Texas FBS Football Rankings
There’s a new No. 1 in Texas and you won’t believe who it is
Sep 19, 2018, 6:50 am
Seth Littrell has North Texas rolling. Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images
Here is the weekly rankings of all the Texas FBS schools:
No. 12: UTEP
The Miners continue their suffering ways and remain winless after losing 24-0 to Tennessee. UTEP will face New Mexico State this coming weekend who is also yet to get a win this season. While there is one other winless FBS teams in Texas, UTEP holds the last place spot here considering that they have yet to win a game since 2016.
No. 11: UTSA
The Road Runners are the only other FBS team in Texas that has not won a game. They will face off against a struggling Texas State team who sits one spot ahead of them on this list.
No. 10: Texas State
Texas State falls into the No. 10 slot and is at the bottom half of a group of 1-3 teams in Texas that have gotten off to mediocre starts in 2018. The Bobcats will look to gain their second win this season over 0-3 UTSA. Though facing an 0-3 team provides some hope, a winless record can sometimes become a dangerous motivator.
No. 9: Rice
Rice falls to the No. 9 spot in the rankings after a poor loss to Hawaii in Week 3. The Owls were torched for over 300 yards and four touchdowns through the air by quarterback Cole McDonald. Rice should have a favorable matchup in Week 4 against a Southern Mississippi team that was not able to play last weekend due to Hurricane Florence.
No. 8: SMU
SMU moves up one spot this week and switches places with the Rice Owls simply because of their strength of schedule. Yes, the Mustangs have looked to be in disarray this season, but the three teams they have faced thus far combine for a 7-2 record, while two of them are currently ranked in the Top 25. With that said, things will not get much easier for SMU going forward with their next opponent being the always tough Navy team.
No. 7: Baylor
The Bears showed exciting potential through their first two games this season, but were handled easily by the Duke Blue Devils in Week 3. Baylor did not find the end zone until the second half, and at that point the game was out of reach. Baylor will look to get back on track in week 4 vs. a surprising Kansas team that has won two straight games in dominant fashion.
No. 6: Texas Tech
Texas Tech not only moved up one spot in this wee'ks rankings, but they did so while breaking an NCAA record in Week 3. Freshman quarterback Alan Bowman threw for 605 yards and 5 touchdowns vs. Houston which secured him the Big 12 record for passing yards in a single game by a freshman. The Red Raiders will need another praiseworthy performance by Bowman in Week 4 as they face off against 15th ranked Oklahoma State.
No. 5: Houston
The Houston Cougars fall two spots in the week 4 rankings after losing big to Texas Tech. The Cougars defense had no answer for the Red Raiders air attack as they were gashed for over 600 yards through the air and 63 total points. One positive take away from the disappointing loss is the 451 yards and 5 touchdowns put up by quarterback D’Eriq King. With King playing at such a high level this season, Houston should have a legitimate chance to win every weekend.
No. 4: Texas
Is Texas back? The Longhorns shocked the college football landscape last weekend as they dominated No. 22 USC. UT shined in the national spotlight and now have people starting to believe that things will only continue to get better. The Longhorns have another chance to make a statement this coming weekend as they will take on the 17th ranked TCU Horned Frogs. UT has the momentum as TCU is coming off of a tough loss to Ohio State, but you can bet the the Horned Frogs will not go down easily.
No. 3: Texas A&M
Texas A&M has been a team that surprised everyone with their high level play so far this season. Though the Aggies are no pushover, they are challenged with the task of facing the best team in the nation in Week 4. No matter how good new head coach Jimbo Fisher has his team looking, they will be fighting an uphill battle vs. an Alabama team that has scored more than 50 points in every game this season. This Alabama team has yet to show any true sign of weakness on either side of the ball. The Aggies will have to be firing on all cylinders vs. the Crimson Tide if they want any chance of taking college football's goliath.
No. 2: TCU
For the first time this season, the Horned Frogs drop out of the No. 1 spot on this list. Though TCU fought hard, they fell short to Ohio State in a 40-28 loss. TCU held a one point lead through halftime, but the Buckeyes caught fire in the third quarter scoring 20 points which TCU could not recover from. The Horned Frogs look ahead at another tough matchup against Texas in Week 4. This is a must win game for both programs if either of them want any chance of making into the college football playoffs.
No. 1: UNT
Locking down the No. 1 spot on this weeks rankings it UNT. Yes, I said the University of North Texas. Not only are the Mean Green 3-0, but they have completed two dominant wins over SMU and Arkansas. With these early wins over their two most difficult opponents of the season, there is almost no reason that UNT should not be able to finish undefeated. Along with the teams success, quarterback Mason Fine currently sits as the fifth leading passer in all of college football and has thrown 8 touchdowns. If head coach Seth Littrell can keep his young quarterback and the rest of the team playing at a high level, the sky's the limit for this rejuvenated program.
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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.