Week 13 State of Texas Football Rankings With a New No. 1
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Here is a look at the power rankings of all 13 FBS college football teams from the state of Texas.
No. 13 UTEP
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 130
ESPN SP+: 121
The Athletic: 132
USA Today: 128
CBS Sports: 126
Overall Record: 2-8 Conference Record: 1-5
The team's strength of schedule this season: 103, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 1 (Sam Houston State)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 0
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (SHSU)
Next game opponent: New Mexico State
Week 13 prediction: UTEP 21, New Mexico State 20
No. 12 Sam Houston State
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 126
ESPN SP+: 134
The Athletic: 130
USA Today: 132
CBS Sports: 135
Overall Record: 2-8 Conference Record: 1-5
The team's strength of schedule this season: 98, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 1 (Oregon State)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 0
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 0
Next game opponent: @ Middle Tennessee State
Week 13 prediction: MTSU 28, Sam Houston State 27
No. 11 Texas State
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 121
ESPN SP+: 78
The Athletic: 102
USA Today: 111
CBS Sports: 91
Overall Record: 4-6 Conference Record: 1-5
The team's strength of schedule this season: 107, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 2 (UTSA and Southern Miss)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 0
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (UTSA)
Next game opponent: ULM
Week 13 prediction: Texas State 41, ULM 20
No. 10 Rice
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 104
ESPN SP+: 124
The Athletic: 96
USA Today: 99
CBS Sports: 101
Overall Record: 5-5 Conference Record: 2-4
The team's strength of schedule this season: 124, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 2 (Louisiana and Charlotte)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 0
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 0
Next game opponent: North Texas
Week 13 prediction: North Texas 33, Rice 23
No. 9 UTSA
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 101
ESPN SP+: 75
The Athletic: 76
USA Today: 75
CBS Sports: 81
Overall Record: 5-5 Conference Record: 3-3
The team's strength of schedule this season: 65, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 2 (Colorado State and Charlotte)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 0
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (Rice)
Next game opponent: East Carolina
Week 13 prediction: UTSA 41, East Carolina 38
No. 8 Baylor
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 55
ESPN SP+: 52
The Athletic: 51
USA Today: 58
CBS Sports: 54
Overall Record: 5-5 Conference Record: 3-4
The team's strength of schedule this season: 40, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 2 (Oklahoma State and SMU)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 4
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (SMU)
Next game opponent: @ Arizona
Week 13 prediction: Arizona 27, Baylor 26
No. 7 TCU
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 49
ESPN SP+: 40
The Athletic: 47
USA Today: 45
CBS Sports: 41
Overall Record: 6-4 Conference Record: 3-4
The team's strength of schedule this season: 47, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 2 (North Carolina and West Virginia)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 5
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 3 (SMU, Abilene Christian, and Baylor)
Next game opponent: @ Houston
Week 13 prediction: Houston 34, TCU 31
No. 6 North Texas
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 50
ESPN SP+: 47
The Athletic: 23
USA Today: 23
CBS Sports: 20
Overall Record: 9-1 Conference Record: 5-1
The team's strength of schedule this season: 127, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 4 (Western Michigan, Army, Charlotte, and UAB)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 0
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 2 (Lamar and UTSA)
Next game opponent: @ Rice
Week 13 prediction: North Texas 55, Rice 41
No. 5 SMU
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 30
ESPN SP+: 25
The Athletic: 25
USA Today: 29
CBS Sports: 32
Overall Record: 7-3 Conference Record: 5-1
The team's strength of schedule this season: 67, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 3 (Boston College, Clemson, and Missouri State)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 5
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (East Texas A&M)
Next game opponent: Louisville
Week 13 prediction: SMU 24, Louisville 21
No. 4 Houston
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 31
ESPN SP+: 55
