Conference races are in full swing across college football and 11 of the 13 teams played meaningful contests in Week 5. Only Texas and Sam Houston were idle. The rest of the state combined for a 7-4 record.  

North Texas started the week with a bang, knocking off a Tulsa team in overtime that beat Oklahoma State, the new home of dozens of former Mean Green coaches and players, in Week 1. Texas Tech and Houston survived Big 12 scares while Baylor announced itself as a contender.  

Losses at TCU and UTEP raise serious questions about the trajectory of the programs under their current regimes.  

With the midway point of the season creeping up on us, here are my 10 thoughts from Week 5.  

Houston, you have an attendance problem  

The Houston win against UCF was a classic case of the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

 The good was the comeback. Houston scored the last 24 points of the game and became only the fourth team this year to come back and win after trailing by at least 17 points in the second half. Conner Weigman’s three touchdown runs and an opportunistic defense pushed the home team over the finish line.  

The bad was the first half performance. Houston reached the UCF red zone three times in the second quarter and ran nine plays without scoring a point. Two drives ended in turnover on downs, the other in a fumble. The Cougars looked sleepy. They weren’t sharp. They weren’t making plays. And they were making plenty of mistakes.  

But the ugly was the crowd, or lack thereof. Announced attendance was 25,593 but our eyes saw thousands fewer than that. This was a game between two 3-1 teams with Big 12 aspirations. Willie Fritz had Houston on an upward trajectory. Conner Weigman is a hometown kid with a fun story. 

Simply put, this program deserves better. The city, the alumni, the student body, and, most importantly, the leadership at the school and in the athletic department need to take some pride and get it fixed.  

Houston’s average attendance was 32,215 in 2025, which was the lowest in the Big 12 and the fourth lowest in the Power Four. Only Wake Forest, Stanford, and Duke averaged less. Four G6 programs – Fresno State, East Carolina, USF, and Boise State – averaged more.  

More than ever, success in college football is measured in eyeballs on television and butts in seats. Houston fans know what it is like to be left behind in the college landscape. Turnout like that for a Top 25 team is what will keep the Coogs out of the next evolution of Power Four football.  

Slow starts a concerning trend for Tech 

The slow starts will eventually bite Texas Tech because this version isn’t good enough to play with their food so frequently.  

The Red Raiders trailed 7-3 against Colorado before rattling off 26 unanswered points in the second half to leave the Buffalos in the dust. One game is an outlier. Two games is a concern. Three games is a trend. This is the fourth slow start in four games against P4 competition. They have now trailed at halftime in both Big 12 games and have only outscored the four P4 opponents 52-45 in the first half this season.  

Joey McGuire’s squad overwhelmed opponents last season while marching to the Big 12 title. This year’s team continues to show us that they’re not on that level. But the good news is that Tech is undefeated and finding ways to win. The bad news is that the odds suggest that those slow starts will eventually cost Tech dearly.  

This feels like a Big 12 championship or bust type season for Tech. The Red Raiders haven’t looked dominant enough to demand an at-large bid if they trip up once, and definitely not with two losses. They need to win the conference. And that won’t happen if the slow starts continue.  

UTEP is the toughest watch in Texas  

The hardest watch in Texas college football is based in El Paso. The Miners dropped to 1-4 on the season after the 61-7 loss to New Mexico. It was the program’s first game in the Mountain West and it serves as another reminder of how far away they are from contention under third-year head coach Scotty Walden.  

Walden is now 4-22 against FBS opponents since taking the job ahead of the 2023 season. Three of those four wins came in his debut season. Since knocking off New Mexico State to end the 2023 campaign, his Miners are 1-14 against the FBS. The margin of defeat last year in losses was 14.6 points per game. This year it is 41.5.  

The schedule is undeniably brutal. UTEP played Oklahoma and Michigan on the road before the end of September. The team started October on the road against a New Mexico team that might just win the Mountain West. The other non-conference opponent – Oregon State – gave Texas Tech and Houston all they could handle.  

