TEXAS FBS RANKINGS WEEK 8
Texas squeaks past Baylor to hold onto the top spot in the Texas FBS rankings
Oct 17, 2018, 7:10 am
Tom Herman and the Longhorns are rolling. Tim Warner/Getty Images
Texas has 12 FBS teams. Each week we rank them based on season-long performance, the prior game, and success relative to their competition. These are the updated rankings following Week 7 and looking forward to Week 8.
No. 12: UTEP
Coming off their bye week, UTEP will go up against 4-2 Louisiana Tech in week 8. At this point of the season the Miners have shown no real threat and do not seem to be breaking their winless streak anytime soon.
No. 11: Rice
The Owls may have hit rock bottom this past weekend as they were throttled by UAB 42-0. This marks their sixth straight loss and the fifth time this season they have allowed 40 or more points. The Owls will go up against the 4-2 FIU Panthers in Week 8 who defeated a solid MTSU team this past weekend.
No. 10: Texas State
Texas State suffered a disappointing loss by just two points to Georgia Southern this past weekend and fell to 1-5. The Bobcats schedule will not get much easier the rest of the way, so hope of a more successful second half is dwindling.
No. 9: UTSA
The Roadrunners three game winning streak came to an abrupt end in Week 7 when they were dominated 31-3 by Louisiana Tech. Luckily UTSA will have a chance to bounce back in Week 8 when they face off against a 2-3 Southern Mississippi team who also lost in embarrassing fashion to UNT this past weekend.
No. 8: SMU
The Mustangs will return to action in Week 8 after their bye week and will look to get the second half of their season off to a good start against 2-3 Tulane. SMU will hope to get some momentum before they head into a couple difficult matchups with No. 20 Cincinnati and the 5-1 Houston Cougars.
No. 7: TCU
The Horned Frogs struggled yet again in Week 7 when they lost to Texas Tech 17-14. After getting off to a 2-0 start this season, TCU looks like a completely different team that is struggling mightily to find its identity. The Horned Frogs have a big test facing them in Week 8 when they will face off against No. 9 Oklahoma. Coach Patterson will need to find some way to motivate and bring his team together if they are to have any chance of taking down a very good OU team.
No. 6: Baylor
Despite suffering a loss in Week 7 the Bears were able to jump TCU in this week’s rankings. Baylor was able to take No. 9 Texas to the wire in a 23-17 loss where they missed on three chances to score in the red zone with time running out. The Bears have looked completely capable of competing with any team that lines up against them this season and will look to upset a wounded West Virginia team in Week 8.
No. 5: UNT
A strong 30-7 victory over Southern Mississippi was not enough to keep UNT from falling one spot in this week’s rankings. While the Mean Green still hold a very impressive record of 6-1, their strength of schedule is hurting them the most at this point in the season. With that said North Texas has a big match-up to look forward to in Week 8 against the 5-1 UAB Dragons , in which a victory over UAB would benefit them in making another push in these Texas FBS rankings.
No. 4: Texas Tech
Texas Tech added another impressive victory to their belt this season after defeating TCU 17-14. It is also worthy to note that the Red Raiders were able to accomplish this feat without Freshman phenom quarterback Alan Bowman who is currently sidelined with a lung injury. The Red Raiders should have an easier go of things against Kansas in Week 8 who has shown improvement this season but have still only won two games. If the Red Raiders are able to remain healthy for the rest of this season, they should be a legitimate threat to the top teams with championship hopes in the Big 12.
No. 3: Houston
With a solid 42-20 win over East Carolina in Week 7 Houston was able to hold onto the No. 3 spot for another week. The Cougars have not looked back since their Week 3 loss to Texas Tech and seem to be building momentum as they head into the back half of the 2018 season. Houston will look ahead at another opportunity to extend their three-game winning streak against a 2-4 Navy team this coming weekend. While their one loss will almost certainly keep them out of any playoff talks, the Cougars are still in a good position to win their conference and land a spot in a significant bowl game.
No. 2: (17) Texas A&M
Texas A&M slipped past South Carolina in Week 7 by just three points and escaped from suffering a damning third loss of the season. While the Aggies are a very talented team, another loss would almost certainly drop them out of the Top 25 yet again and greatly impact their chances of being selected for a top tier bowl game. In other words, A&M will be fighting for their lives for the remainder of the season and cannot risk anymore slip ups. The Aggies will have a chance to rest in Week 8 but will return from their bye week with the challenging task of facing off against the 22nd ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs.
No. 1: (7) Texas
The Longhorns hold onto their six-game win streak along with the No. 1 spot in this week’s rankings. Texas fans received a good scare last weekend when the Baylor Bears came just six points away from upsetting UT and possessed the ball in the red zone while time expired. The Longhorns proved their resiliency under late game pressure and impressed the voting committee enough to move up two spots to No. 7 overall in the national rankings. The excitement will be put on hold for a week as Coach Herman and his team will get to enjoy their well-deserved bye week. With that said, the Longhorns will need to remain focused over their time off as they will kick off the second half of their season with three very difficult matchups vs. Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Texas Tech.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.