The Athletic: 22
USA Today: 25
CBS Sports: 23
College Football Playoff Rankings: 23
AFCA Coaches Poll: 24
AP Top 25: 25
Overall Record: 8-2 Conference Record: 5-2
The team's strength of schedule this season: 73, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 4 (Oregon State, Rice, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, and UCF)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 5
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 2 (Rice and SF Austin)
Next game opponent: TCU
Week 13 prediction: Houston 34, TCU 31
No. 3 Texas
Ranking out of 136 FBS teams:
CFN: 15
ESPN SP+: 12
The Athletic: 14
USA Today: 18
CBS Sports: 18
College Football Playoff Rankings: 17
AFCA Coaches Poll: 18
AP Top 25: 17
Overall Record: 7-3 Conference Record: 4-2
The team's strength of schedule this season: 6, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 2 (Kentucky and Mississippi State)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 4
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 2 (UTEP and Sam Houston State)
Next game opponent: Arkansas
Week 13 prediction: Texas 41, Arkansas 27
No. 2 Texas A&M
CFN: 3
ESPN SP+: 9
The Athletic: 3
USA Today: 3
CBS Sports: 3
Overall Record: 10-0 Conference Record: 4-2
The team's strength of schedule this season: 18, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 4 (Notre Dame, Arkansas, LSU, and Missouri)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 7
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (UTSA)
Next game opponent: Samford
Week 13 prediction: Texas A&M 51, Samford 10
Although Texas A&M has an undefeated record, it is frequently said that, aside from one or two important wins, such as a high-profile victory against a ranked opponent like Notre Dame or LSU, its overall caliber of victories is more on par with the 2004 Auburn team. Their conference victories have come against teams that are perceived as having disappointing seasons, such as Auburn, Florida, and Arkansas, who all fired their head coaches who started the season. Five of their wins have been against the five teams at the bottom of the SEC conference standings. Because of this, their record is not as strong as that of a team like Texas Tech with a comparable record but more valuable victories over strong opponents this season.
Even in victories, college football observers criticize their uneven conference play, as ESPN has 11 SEC teams with a higher strength of schedule than them. Concerns about their strength of schedule also arise regarding their first four SEC games against those teams that currently have a combined SEC record of 4-23. They did win at Notre Dame but, they gave up 40 points that game, and the Fighting Irish don't appear to be a lock for the CFP as they were last season and they did defeat Missouri on the road but the Tiger has lost three of their last five games.
No. 1 Texas Tech
CFN: 8
ESPN SP+: 8
The Athletic: 5
USA Today: 6
CBS Sports: 5
Overall Record: 10-1 Conference Record: 7-1
The team's strength of schedule this season: 51, according to ESPN’s FPI
Road victories this year: 3 (Utah, Houston, and Kansas State)
Wins vs. Power 4 conference teams: 7
Victories against other teams from the state of Texas: 1 (Houston)
Next game opponent: @ West Virginia
Week 13: Bye week
The ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) ranks Texas Tech at No. 8, surpassing Texas A&M at No. 9. The Red Raiders should be ranked above the Aggies now, according to the data and metrics.
Texas Tech's victories may have come against more "quality" opponents or against highly regarded teams. If you look at the overall records of the teams they have defeated this season, the Red Raiders have defeated BYU, Houston, and Utah, whose combined record is 25-5, and three of those losses were to Texas Tech.
Yes, Texas Tech lost on the road to Arizona State without its starting quarterback, but the Aggies were down 30-3 at halftime against a South Carolina team that has only won three games this season. Also, they only defeated an Arkansas team with only two wins this season by three points and barely defeated an Auburn team at home by six points, who recently fired their head coach.
In comparison, the average margin for victory for the Red Raiders is over 27 points a game, and they defeated three teams in the College Football Playoff rankings, No. 23 Houston, No. 12 Utah, and No. 11 BYU, by 24, 22, and 24 points this season.
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Ryan Kay is a journalist who graduated from Michigan State in 2003 and is passionate about covering college sports and enjoys writing features and articles covering various collegiate teams. He has worked as an editor at Go Joe Bruin and has been a contributor for Longhorns Wire and Busting Brackets. He is a contributor for Texas Tech On SI.