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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Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”