Taylor McHargue: Ranking the region. Where does your team stand after a weekend of losses?

Clovis Shropshire
September 13, 2022
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11 minutes read

1. Baylor – Baylor’s contest in Provo turned into a rock fight as both offenses struggled to gain traction and put together sustained drives in a 26-20 Double OT win for BYU. The Cougars front seven was extremely active and disrupted Blake Shapen’s timing, resulting in just 137 passing yards on 28 attempts and held the Bears offense to just 289 total yards. Baylor’s offensive struggles aside, this defense is still an elite unit even after the production it lost from last season. I’m not sure Baylor will see a defense of BYU’s caliber the rest of the regular season. For Big 12 fans this is just a taste of what Provo will provide week in and week out as a home venue when BYU makes the switch next year to their new home in the Big 12.

2. Texas – I said all week that Alabama would score at will on Texas’ defense, and I could not have been more wrong. Texas’ defensive line won at the point of attack at a level we haven’t seen since Mack Brown was on the sidelines in Austin. Quinn Ewers injury had an obvious impact, but the lingering storylines remain the missed field goal before half time and Bryce Young’s safety that wasn’t called a safety. The good news for Texas fans is if Sarkisian can recreate that level of effort and disruptiveness from his defensive unit, they will have a legitimate chance to compete for the Big 12 Championship in 2022.

3. LSU – The Tigers ascension in this week’s rankings has more to do with everyone around them losing rather than their own throttling of Southern in LSU’s home opener. Jayden Daniels was near perfect and Tigers fans got a chance to see Garrett Nussmeier in action, although he did throw two picks in the game. LSU plays host to Mississippi State next week in a game that should provide an update on where the Tigers stand in the SEC West. Was the loss to Florida State just a week one fluke that we will gloss over at year’s end, or is this a team that will struggle through all of 2022 in Brian Kelly’s first season in the Bayou?

4. Texas A&M – College Station, we’ve got problems. Appalachian State gave up 63 points and 567 yards in week one to North Carolina in Boone. A week later on the road the Mountaineers held the Aggies to less than 200 yards of total offense and won the time of possession battle by more than 20 minutes! App State took advantage of the Aggies’ two turnovers and executed their keep-away game plan to perfection. On the offensive side of the ball for the Aggies the problems are abundant. Blame for Haynes King is justified, but Jimbo Fisher’s scheme is equally troubling. Virtually no explosive plays and repetitive play calling stand out as major issues for the design of this offense moving forward. The final blow for Aggie fans is with a win College Gameday was almost a guarantee to come to College Station as A&M hosts the Miami Hurricanes next week. Instead, Gameday will be in Boone, North Carolina.

5. Texas Tech – It didn’t take long for Joey McGuire to bring renewed energy to the South Plains, and Saturday was a major step in momentum for the Red Raiders. Tech outgained the Cougars by over 100 yards of total offense and dominated time of possession. If it weren’t for three Donovan Smith interceptions this game would have been out of reach late and avoided overtime. A clutch 4^th and 20 conversion by the Texas Tech offense in the first overtime kept them in the game, followed by a Donovan Smith rushing touchdown in the second OT for the walk-off Tech win. We’ll find out next week just how real the Red Raiders are as they head to Raleigh North Carolina to take on the 18^th ranked NC State Wolfpack.

6. SMU – The knee-jerk reaction after two weeks is that this may be an American Conference Champion caliber team in Rhett Lashlee’s first season as head coach. The problem is it could also just be that SMU has opened with North Texas and Lamar, and neither of those teams are very good. SMU dominated Lamar while keeping their offense in first gear for most of the game. The next two weeks will give us our first looks at what the Mustangs will look like under pressure as they head to Maryland to face a Terrapins team that has also not been tested, followed by a trip back home to host their former head coach Sonny Dykes and TCU.

