Craven: While college power programs struggled, the little guys had their best week yet

[caption id="attachment_26651" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by Shane Roper UNT RB Jeffrey Wilson (Photo by Shane Roper)[/caption] Four ObservationsA bad week for Texas' power programs The P5 programs in the state of Texas went winless over the weekend. Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma despite a quarterback who threw the ball 80 times and set an NCAA record for total yards in a game. The Longhorns traveled to Manhattan and came back with a familiar result. TCU was shut down by an emerging West Virginia team. And Texas A&M, while game, couldn’t hang with Alabama for 60 minutes. The lone survivor was Baylor since the Bears were off this week. The week looks even worse if Houston is thrown into the mix. The Cougars, once a contender for a national championship, fell to SMU. The Mustangs shock the Coogs SMU showed signs of growth early in the season. The victory over North Texas in the season opener looks like a quality win these days thanks to the Mean Green playing fantastic football. The Mustangs were tied at halftime against Baylor in the next game before moving to 2-1 against Liberty. Three losses followed and it looked like Chad Morris needed at least one more offseason and recruiting class before his program could hang with the top of the American Conference. Instead, SMU used momentum gained in the three-point loss to Tulsa two weeks ago to provide Morris with his first signature win as a college head coach. All of the sudden, SMU is a bowl game hopeful. Mean Green keeps rising Another team plodding towards an unexpected bowl berth is North Texas. In his first year at the helm, Seth Littrell is already turning around the Mean Green football program. North Texas won three of its last four games with its lone loss on the road against Florida. The Mean Green began conference play with a double-overtime victory against Rice before falling to conference favorite Middle Tennessee State. After that, Littrell’s squad beat Marshall and Army to move to four wins on the season. At 2-1 in conference heading to UTSA, North Texas is not only bordering on a bowl berth – its competing for a division title.= Miners and Roadrunners slug it out UTSA and UTEP treated us to a five-overtime classic Saturday in a game few people witnessed due to CUSA television rights. The Roadrunners led by 14 points in the first and third quarter, and even had a field goal attempt in the fourth overtime to win the game, but it was UTEP that emerged victorious on the road. This was a big win for a struggling program. UTEP fell flat with injuries last season and didn’t really rebound with the return of Aaron Jones. The Miners entered the game at 1-5 and left with a lot of respect. Sean Kugler’s team had less to play for and was on the road, yet the toughness the former NFL offensive lineman has instilled eventually won out. UTSA first-year head coach Frank Wilson is still teaching his young program how to close. One Question What happens if Baylor goes undefeated? One Prediction Texas A&M doesn’t lose another game. A few things go right like Washington losing and a Big 12 champion having one loss, and A&M suddenly sees itself in the College Football Playoff.

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