TEXAS, USA — It's time to get serious. It's Week 3 of the 2024-2025 college football season and teams are starting to take shape.
Some of our Texas FBS teams have looked unstoppable -- the majority are still trying to figure out what kind of team they want to be, and the rest are simply looking ahead and calculating if they can get enough wins to make something out of their season that might not have gotten off to the best start.
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 after two -- technically three -- weeks of play.
And remember: if you don't agree, that's totally fine. No one is right in college football and that's why we love it.
WFAA's Texas Football Rankings for Week 3:
No. 1 Texas Longhorns (2-0)
Ryan Osborne: The Longhorns established themselves as a national power in a dominating win at Michigan. Or, they simply confirmed that last year's playoff run was no one-year fluke. Michigan is in rebuild mode, whether their fans admit it or not. But winning at the Big House is never easy, and the Wolverines were out-classed in every facet of the game. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian shows again he can get a team ready for a big road matchup.
- Paul Livengood - 1
- Ryan Osborne - 1
- Zach Yanes - 1
No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies (1-1)
Paul Livengood: The Aggies got back on track with a demanding home win against an FCS school, but that Notre Dame loss is looking a bit worse now after the fighting Irish got upset by unranked Northern Illinois. If the Aggies keep struggling against opponents, however, they’re gonna start falling in my rankings.
- Paul Livengood - 2
- Ryan Osborne - 3
- Zach Yanes - 2
No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs (2-0)
Ryan Osborne: The Horned Frogs handled Long Island with ease, which really doesn't tell us much. But it was a good tuneup game for the Frogs, ahead of UCF this week and after a grind of a win at Stanford in the opener. Even against light competition, quarterback Josh Hoover gets more and more comfortable with each passing week, and TCU has an underrated stable of receivers in Savion Williams, JP Richardson and Jack Bech.
- Paul Livengood - 3
- Ryan Osborne - 2
- Zach Yanes - 3
No. 4 Texas State Bobcats (2-0)
Paul Livengood: I said last week I refused to put UTSA ahead of TXST unless they beat us and boy did the Bobcats #BeatTheBird. Saturday was fun for me. I enjoyed every single bit of that 39-point shellacking. TXST has a marquee matchup coming Thursday on national TV against Arizona State, who just dismantled Mississippi State. And, yours truly will be in attendance for that game. Get on the TXST hype train because we’re coming.
- Paul Livengood - 4
- Ryan Osborne - 5
- Zach Yanes - 4
No. 5 Baylor Bears (1-1)
Zachary Yanes: This game started off horrendous for the Baylor Bears as they were in the hole 17-0 right off the bat. They were able to hold strong defensively after the first quarter, just allowing 6 points total in the second quarter and 0 points the rest of the way. However, they just weren't able to ever generate much offense -- eerily similar to SMU's performance this week.
- Paul Livengood - 5
- Ryan Osborne - 4
- Zach Yanes - 5
No. 6 SMU Mustangs (2-1)
Ryan Osborne: The Mustangs' offense looked terrible in a home loss to BYU, a dud of a performance against a fellow Power 4 conference team. SMU can't seem to figure out the quarterback situation – Kevin Jennings ultimately got the most playing time Friday night, with Preston Stone struggling. And to make matters worse, SMU's stadium seemed to be filled by tens of thousands of BYU fans. SMU might be an ACC member now, but it doesn't look like it yet.
- Paul Livengood - 6
- Ryan Osborne - 8
- Zach Yanes - 7
No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders (1-1)
Paul Livengood: A 1-point home win against an FCS team followed up by getting pummeled by Washington State. The struggle bus is parked in Lubbock.
- Paul Livengood - 10
- Ryan Osborne - 7
- Zach Yanes - 6
No. 8 North Texas Mean Green (2-0)
Zachary Yanes: Well it wasn't the best game for UNT quarterback Chandler Morris as he threw three interceptions against Stephen F. Austin. However, he still managed to throw for four touchdowns and over 300 yards. It's that kind of short-term memory you like to see out of your quarterback. You don't want those turnovers, but when you're throwing over 40 times a game, things happen. I'm looking forward to the Mean Green's matchup against Texas Tech in Week 3 -- I think both teams can be decent, so this game should be a good test.
- Paul Livengood - 7
- Ryan Osborne - 9
- Zach Yanes - 8
No. 9 Houston Cougars (0-2)
Ryan Osborne: I really don't think the Cougars are very good – at all – because new coach Willie Fritz is essentially starting from scratch with a new roster. But if the Fritz's Cougars are going to fight like they did Saturday night at Oklahoma – nearly beating the Sooners – then things are heading in the right direction. After getting blown out by UNLV in Week 1, Houston went into Norman and frustrated the Oklahoma offense all night.
- Paul Livengood - 9
- Ryan Osborne - 6
- Zach Yanes - 10
No. 10 UTSA Roadrunners (1-1)
Zachary Yanes: I don't really know what to say other than that was a complete butt-kicking. It was embarrassing and saddening -- I had to stop watching in the third quarter to keep myself from spiraling. I love my Roadrunners, but the failure to get up for this game was shocking. It's Texas State: UTSA's biggest rival, despite a lopsided history. But no, they never even got off the bus. I want to close my eyes and skip to Week 4 because it's not about to get any better. You just got your teeth kicked in and now you have to travel back up I-35 to face the No. 2 Texas Longhorns in Austin. Getting back home with no injuries is the goal. Unless...
- Paul Livengood - 8
- Ryan Osborne - 10
- Zach Yanes - 9
No. 11 Sam Houston Bearkats (1-1)
Paul Livengood: Still beat Rice head-to-head, and they have the same record. If Rice gets a couple more wins than Sam Houston does later in the season and the eye test starts to match, then we can talk about Rice moving back up.
- Paul Livengood - 11
- Ryan Osborne - 11
- Zach Yanes - 12
No. 12 Rice Owls (1-1)
Zachary Yanes: I'll admit -- I was wrong to be skeptical about the Owls' bounce-back ability. I thought the beatdown they suffered in Week 1 would have them stumbling into a trap game against Texas Southern. The Owls disagreed. They came back hot, scoring 69 points and only letting up 7. Now, I understand that this was against an FCS team, but other squads on this list have played FCS teams and not put up anywhere close to the amount of points Rice did.
- Paul Livengood - 12
- Ryan Osborne - 12
- Zach Yanes - 11
No. 13 UTEP Miners (0-2)
Paul Livengood: The Miners haven’t won a game and lost in overtime to an FCS team. They’re the worst Texas team in FBS and it’s not close.
- Paul Livengood - 13
- Ryan Osborne - 13
- Zach Yanes - 13