7. Houston – For the second week in a row the Houston Cougars found a way to force overtime in a game they probably didn’t deserve to win, and this week it caught up to them. Dana Holgorsen mentioned multiple times in his post-game press conference how many “stupid” mistakes were made by the Cougars at critical points in the game that limited Houston’s ability to capitalize on the three interceptions they created on defense. To Houston’s credit they battled in two very tough opening road games, and finally get a home opener in week 3. The downside is what was once thought to be a tune-up game against the worst team in the Big 12 may not be so easy. Kansas has looked impressive in their first two weeks of the season, including a big win in Morgantown against West Virginia. Houston should still win this game, but keep it on the back burner as a potential upset alert this week.

8. TCU – Similar to SMU, we just don’t know yet how good this TCU team really is. Colorado may be the worst P5 team in the nation, and TCU annihilating Tarleton State tells us very little. The question at QB remains who will Sonny Dykes play once Chandler Morris is back and healthy? Max Duggan threw for almost 400 yards with 5 TD’s against Tarleton State, but that was to be expected. The Horned Frogs have an early season bye week next week followed by a trip across town to face SMU. We’ll learn quite a bit about both TCU and SMU after The Battle For The Iron Skillet in two weeks time.

9. UTSA – It can’t be overstated how important this OT win over Army was for Jeff Traylor and the Roadrunners. UTSA knew how difficult their 2022 non-conference schedule would be, and getting just one of their first three was a significant achievement. The Roadrunners were down 14 early in the 3^rd quarter but fought through the second half to force overtime for the second week in a row. UTSA eclipsed 500 yards of total offense and avoided a single turnover as a unit. As a reward for their win UTSA now heads to Austin to take on a Longhorns team in recovery from a game against Alabama they felt they let slip away. I’m interested to see if there is any Texas hangover that would give life to a possible UTSA upset in Austin.

10. Tulane – Despite the fact that their wins have come against UMass and Alcorn state, the Green Wave are 2-0 by a combined score of 94-10, which is impressive regardless of the opponents. Michael Pratt looks to be back to the form we expected from him in 2021 and the Green Wave redemption tour could not have gotten off to a better start for coach Willie Fritz. Tulane heads to the Little Apple this week for their first road test to take on a Kansas State team that dismantled Missouri to the tune of 40-12. If Tulane is for real in 2022, we’ll find out this week.

11. North Texas – A 59-27 win over Texas Southern was a nice way to bounce back after being embarrassed at home by SMU, but the jury is still out on this years UNT team. The next two weeks on the road against UNLV and Memphis will test whether this is a team that will hover around .500 for the year, or if this year’s Mean Green will compete as a dark horse for the CUSA championship in their last year in the league.

12. Rice – It’s not often the Owls are on the right side of a blowout, but Saturday night was the exception to the rule. Rice jumped all over McNeese State from the jump and closed out the game with a 52-10 bounce back win. The next three weeks will be challenging to say the least. If the Owls hope to make a bowl game they will need to steal an upset win against either ULL, at Houston, or UAB, all of which they will be heavy underdogs against.

13. UTEP – New Mexico State is one of the worst teams in college football, and late Saturday night it looked like UTEP may be headed to overtime against the Aggies. UTEP ultimately won the contest 20-13, but concerns on the offensive side of the ball remain. The Miners created less than 300 total yards of offense and turned the ball over twice as well. For a season that started with so much promise, my fear is this year’s UTEP team is not destined for the postseason and likely hangs around the bottom of CUSA.

14. Texas State – The Bobcats’ 41-12 win over FIU was impressive for several reasons, but the response in the offenses ability to run the ball is what stood out most. Texas State got their doors blown off in week 1 by Nevada (a team that turned around and lost at home to Incarnate Word) but responded by rushing for over 200 yards on the ground after putting up -12 the week before. The Bobcats head to Waco this week in a game that they simply need to avoid injury in, before hosting Houston Baptist. Texas State should be 2-2 headed in to conference play with decent momentum on their side.