Texas FBS Football Rankings
Through 4 weeks the top programs in Texas begin to distinguish themselves from the pack while others fight to stay relevant
Sep 26, 2018, 5:53 am
Tom Herman and the Longhorns are on the move. 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 4 and looking forward to Week 5.
No. 12: UTEP
In their best performance of the season thus far the Miners lost by 7 points to New Mexico state. UTEP now remains as the only FBS team in Texas without a win.
No. 11: Texas State
Texas State lost by just 4 points to UTSA in week 4 and now sit at 1-3. The Bobcats will have their bye week this coming weekend before they face Louisiana Lafayette, who will be at the mercy of No.1 ranked Alabama in week 5.
No. 10: Rice
The Owls suffered another big loss in Week 4 to Southern Mississippi 40-22. Rice has now lost three straight games since their week 1 victory over Prairie View A&M and has failed to hold any of their opponents to under 40 points in the last three games. The Owls will have a tough matchup against Wake Forest in week 5 but hope to break this trend.
No. 9: UTSA
The Road Runners claimed their first victory of 2018 in Week 4 over Texas State University and jump two spots in this week’s rankings. While they won by just 4 points, a win is a win and the Road Runners will have momentum heading into their week 5 game vs. 0-4 UTEP.
No. 8: SMU
SMU holds the No. 8 spot for a second week after their 1-point victory over Navy. The even bigger news the Mustangs than their first win is the change at quarterback. After three straight losses, 2017 starter Ben Hicks was benched for Freshman William Brown. Through two appearances this season, Brown has thrown four touchdown passes and has brought some life to this struggling SMU team. The Mustangs will have a very good opportunity in Week 5 to get their second win of the season vs. Houston Baptist university.
No. 7: Baylor
The Baylor Bears continue their solid start in 2018 after a 26-7 win over Kansas. Sophomore quarterback Charlie Brewer looks to have cemented his role as the starting quarterback with over 200 yards passing and his second three-touchdown performance. Baylor will have their work cut out for them in Week 5 as they will go up against No. 6 Oklahoma in Norman.
No. 6: Houston
After a disappointing loss in week 4 when the Cougars gave up 63 points to Texas Tech, UH bounced back with a 70-point performance of their own vs. Texas Southern. While Houston continues to regain momentum as they head into conference play, they will have a favorable matchup coming up against a Tulsa team that has not won a game since Week 1. Also, quarterback D’Eriq King continues to prove that he is one of the most talented and efficient quarterbacks in the nation. King currently has the ninth most passing yards in the nation with 15 touchdowns and only 1 interception.
No. 5: TCU
TCU drops three spots after suffering their second straight loss. The Horned Frogs came out of the gate strong this season and looked like an early season favorite to compete for the Big 12 conference title but have quickly dropped off the college football map with consecutive losses to Ohio State and Texas. The bad news for TCU is their upcoming schedule for the next three weeks. They will have to fight through the some of the Big 12’s most disruptive and competitive teams starting with an Iowa State team who handed TCU one of their only two losses last season. It will be interesting to see how young quarterback Shawn Robinson bounces back after turning the ball over three times in Week 4 vs. Texas.
No. 4: Texas Tech
The Red Raiders climb up to the No. 4 position after an impressive Week 4 victory over what was an undefeated Oklahoma State team. Texas Tech dominated in a 41-17 win, while Freshman quarterback Alan Bowman lit up the stat sheet one more time with almost 400 yards passing and two touchdowns. Tech was able to crack the Top 25 with their victory over the Cowboys but are set to face arguably their toughest opponent so far this season in No. 12 West Virginia. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his re-energized team will enter into Week 5 with a chance to collect another statement win and quiet the rumors surrounding Kingsbury’s job security.
No. 3: Texas A&M
While Texas A&M was handed their second loss of the season, the Aggies deserve some grace considering the fact that those losses came by the hand of two of the nation’s top teams, Alabama and Clemson. Though the Aggies were not able to compete with Alabama like they were with Clemson, there is still no team in the nation that has faced two tougher opponents this early in the season. In Week 5, Texas A&M will have a chance to get back to their winning ways as they go up against an Arkansas team that has gotten trampled in their last two games, first by the University of North Texas 44-17 and then by Auburn 34-3. A&M would like to be the next team to add to the suffering and should be expected to do so.
No. 2: Texas
For the second weekend in a row, the Longhorns have surprised the nation and dominated a Top 25 ranked opponent. After their big Week 3 win over USC, Texas kept the ball rolling vs. TCU with a 31-16 victory. TCU had beaten the Longhorns 5 out of the last 6 seasons since 2012, but 2018 may mark the turning of the tides. Texas overmatched the Horned Frogs on both sides of the ball and looked like a team who will demand respect for the rest of the season. The Longhorns will have to try not to get too far ahead of themselves in Week 5 vs. a struggling Kansas State team, with their Week 6 rivalry game vs. Oklahoma looming in the near future.
No. 1: UNT
North Texas stays put in the No. 1 spot for a second week in a row and remains the only undefeated FBS team in Texas. While many people question UNT’s validity as a legitimate program in comparison to the other top tier teams in Texas, there is no way to overlook the fact that the Mean Green have yet to be held to less than 40 points in a single game this season. Not only has UNT dominated on the offensive side of the ball on the shoulders of quarterback Mason Fine who has the 6th most passing yards in college football, their defense also ranks in the top 20 in all of college football. This team can do it all and deserves to be taken seriously.
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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.