Texas Football Week 6: Longhorns Stumble, Aggies Spiral, and Houston Rises

Week 6 of the college football season proved that a light slate doesn’t equate a boring one. Five of the 13 FBS teams in Texas were idle this weekend and that included Power Four programs such as Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, and SMU. The three that were in action – Texas, Texas A&M, and Houston – went 1-2.

UTSA and North Texas continued to impress at the G6 level with the Roadrunners improving their home record under Jeff Traylor and the Mean Green thumping Charlotte. While Texas State received a much-needed break to lick its wounds, Sam Houston, Rice, and UTEP all lost by double digits.

Let’s expand on what happened across the state in the weekly thoughts.

Texas was never the best team in the country

Texas deserved be the top-ranked team in the land because the wins over Ohio State and at Tennessee gave the Horns the best on-field resumé. But anyone with eyes could see the cracks in the foundation. The 23-3 deficit entering the fourth quarter against Ohio State. The sloppy offensive performance the next week against UTSA. The near choke job at Tennessee two weeks ago.

Texas was ranked No. 1 in the country, but no one outside of the Texas fan base viewed as the nation’s best team. That’s because the Longhorns couldn’t cobble together four quarters of consistency. Not on offense, at least. Add in poor special teams play and too many penalties and they looked like a team ripe for humbling.

Oklahoma seemed an unlikely team to knock off the Horns, though. That’s because the Sooners’ offense is even worse than the one in burnt orange. The only way that Oklahoma could score enough points to knock off Texas was if the Longhorns scored some for them.

And that’s exactly what happened. The Sooners scored three touchdowns in the win in the Cotton Bowl. One was by the offense. One was by the defense. And one was by special teams. Even the lone Oklahoma offensive touchdown drive was extended by two Texas penalties.

This falls directly on the feet of Steve Sarkisian. He’s the play caller on offense. He chose to keep Jeff Banks as special teams coordinator. As head coach, he’s responsible for the lack of discipline we’ve seen against Tennessee and Oklahoma.

This loss doesn’t end Texas’ season. The Horns are guaranteed a spot at 10-2. They might squeeze in at 9-3 because of the schedule. But 8-4 or worse is on the table if the offense can’t find consistency and the team doesn’t improve mentally. It’s on Sark to fix those issues because Will Muschamp clearly has a handle on the defense.

Texas A&M isn’t making a bowl game

Scan Texas A&M’s record and find three more wins on it with the way the Aggies are currently playing. We’ll give them next week against The Citadel. Two more is a stretch. The two most winnable option, at least on paper, are Oklahoma and South Carolina but both of those are on the road. And USC just beat Florida so maybe the Gamecocks are the better team right now.

The 27-6 loss to Missouri dropped Texas A&M to 3-3 on the season and 1-3 in the SEC. Marcel Reed and the offense haven’t scored a touchdown in either of the two SEC road losses. The running game gained 29 yards on 23 carries. Missouri outgained the Aggies by nearly 200 yards and picked up twice as many first downs. It was complete dominance after the first quarter, where Texas A&M led 3-0.

The failures for Mike Elko’s program began in the offseason. The in-house promotions haven’t clicked. Reed has regressed and the talent around him isn’t on the same level as it was last year. This looks like a team that lost 10 players to the NFL Draft. But it also looks like a team that didn’t do a good job of replacing them in the transfer portal or developing them from previous recruiting classes.

Elko said before the season that his program’s job was to prove it could reload, not rebuild. This is more of a rebuild following the trip to the CFP last year. Simply put, this Aggies team isn’t talented enough to compete for the SEC. Close your eyes and list five Aggies on either side of the ball that would keep opposing coordinators up at night. You can’t.

The offseason was a swing and a miss for Elko. He’ll need to right those wrongs. That includes staff changes and a change at quarterback. It also means injecting more talent on both sides of the ball. The Aggies were more talented in 2024 and 2025. That’s on the head coach in the portal era.

Patrick Overmyer illustrates why Houston is thriving  

My April is spent driving around Texas in my work truck with stops at each FBS school in the state. It gives me a chance to talk to head coaches on record – and assistant coaches off record – as we build the summer magazine. And one of the things I heard about at multiple stops last spring was about how efficient Houston is in the transfer portal. The Cougars don’t spend the most money, but they do spend it well. That’s a credit to GM Wes Fritz and his staff.

Tight end Patrick Overmyer is the perfect example. UTSA lost two tight ends to Power Four schools in the transfer portal. One went to Texas A&M. One went to Houston. Logic would suggest that since the Aggies are higher in the pecking order because of resources that they signed the better of the two players. But I had multiple coaches tell me that the Cougars signed the better prospect. Not because Houston Thomas isn’t good, but because Overmyer is a future pro.

Overmyer caught eight passes for 83 yards and four touchdowns in the statement win over Kansas State. He now has 33 receptions for 317 yards and six touchdowns, and we’re only halfway through the season. And he’s just one example of portal additions making instant impacts at Houston.