Losing is one thing. Losing without scoring points is another. Walden was hired because of his offensive acumen. But proof of that competency is hard to find since he arrived in the Sun City. UTEP is averaging fewer than eight points per game against FBS competition this season – that’s last in the country. The unit was 102^nd in scoring offense in 2025 against FBS competition and 120^th in 2024.  

Even at a university without much winning history, that’s not good enough.  

Arkansas was the best medicine for Texas A&M  

Arkansas is the SEC version of a slump buster and the encounter with the Razorbacks came at the perfect time for Texas A&M. Just call 1-800-Play-Arkansas and you too can feel better about the local football program.  

The Aggies were reeling from a pair of conference losses to Kentucky and LSU to start Year 3 under Mike Elko. Marcel Reed’s confidence was gone. The running game was inconsistent. The defense was horrid. But in came the Razorbacks. Texas A&M coasted to a 34-7 win as Reed threw for 170 yards and the team rushed for 231. The Wrecking Crew held Arkansas to 111 yards passing and recorded six tackles for loss.  

A win over Arkansas won’t do much to stop the narratives surrounding the 2026 version of the Aggies, but it should serve as a much-needed confidence boost inside the locker room. Sometimes, you just need to see a shot go through the net. Think of it as the free throw that gets a shooter back in rhythm.  

Next up is a trip to Missouri and then a home game against Citadel. The Tigers are beatable despite their showing against Florida this weekend. There is a reality where the Aggies are 5-2 heading into the Alabama game with a real chance to salvage the season.  

Frogs lose another decision  

It’d be easier to bury TCU as a fraud if the Horned Frogs were losing in blowouts. But what is frustrating, and confusing about them is how close they are to reaching their potential.  

The loss to BYU on Saturday night was the third loss of the season, and all three were by one possession. TCU lost to UNC by five in Week 0. Last week was an eight-point loss to UCF. BYU beat them by seven.  

Sonny Dykes is now 20-18 against the Power Four and 14-15 in the Big 12 since the start of 2023. His Frogs are 14-20-1 against the spread during that time. The trip to the national championship feels like a lifetime ago and his team must turn it around after the open week or there will be some uncomfortable conversations in Fort Worth.  

Jaheim White carries North Texas to win  

Don’t let revenue share the portal fool you: relationships still matter in college football. Take North Texas. The Mean Green were ravaged in the transfer portal when Eric Morris left for Oklahoma State. His replacement – Neal Brown – needed to completely overhaul the roster, adding 72 new players between the time he was hired and the Week 1 opener.  

None of those additions were more important than running back Jaheim White, who Brown coached previously at West Virginia.  

White ran for 219 yards and a score on 32 carries on Thursday night in the overtime road win over Tulsa. In North Texas’ three wins this season, White is averaging 158.67 rushing yards per game and 8.65 yards an attempt. In the two losses, those numbers drop to 53 yards per game and 3.66 yards per attempt. He’s scored six of his eight rushing touchdowns in the three wins.  

A bowl game felt like a reasonable goal for the Mean Green entering 2026 given the roster turnover. An 0-3 start looked more likely than not on paper. Yet, we’re almost halfway through the regular season and North Texas is 3-2 overall and 1-0 in American play with a hapless Charlotte program and a struggling Navy squad on the horizon. The conference slate doesn’t include South Florida or Memphis.  

A bowl game no longer feels like the ceiling for Brown in Year 1. That’s now the floor.  

Don’t count the Mean Green out in a wide-open and unpredictable American Conference. The defense needs to improve, but they just won on the road despite losing the turnover battle 3-0 against a Tulsa team that beat Morris & Co. a month ago.  

SMU struggles against another overmatched opponent  

The Mustangs are 4-1 on the season but they don’t look like a team with the same type of upside as the 2024 or even the 2025 team. Nothing comes easy for SMU right now.  

