
Starting this week there should be five teams in the AP Top 25 from the State of Texas. Coming into the week the highest ranked was TCU, followed by Houston and Baylor. Those three teams scored wins along with unranked Texas & Texas A&M over ranked opponents.
For this first set of rankings there may be a bit of a homer alert going on, but judging from the attention from National media I'm going to have Houston leapfrog TCU to the top of the Texas rankings.
EDIT - making some major changes because I got something really, really wrong...
1. Houston (#15): 1-0, win over #3 Oklahoma. I'm going with Houston at #1 over TCU based upon the strength of the win. TCU, Baylor & Texas are all Big-12 schools, and Oklahoma was pretty much the consensus favorite to win that conference this season. Houston stepped right up and punched them in the mouth for the knockout. Going forward Houston's schedule is the weakest of everyone remaining, but as long as they win out then they are a legit contender for a playoff spot. Coach Herman has to keep them all focused for every remaining game.
2. Texas A&M: 1-0, win over #16 UCLA. I think that most assumed that this would be a win by UCLA, with the Aggies perhaps making a respectable showing. They ended up with a very impressive showing, outside of a 4th quarter which saw the Bruins come back from 15 down to go to overtime. Aggies took care of business after that to seal the win over a ranked opponent.
3. Texas: 1-0, win over #10 Notre Dame. A highly entertaining game, but one that did not leave us with a good perception of what we can expect from Texas this season. Offense doesn't appear to be a problem, but Defense may be an issue. It was still good enough to take down a ranked Notre Dame team (NBC must be upset!). After some down years the Longhorns might be back on track.
4. Baylor (#23): 1-0, win over unranked Northwestern State. Why did Baylor get dropped to #5 on this list? It wasn't as if they did anything wrong. Like TCU they did exactly what they were supposed to do by defeating a clearly overmatched opponent. Unlike TCU they actually took care of business. They just lose out this week because of the impressive nature of the other team wins.
5. TCU (#13): 1-0, win over San Diego State -edit, no South Dakota State. TCU did what they were supposed to do: beat their unranked, week #1 opponent. They put 59 points on them; however, they also gave up 41. Perhaps they were looking past this game and just not trying on the defense. They are now in the Big-12 driver's seat. It's crazy to think that we could see the eventual Big 12 champ having 2 losses. It's not outside of the realm of possibility in the improved conference. EDIT - I had it in my mind that SDSU was San Diego State when it was actually South Dakota State
I could really order 2-5 in any way after the first week. EDIT - changed all of this after realizing it was South Dakota State that TCU went up against. They were clearly the #5 team on the list with that in mind.TCU dropped after realizing who they actually played. Texas A&M could end up making noise in the SEC, or they could fall apart with disappointing performances. That whole conference may not be as strong (outside of Alabama) as previous years. Texas needs to prove consistency and Baylor needs to make a statement against a better team. Houston is the standout so far, but it was a good Week 1 from all 5.