Week 5 of the college football season was a mixed bag for the 12 FBS programs in the Lone Star State. The five Power Five programs combined for a 2-3 record with Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor suffering conference losses. TCU remained the only undefeated team in Texas and the Longhorns rebounded with a win heading into the Red River Rivalry. The G5 programs enjoyed a little more success with the four C-USA programs ending Week 5 undefeated. 

Jimbo Fisher is holding back Texas A&M: Let me clarify: As I’ve said in posts and podcasts for weeks, Fisher the program builder and recruiter earned his money in 2022 by signing the best recruiting class in the country and surviving offensive woes to beat Miami and Arkansas to avoid a disastrous 2022 season. However, the offense is bad, and he needs to check his ego at the door and hire a play caller for the 2023 season or this version of Texas A&M is the future until he leaves. The Aggies were shut out in the first half Saturday of the road loss at Mississippi State. Max Johnson, who exited the game with an injury, didn’t complete a pass that traveled further than 20 yards in the air in any of his three starts. 

TCU is the best team in Texas: Eleven of the 12 FBS teams in Texas suffered at least two defeats by the end of Week 5. The only team without at least two losses on its record is the TCU Horned Frogs. Sonny Dykes’ crew beatdown Oklahoma in Fort Worth on Saturday with the offense scoring 41 first-half points. Max Duggan was 22 of 33 for 302 yards and three touchdown passes. Kendre Miller ran for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 13 carries. TCU travels to Kansas on Saturday in a clash of two 5-0 teams. Reread that sentence again because it is insane. 

Texas’ tight end does a two-step: The last time a Texas tight end was drafted to the NFL was in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL Draft when the Dallas Cowboys took Geoff Swaim. If the first five games of his sophomore campaign are any indication, JaTavion Sanders is set to break that drought. The Denton Ryan product caught five passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns in Texas’ blowout win over West Virginia. Sanders, a former five-star recruit, has 20 catches for 212 yards and three touchdowns on the season. The tight end trio of Cade Brewer, Jared Wiley, and Juan Davis combined for 32 catches in 2021. 

Texas Tech struggles on the road: The good news is that the Red Raiders are 3-0 at home, including a win over Texas in the Longhorns’ final trip to Lubbock, in Joey McGuire’s first year at the helm. The bad news is that Texas Tech is 0-2 away from Jones AT&T Stadium following a road loss to Kansas State in Week 5. Adrian Martinez passed for 116 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 171 yards and three scores in the nine-point victory. Donovan Smith threw two interceptions and the running game only averaged 3.4 yards a carry. Texas Tech lost the turnover battle four to one. That was the same margin as the loss to N.C. State in Week 3. The Red Raiders turned the ball over eight times in two losses and only four times in three wins. 

Baylor lacks playmakers on defense: The only time Baylor allowed 30 points during the 12-2 Big 12 championship run of 2021 was in a two-point loss to TCU on the road. The Horned Frogs scored exactly 30 points in the win. Even in the loss to Oklahoma State during the 2021 regular season, the Bears only allowed 24 points. In the 2022 regular season matchup with the Cowboys on Saturday, Baylor allowed 36 points. The most since the 2020 season. The losses of Terrell Bernard, Jalen Pitre, and J.T. Woods hurt the Bears’ ability to make plays on third down and force turnovers. Oklahoma State only turned the ball over once and were 6 of 13 on third down and 1 for 1 on fourth down.  

Houston has a problem: Dana Holgorsen is now 21-18 overall and 13-10 in AAC play since taking over at Houston to start the 2019 season. The program won four games in 2019 and three games in 2020 before breaking out for a 12-win season in 2021. The trajectory of the program looked tremendous with Tune and a host of star players returning. Add in excitement over a move to the Big 12 in 2023 and the possibility of a New Year’s six bowl bid as the nation’s best G5 team in 2022, and the Cougars were as hot as the grease at Frenchy’s Chicken. 

Flash-forward a month and those hopes are dashed. Houston lost both of its non-conference games against future Big 12 opponents, falling to Texas Tech in overtime on the road in Week 2 and by 18 points to Kansas at home in Week 3. The only wins came in triple overtime against UTSA and by seven points against Rice. 

Houston parted ways with Major Applewhite after two seasons despite the Cougars winning seven games in 2017 and eight in 2018. The Cougars had six-straight winning records prior to Holgorsen’s hire. The team had a losing record in his first two seasons and sits at 2-3 after five weeks of 2022. The good news for the Cougars is that the schedule becomes easier down the stretch. Houston’s first five opponents entered Week 5 with a 17-7 record. The next seven opponents hold a combined 13-14 record. 

The Roadrunners can fly: UTSA is on pace to finish the season with three receivers recorded at least 1,000 yards receiving. Each. Frank Harris and his targets are setting records on a game-by-game basis for the Roadrunners. That continued Friday night when they beat Middle Tennessee, 45-30, thanks to 392 passing yards by Harris, which is a school record. The senior completed 27 of 36 passes and accounted for four scores and a school-record 423 total yards. The previous school records were set a week ago when Harris broke them against Texas Southern. 

Harris has three prolific receivers to target, and each put up big games in the win. De’Corian Clark caught eight passes for 139 yards. Joshua Cephus grabbed seven passes for 91 yards, while Zakhari Franklin added five catches for 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The season numbers through five games looks unreal. Harris is completing 68 percent of his passes for 1,829 yards and 14 touchdowns to five interceptions. The trio of Clark, Cephus, and Franklin combined for 98 catches for 1,550 yards, and 14 touchdowns. 

Hoot Hoot: The Owls beat UAB for the second consecutive season thanks to a 21-point second half performance at home on Saturday night. Rice is now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Conference USA play. The program has only won four games or more once since 2015. The last time the Owls reached the six-win threshold needed to earn a bowl invite was 2014. The defense scored a touchdown in the win. The offense only committed one turnover. Rice might reach six wins by the end of October with upcoming games against FAU, La Tech, and Charlotte appearing winnable. 

UTEP rights ship: The Miners were doomed following a loss to New Mexico that dropped Dana Dimel’s program to 1-3 to start the season. The hopes of reaching a second bowl game in a row for only the second time this century was dashed. Then, the Miners upset Boise State at home in Week 4 and outlasted Charlotte on the road in Week 5 for a rare Eastern Time Zone victory. UTEP is now 3-3 with the teeth of the C-USA schedule in the front mirror. The Miners need to earn three wins out of the next six games. La Tech (1-3) is up next followed by a much-needed bye week. A 4-3 record heading into the Oct. 22 showdown at home against FAU puts UTEP right on schedule to go bowling again. 

North Texas rebounds: C-USA play was exactly the medicine Seth Littrell’s program needed following two bad losses in non-conference play against future AAC opponents. The Mean Green scored 45 points in a 17-point win over FAU in a game that North Texas entered as the underdog. Austin Aune threw for three touchdown passes and only one interception. The running game amassed 300 yards on 51 carries. North Texas is 2-0 in C-USA play while outscoring those two opponents 76-41.