That concerning trend continued in the win over Boston College. SMU is a Top 25 team with a 4-1 record and a shot to win out in conference play and face Miami in the ACC Championship game but it doesn’t feel like it. The Florida State win was closer than it should’ve been because of turnovers and mistakes. The Louisville game was a missed opportunity. The victory over Missouri State was harder than it should be.  

SMU is now 0-3-1 against the spread against FBS competition this year. Betting lines aren’t everything but over a season they are a good way to judge which teams are over and underachieving expectations. SMU is clearly in the second group right now. Boston College outgained the Mustangs 322 to 218 and led after the first quarter. 

UTSA is starting to look like UTSA  

Jeff Traylor built the Roadrunners by winning close games.  

They were 17-7 in one-possession games from 2020-24, including an 11-2 mark during the conference championship seasons of 2021 and 2022. UTSA wasn’t dominant in the traditional sense. Traylor’s program was simply great in the margins.  

That disappeared during disappointing seasons in 2024 and 2025. The Roadrunners were a combined 2-6 in one-possession games over the last two years. Without that Midas touch in close games, they became a .500 team fighting for bowl eligibility, not trophies.  

The early returns in 2026 suggest that Traylor & Co. have that close game mojo back. They beat Texas State by five in Week 2 and held on this weekend to knock off Rice, 16-14. The Roadrunners are 2-0 in one-possession games and are undefeated on the road against G6 competition thus far this season.  

If UTSA can continue to win in the margins, and on the road, it has a real chance to win the American Conference. The next two are back in the friendly confines of the Alamodome, where the Roadrunners are 12-2 since the start of 2024.  

Rice’s record will tell lies  

An overall record rarely tells an accurate picture of a team’s season. Rice will become a perfect example of that in 2026. This Owls team would beat last year’s Owls by double digits. But it is likely that this group ends up with fewer than the five wins that last year’s group achieved. And it is possible that they don’t win another game this year and end up 1-11. That’s how brutal the schedule is.  

QB Jacurri Brown is must-watch and the Owls defense played spirited football in the two-point loss to UTSA in Week 5. They’ve lost three straight to G6 contenders by a combined 23 points. Two of those – Western Michigan and UTSA – ended as one-possession games. The other – Fresno State – was a seven-point game in the fourth quarter.  

We’re still betting on head coach Scott Abell’s long-term trajectory at Rice. His group caught a bad break on the scheduling this year so the record won’t suggest that the arrow is still pointing up on South Main. 

Lagway shines as Baylor ascends into Big 12 contention  

Through four games of the season, it was new defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman who was the most impressive addition from the offseason. His defense was nails again during the blowout road win over Arizona State, holding the Sun Devils to under 20 points.    

But it wasn’t the defensive performance that left onlookers believing this Baylor team can compete for a Big 12 title. That optimism comes from the performance of transfer quarterback D.J. Lagway. The former Mr. Texas Football turned in his best performance as a Bear, passing for 306 yards and accounting for five total touchdowns.  

Baylor is 4-1 for the first time since 2021, the year Dave Aranda led the Bears to a Big 12 championship. The Big 12 in 2025 felt like a one-team race. This year looks like the stereotypical wide-open battle royale we’re used to in the Big 12. So, why not Baylor? The Bears haven’t allowed more than 19 points in a game all year and the version of Lagway we saw against Arizona State is as good as any quarterback in the league.  

Bloody October continues for Texas State  

New conference, same story for the Bobcats. Texas State was talented enough to contend for a Sun Belt Conference title in the three seasons under G.J. Kinne but a 3-7 record in the month of October always put the team behind the sticks. That trend continued in the Pac-12 debut, as the Bobcats fell on the road against San Diego State. It was the sixth straight loss in October, dating back to Oct. 12, 2024, against Arkansas State.  

FBS Scores  

BYU 17, TCU 10  
Texas Tech 29, Colorado 7 
Houston 27, UCF 17 
SMU 25, Boston College 16 
New Mexico 61, UTEP 7 
Texas A&M 34, Arkansas 7 
UTSA 16, Rice 14 
Baylor 55, Arizona State 19 
San Diego State 31, Texas State 29