TEXAS, USA — It might be a two-horse race for the top spot in WFAA's State of Texas Football rankings, but who knows -- that could change soon.
Texas A&M put on an impressive second-half performance against No. 8 LSU last Saturday, and the Longhorns scraped by in Nashville against Vanderbilt. For these reasons, there was some shakeup.
Three members of WFAA's digital team: Ryan Osborne, Paul Livengood and Zachary Yanes, put their heads together to rank each of the FBS programs in Texas ahead of Week 10.
WFAA's Texas Football Rankings for Week 10:
No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies (7-1)
Zachary Yanes: Welcome to the top spot, Texas A&M! The Aggies had an awesome win against LSU this past weekend – even though they kind of have a QB conundrum now. Redshirt freshman Marcel Reed stepped in for Conner Weigman after the Aggies' offense failed to score more than seven points through two-and-a-half quarters. Once Reed stepped in, there was no looking back. He rushed for three touchdowns on the way to their 38-23 win. He should be the choice moving forward, but we shall see.
- Paul Livengood - 2
- Ryan Osborne - 1
- Zach Yanes - 1
No. 2 Texas Longhorns (7-1)
Ryan Osborne: Normally, a narrow win over Vanderbilt would be a cause for concern. But the Commodores are scrappy, and this gets credit as an SEC road win, despite plenty of Texas fans in Nashville. The Longhorns need to stay steady for the potential matchup of the season against Texas A&M here in a few weeks.
- Paul Livengood - 1
- Ryan Osborne - 2
- Zach Yanes - 2
No. 3 SMU Mustangs (7-1)
Paul Livengood: The Mustangs are a solid No. 3 Texas team for me. They "found a way to win" as some may say, in their one-point overtime thriller against Duke on the road. SMU did not play its best game and yet they came away victorious. Their lone loss is against No. 9 ranked (and undefeated) BYU. That loss looks much better on a resume now than when it happened back in September.
- Paul Livengood - 3
- Ryan Osborne - 3
- Zach Yanes - 3
No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs (5-3)
Ryan Osborne: There's no making sense of this TCU team, or really the Big 12 as a whole. But the Horned Frogs managed a massive comeback against a struggling Texas Tech team, and now an 8-4 season doesn't seem too far-fetched. No, that's not exactly cause for celebration. But it's also not the worst outcome, considering the lows of this season. Sonny Dykes probably saved his job for at least one more season.
- Paul Livengood - 4
- Ryan Osborne - 4
- Zach Yanes - 4
No. 5 Baylor Bears (4-4)
Zachary Yanes: The Bears have won back-to-back games and have a favorable schedule the rest of the way. Obviously, nothing crazy is going to happen this season for Baylor but if this squad is able to become bowl-eligible – I think that's a huge win. Winning out could even be enough to save head coach Dave Aranda's job.
- Paul Livengood - 5
- Ryan Osborne - 5
- Zach Yanes - 5
No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-3)
Ryan Osborne: I don't know if Joey McGuire will ever truly make Texas Tech into a Big 12 contender, though the potential is always there. The Red Raiders just never have enough consistency, and an injury to quarterback Behren Morton didn't help against TCU.
- Paul Livengood - 7
- Ryan Osborne - 6
- Zach Yanes - 6
No. 7 Sam Houston Bearkats (7-2)
Zachary Yanes: Wins are wins and the Bearkats keep piling them up – no matter how ugly they get. Sam Houston is ending its regular season with a couple of hungry teams, so there's a solid chance to keep getting better as they enter bowl season for the very first time.
- Paul Livengood - 6
- Ryan Osborne - 8
- Zach Yanes - 7
No. 8 Houston Cougars (3-5)
Paul Livengood: Houston notched a win against a Cam Rising-less Utah squad that has underperformed this season. The Cougs have another tough one coming up: No. 17 Kansas State comes to H-town.
- Paul Livengood - 10
- Ryan Osborne - 7
- Zach Yanes - 8
No. 9 North Texas Mean Green (5-3)
Ryan Osborne: The Mean Green needs some defense to go with that offense. But at least it's fun to watch.
- Paul Livengood - 9
- Ryan Osborne - 9
- Zach Yanes - 9
No. 10 Texas State Bobcats (4-4)
Paul Livengood: The Bobcats played early this week, notching their fourth loss of the season after falling to Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns at home by six points. Now, Texas State has lost by totals of three, one, 10, and six. If this team could actually finish off games, we'd be looking at a 6-7 win team at this point ... Not 4-4.
- Paul Livengood - 8
- Ryan Osborne - 10
- Zach Yanes - 10
No. 11 Rice Owls (2-6)
Ryan Osborne: The Owls have combined for 20 points in the last two weeks. Not good enough for a win. Or for their coach to keep his job. Mike Bloomgren is out.
- Paul Livengood - 11
- Ryan Osborne - 12
- Zach Yanes - 11
No. 12 UTSA Roadrunners (3-5)
Zachary Yanes: Just when I thought the season couldn't get much worse, my Roadrunners had to go and do the unthinkable and blow a 35-7 halftime lead to Tulsa. It was about as good of a first half as you could ask for as UTSA appeared to be in full control, which was a sight for sore eyes. However, it all came crashing down in the final 30 minutes as the Roadrunners allowed Tulsa to come back and win 46-45 -- and they didn't even need overtime to do it. I'm embarrassed.
- Paul Livengood - 12
- Ryan Osborne - 11
- Zach Yanes - 12
No. 13 UTEP Miners (1-7)
Paul Livengood: UTEP is staying here until further notice.
- Paul Livengood - 13
- Ryan Osborne - 13
- Zach Yanes - 13
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