TEXAS FBS FOOTBALL RANKINGS
Where does your team rank among Texas schools heading into the 2018 college football season?
Aug 29, 2018, 7:00 am
Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs top the pre-season Texans rankings. Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Texas has 12 FBS teams. Each week we will rank them based on season-long performance, the prior game, and success relative to their competition. These are the rankings headed into week 1 of the 2018 college football season.
No. 12: UTEP
UTEP brings up the back of pack after failing to gain a single victory in 2017. They have a favorable matchup in week 1 vs. Northern Arizona, but I wouldn’t count on their success in this game to carry much significance towards the rest of the season.
No. 11: Texas State
Not much changed in 2017 for a Texas State program that can never seem to make any significant improvements. The Bobcats go against a difficult opponent in Rutgers to begin their 2018 campaign.
No. 10: Rice
The wheels fell off the wagon for Rice in 2017 after finishing with an abysmal record of 1-11. Anything should be an improvement in 2018, but Rice will have a difficult task vs. the University of Houston this week after barely beating Prairie View last week.
No. 9: Baylor
After an offseason full of controversy and change before the 2017 season, the Bears felt the impact on the field. Baylor fought hard but only came out with a single victory in 2017. With that said, their team relied on a large collection of young and inexperienced players that now have a year’s worth of playing time under their belts. The Bears will look to start 2018 off right and gain some momentum before they face off against the gauntlet of daunting Big 12 opponents.
No. 8: UTSA
UTSA will return in 2018 with the hopes of redeeming themselves from their 2017 season which seemed to fall apart. The Roadrunners started off strong in 2017 with three consecutive wins but struggled to remain consistent from that point on. Things do not seem like they will be much easier in 2018 as they kick the season off with a difficult matchup against Arizona State and their new head coach Herm Edwards.
No. 7: Texas Tech
After a mediocre season finishing with a below .500 record in 2017, the Red Raiders start off 2018 as the seventh best team in Texas. The popular belief is that Head coach Kliff Kingsbury will have one last chance in 2018 to improve this Tech squad and cement himself as the head coach for the foreseeable future. Kingsbury will have his work cut out for him in Week 1 as his team will face off against an always dangerous Ole Miss team. To add to the pressure, there are still many questions and doubts surrounding the starting quarterback position, and unless someone steps up to take the reigns, all signs point to a recipe for disaster.
No. 6: SMU
SMU grabs the No. 6 overall spot on this list headed into Week 1. The Mustangs had a solid year in 2017 with the help of a high flying passing attack led by quarterback Ben Hicks and WR Courtland Sutton, who was taken in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos. SMU will look for another prolific season on the offensive side of the ball with Hicks returning for his junior season along with one of his most dangerous weapons from 2017, RB Xavier Jones. SMU will have a difficult matchup against UNT in week 1 who landed in the No.3 spot on this list.
No. 5: Houston
The Cougars did not make much noise in 2017 but they performed well for their circumstances. UH suffered two major losses with the departures of head coach Tom Herman to the University of Texas and superstar quarterback Greg Ward to the NFL. With that said new head coach Major Applewhite did an impressive job keeping the Cougars competitive, while also bringing along his new, young QB D’Eriq King. 2018 will be an opportunity for Applewhite and King to continue their maturation and maintain the winning culture left behind by coach Herman. Houston will face off against their city counterparts at Rice University in week 1, and are expected to pass their first test of the season with flying colors.
No. 4: Texas A&M
The Aggies had a rocky season in 2017 with their fair share of highs and lows, but looking forward, excitement around the program is on the rise. A&M made headlines this offseason after hiring former Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher. Not only will A&M have the benefit of taking the field re-energized by their new leadership, they will also have an abundance of talented returning players from 2017 that may just make them one of this seasons dark horses in college football. Not much will be made of their week 1 game vs Northwestern State, but it will give coach Fisher a chance to become more familiar with his new team.
No. 3: North Texas
UNT sneaks into the No.3 spot on this list to begin the 2017 season. North Texas caught fire in 2017 behind a dangerous passing attack led by quarterback Mason Fine. Not only will the exciting, young QB be returning for North Texas, but so will four of his top five leading receivers from 2017. UNT will kickoff 2018 with a tough matchup against a very formidable SMU team, but a victory could set them on the right path for another spectacular season.
No. 2: Texas (23)
The University of Texas falls into the No. 2 spot as they are the only other team from Texas to make the nation’s Top 25 rankings to begin the 2018 season. Securing the 23rd spot in the nation is a compliment to coach Tom Herman and the excitement he has created around the Texas program that is attempting to return prominence. Texas performed well in 2017 and showed flashes of hope and potential on their way to finishing with a record of 7-6. Although they will not be walking into a guaranteed win in Week 1 vs. the University of Maryland, they will have an opportunity to show the offseason progress they have made and take one more step towards re-establishing themselves as championship contenders.
No. 1: TCU (16)
As we look ahead to the 2018 college football season, TCU tops the rankings. The Horned Frogs had a strong showing in 2017 after finishing second in the Big 12 with a 11-3 record. They will enter into 2018 ranked 16th in the nation, as coach Gary Patterson is always expected to put together a strong squad that always has a chance to win every time they step on the field. TCU should be able to maintain its place on this list through Week 1 as they have a very favorable matchup against the Southern University Jaguars.
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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.
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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.