Only four of the 13 FBS teams that call Texas home remain undefeated after Week 2. Those squads combined to go 6-7 over the weekend with Baylor, Texas Tech, SMU, UTSA, and Sam Houston picking up their first losses of the season. The bright spots were Texas knocking out Michigan in the Big House and Texas State rolling past rival UTSA at home. Those two programs look like our only shot at conference titles in 2024. 

The Week 3 slate looks light, at least on paper. Often, those weekends wind up providing the best theatre. Twelve of the 13 teams are in action with SMU receiving an early idle Saturday after starting the season in Week 0 at Nevada. With only two data points so far this season, Week 3 serves as an opportunity to see what these teams are in 2024. 

1. Can the Aggies break a road losing streak that dates to 2021? 

Texas A&M hasn’t won a road game since Oct. 16, 2021, when the Aggies beat Mizzou, 35-14. They carry a 10-game road losing streak into the Florida game on Saturday. Even if you add neutral site games, the program is 4-12 away from Kyle Field since the start of the 2021 season. Mike Elko departed the staff after the 2020 season. Coincidence? The 12th Man hopes not. 

A 1-2 start with losses to a Notre Dame team that was beaten by Northern Illinois a week later and a Florida program with a head coach that’s seemingly Gator Bait won’t keep the Aggie Spirit high. The Texas A&M roster is solid, and it might be better in 2024 than it will be in 2025 depending on how the Aggies do in the portal next offseason, so beating Florida feels important for morale in the locker room and in the fan base. 

2. Is TCU a Big 12 contender or pretender? 

The Horned Frogs reached the Big 12 championship game in Year 1 of the Sonny Dykes tenure. They missed a bowl in Year 2, as the team failed to replace the leadership lost in Max Duggan, Steve Avila, and others. That forced changes, most notably replacing defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie with Andy Avalos. TCU also didn’t go big fish shopping at quarterback in the portal despite the relative inexperience of Josh Hoover, who the staff clearly loves. 

The Week 3 home game against a bulldozer of a UCF squad will provide some truth serum to the Frogs’ 2024 aspirations. The 2022 squad won close games and didn’t get bullied by run-first teams such as UCF. The 2023 squad did. With trips to Kansas and Utah still on the schedule alongside home games against Oklahoma State and Arizona, the loser of the TCU-UCF matchup feels relegated to Tier 2 or 3. 

3. Who is best team in Houston? 

The Rice Owls scored its first win over intracity rival Houston Cougars since 2010 in the 43-41 double-overtime victory last season. The defeat felt like the beginning of the end for Dana Holgorsen’s tenure as Houston’s head coach. The rivalry was put on pause after the 2025 season with both schools agreeing to cancel 2025 and 2026, becoming another regional rivalry gutted.  

A lot of the Rice team that knocked off Houston last year returned for the Owls in 2024, though a Week 1 loss to Sam Houston at home was a sobering start to the season. Houston enters the game at 0-2 with losses to UNLV and Oklahoma, but the Cougars did hang with the Sooners and enter as four-point favorites. 

4. Where does North Texas rank in the G5 race? 

Much of the G5 talk in the Lone Star State has centered on UTSA, and more recently Texas State, as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams and guarantees at least one G5 squad a spot in the dance. The Mean Green aren’t on that level yet, but a win over a struggling Texas Tech squad could vault them into contender status over the next few seasons. It would serve as proof of concept for Eric Morris and undoubtedly help in recruiting at the high school ranks and the transfer portal. The jump from middle of the pack to top dog in the AAC isn’t a huge leap. Big wins in non-conference games will turn momentum, build excitement in the fan base, and change perceptions.

5. Can Texas avoid playing with its food in home game against reeling UTSA? 

The Longhorns are arguably the best team in the country through two weeks of the college football season. They drubbed Colorado State, 52-0, at home in the opener and then went into Michigan Stadium and ended a 22-game home winning streak while handing the Wolverines their first loss since the 2022 Fiesta Bowl. Texas is a 35-point favorite heading into the game against a UTSA squad that lost by 39 last week to Texas State. 

The outcome isn’t in doubt here. Texas will win the game. But with an unprecedently long season likely ahead for the Longhorns, quickly dispatching teams such as UTSA, Louisiana-Monroe, and Mississippi State over the next three games will allow them to simultaneously build depth and rest starters for the long haul.