brought back down to reality after getting defeated 48-32 by Middle Tennessee. UTEP’s offense is playing its best football of the season after two consecutive 30-point performances and will hope to overpower a 1-9 Western Kentucky team in week 12.
No. 10: UTSA
The Road Runners were dominated 45-7 by FIU in week 11 and now fall to 3-7 on the season. UTSA has failed to score more than 17 points in their last four games and will have a tough time getting things back on track against a strong Marshall team.
No. 9: Texas State
The Bobcats two game winning streak came to an abrupt ending after being handled by Appalachian State 38-7. Texas State probably won’t have much better luck in week 12 when they face off against the 8-2 Troy Trojans.
No. 8: TCU
The Horned Frogs fell two games below .500 with a loss to West Virginia last weekend. TCU has a difficult matchup with a dangerous Baylor team in week 12 but the Horned Frogs can hope that young quarterback Michael Collins will eventually find a groove in his fourth start of the season.
No. 7: SMU
While the Mustangs secured their fifth win of the season this past weekend, it was not a pretty one. SMU’s defense, who played well against one of the nation’s most dangerous quarterbacks in week 10, allowed the 1-9 Connecticut Huskies to score 50 points in Week 11. The Mustangs will face a talented Memphis team this coming weekend but could walk away with a third consecutive victory if they show up on both sides of the ball.
No. 6: Baylor
The Bears suffered a tough loss in week 11 in a chippy game with Iowa State. Both team’s emotions were running high as multiple shoving matches broke out throughout the game and two players were eventually ejected. The Bears have definitely adopted a new urgency and mentality this season and will hope to carry that into a big matchup with TCU this weekend. Look for the Bears to jump on the struggling Horned Frogs at home in Week 12.
No. 5: UNT
UNT was caught sleeping in Week 11 when they were upset by 3-7 Old Dominion. The Mean Green may have suffered a lapse in focus by looking ahead to their Week 12 matchup with Florida Atlantic. A season that began with so much promise and excitement is now in danger of becoming very underwhelming based on what this team was believed to be capable of accomplishing.
No. 4: Texas Tech
Despite suffering two straight losses the Red Raiders have displayed impressive performances against two of the best teams in the Big 12. Texas Tech fell just five points short of upsetting No. 6 Oklahoma and seven points away from defeating No. 13 Texas. Not to mention that the Red Raiders have been able to keep pace with these top tier programs without their starting quarterback Alan Bowman who has been plagued by injuries all season.
No. 3: Houston
With a 59-49 upset loss last weekend to Temple the Cougars seem to have lost their midseason momentum that nearly drove them to the No. 1 spot on this list. Because of the lackluster effort from the Cougar defense, an impressive performance in which quarterback D’Eriq King threw for 355 yards and 5 touchdowns along with 125 yards rushing with a touchdown was surprisingly not enough to hold off the Owls. Houston will look to redeem themselves in week 12 against an average Tulane team.
No. 2: Texas A&M
After two straight losses that forced Texas A&M out of the Top 25, the Aggies were able to get back in the win column in Week 11 against Ole Miss. A&M looked efficient on both sides of the ball as they put up over 500 yards of total offense and held the Rebels to 24 points. While on paper the Aggies week 12 matchup with UAB should be an easy victory, the 9-1 Blazers are an athletic team that could give Texas A&M a run for their money if they are not prepared. Texas A&M will look to build momentum with a second straight win before heading into their final game of the season vs. LSU.
No. 1: Texas
The Longhorns were lucky to escape Lubbock with a win week 11. The Red Raiders held the lead until Sam Ehlinger threw his fourth touchdown to strike the final blow with only 21 seconds remaining. While the UT defense continued to struggle for a third straight week, Ehlinger arguably had his best game of the season throwing for 312 yards and 4 touchdowns despite the absence of his top target Colin Johnson. The Longhorns have a difficult matchup in week 12 with the No. 18 Iowa State Cyclones who are in the middle of a five-game winning streak. Texas will need to have solid performances by both their offense and defense if they are going to hold off one of the hottest teams in the country.
With overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s this week in Houston, it seems good timing to have the warm thoughts of baseball being back, at least spring training games. The Astros have more shakiness about their squad than they have had in nearly a decade, but the Astros still have a nucleus of an American League West contender. With the exits of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, it’s just a notably different nucleus than in recent years.
Jose Altuve is the last remaining mainstay of the greatest era in Astros’ history, and he is one of the biggest stories of their preseason as he for the time being at least is left fielder Jose Altuve. By every indication he is embracing the challenge with class and energy. The obvious impetus for test driving the move is the soon-to-be 35 years old Altuve’s defensive deterioration. It can be tough for the player himself to notice that his range has declined. The voiding of defensive shifts after the 2022 season shined a brighter light on Altuve’s D decline. Still, last season Altuve made his ninth All-Star team and despite also displaying some offensive decline remained the clearly best offensive second baseman in the American League. It’s part of the tradeoff of reducing the defensive workload on Yordan Alvarez, and hoping to upgrade defensively at second with some combo of Mauricio Dubon, Brendan Rodgers, or other.
The natural comparison in Astros’ history of a franchise icon losing his defensive spot and making a late-career position change is to Craig Biggio. Biggio’s All-Star days were behind him when the Astros moved him from second base to center field for the 2003 season because of the signing of free agent Jeff Kent. It spoke to the athlete Biggio was that at 37 years old he could make the move at all. After not quite a season and a half in center, Biggio moved to left when the Astros traded for young stud center fielder Carlos Beltran. Both Kent and Beltran left in free agency after the 2004 season, and Biggio moved back to second for the final three seasons of his career.
Second basemen are often second basemen and not shortstops in part because of their throwing arms. Altuve’s throwing arm will be an issue in left field. Even though Daikin Park has the smallest square footage of fair territory in Major League Baseball because of its left to left-center field dimensions, Altuve’s arm will be a liability. In understandably wanting to put an optimistic spin on things, manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have talked of how Altuve will be able to get momentum behind throws more so than when playing second. That’s true when camping under a fly ball in the outfield. That is not true when Altuve will have to cut off balls hit toward the left field line, or cutting across into the left-center field gap. There will be balls that would be singles when hit to other left fielders that will become doubles when Altuve has to play them, and baserunners will go from first to third and second to home much more readily. As an infielder Altuve has always been outstanding at running down pop-ups, so there is reason to believe he’ll be solid tracking fly balls in the outfield. However, the reality of a guy who is five feet six inches tall (in spikes) is that there will be the occasional fly ball or line drive that is beyond his grasp that more “normal” sized outfielders would grab. Try to name a good outfielder who stood shorter than five-foot-nine...
Here’s one: Hall of Famer Tim Raines (also originally a second baseman) was (and presumably still is!) five-foot-eight.
Here's another: Hall of Famer Hack Wilson was five-six. Four times he led the National League in home runs topped by a whopping 56 in 1930 when he set the still standing record of 191 runs batted in for a single season.
And another: Hall of Famer five-foot-four “Wee” Willie Keeler. Who last played in 1910.
Just a bit outside
Another element new to the Grapefruit League in Florida (and Cactus League in Arizona) this year is the limited use of what Major League Baseball is calling the Automated Ball Strike System. The ABS is likely coming to regular season games next year. This spring will be our first look at its use in big league games. Home plate umpires making ball and strike calls will not be going the way of the dinosaur. Challenges can be made until a team is wrong twice. Significantly, only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge and must do so within two seconds of the pitch being caught. No dugout input allowed. No time to watch a replay.
The Astros’ spring park in West Palm Beach is not among the 13 facilities set up with ABS cameras. That seems silly given that the Astros share the place with the Washington Nationals. More use would be gotten from, and more data collected there than will be from a park with half the spring games played in it.
The countdown to Opening Day is on. Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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