Money clearly matters in college football and the teams with the most expensive rosters are enjoying the most success. But there is still room for smart programs with enough money to elevate beyond their means. To “Moneyball” it, for lack of a better term. That’s what the Fritz family is doing with the Coogs, and they’re squarely in the Big 12 mix because of it.  

Respect the Alamodome

Jeff Traylor’s Roadrunners improved to 36-5 at home since he became head coach in 2020, including a 26-1 against conference opponents. One field – the high school stadium in Gilmer – is named after him. The city of San Antonio might think about giving him some equity in the one inside of the Alamodome, because he certainly owns it.  

UTSA is back to winning like the UTSA of the championship years in 2021 and 2022. The Roadrunners were a combined 11-2 in one-possession games during those seasons. They’re 3-0 so far this year. Traylor built a reputation by winning in the small margins. His teams stopped doing that the last two seasons and they were inconsistent because of it.

With two road wins, three close victories, and the Alamodome serving as its fortress, UTSA has a real shot at winning the American Conference and making a run at the G6 spot in the CFP.

North Texas is for real for real

The Mean Green entered Year 1 under Neal Brown with bowl aspirations. It’s become increasingly clear that six wins was too low of a bar. Beating Charlotte should be kept in context because the 49ers are as bad as it gets in college football. But it is impossible not to be impressed with North Texas and to start considering it as a true contender in a wide-open American Conference.

QB Tayven Jackson completed his first 14 pass attempts in the 50-10 win. He finished the game with five touchdowns and 349 yards. Jaheim White rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown. Justin Stevenson caught nine passes for 122 yards and two scores. And the defense didn’t allow a point over the last 44 minutes of game time.

The Mean Green head into the open week with 4-2 record and miles of belief.

Sam Houston humbled by Liberty

It is far more likely that the lopsided result Houston on Thursday night was more about Liberty than Sam Houston. The Flames were crowned the king of Conference USA in 2023 en route to the Fiesta Bowl and their resource advantage over the rest of the conference seemed to assure them a long reign as champions.

Think Texas Tech in the Big 12. Just with evangelism instead of oil and gas.

But it was Jacksonville State that won the CUSA title in 2024. Kennesaw State claimed it last year. Jamie Chadwell was 13-1 in his first season in charge. He was 12-12 over his last two. The 2025 campaign was the program’s first to end below .500.

Sam Houston traveled to Lynchburg, Va. hoping to face the Liberty of 2025. Heck, even the 2024 version. Instead, the Flames look like the 2023 team that waltzed through the conference.

There was reason for optimism for the Bearkats despite the 1-3 start. They hoped to show CUSA how far they’ve come in Year 2 under Phil Longo. But it was Liberty who showed Sam Houston how far it still needs to go.

Longo’s group is clearly better than it was last year and that should be heartening for the fan base. A 1-4 record doesn’t make that easy to see, but the roster is improved and – before the Liberty game – they were within striking distance in two other games against G6 opponents.

There isn’t another team left on the Sam Houston schedule that has the talent advantage of Liberty. Let’s reserve judgment on what the 2026 team can achieve until we see them against other CUSA peers. The upcoming slate includes winnable games against Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, and Missouri State.  

Fourth quarter dooms Owls

Rice has been outscored in the fourth quarter in three of the four losses to G6 competition this season. That trend was magnified in the road loss to East Carolina in Week 6 when the Owls were outscored 14-3 in the final frame. They were outscored by seven in a seven-point loss to Western Michigan and by seven in a 14-point loss to Fresno State a week later.

Rice has lost the four G6 games this year by a combined 39 points. The Owls were outscored by a combined 18 over those four quarters. They were only outscored by 21 in the first three quarters of those games.

Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden has an old saying about coaching. Year 1 you lose big. Year 2 lose you lose small. Year 3 you win small. And in Year 4, you win big. Rice head coach Scott Abell is in Year 2. Maybe this is just the natural order of things.

Time is out in El Paso

This was supposed to be a joyous year for UTEP football. The Miners finally got the call up to the Mountain West – reuniting them with some old WAC rivals and placing them in a conference that made more regional sense. They also had a head coach entering Year 3, which is supposed to be the “win small” adage mentioned in the Rice section above.

Joy is not the emotion felt right now by the Miner faithful. The most common emotion is probably apathy. And when apathy sets into a fan base, the ride is over. The 30-13 home loss to Nevada – a team that lost by 13 at home to FCS Montana State and was 1-3 entering the game – felt like the final song in the jukebox before the establishment closes for good.

The Scotty Walden era hasn’t produced the wins – or the excitement – to keep the fan base on board. The Miners are 0-5 this year and are 1-15 since the start of 2025 against FBS competition. They’re 4-14 against conference foes since Walden arrived and three of those years came in Year 1.

UTEP hosts San Jose State next week and then are idle on Oct. 24 before a trip to North Dakota State. The coaching carousel likely ramps up soon. UTEP is a program to monitor.