Twelve of Texas’s 13 FBS programs are back in action for Week 9. Texas State is idle ahead of a Tuesday night game against Louisiana to kick off Week 10. UTEP lost to FIU by four points after quarterback Skyler Locklear was knocked out of the contest on Tuesday night while Sam Houston snuck past FIU on the road without starting quarterback Hunter Watson. 

All eyes will be on the Lone Star State on Saturday night when Kyle Field plays host to the biggest game of the week. The Longhorns hope to get off the mat against Vanderbilt and the Horned Frogs and Red Raiders clash in a pivotal game in Fort Worth. 

Here are my five questions for the weekend. 

1. Is the winner of Texas A&M/LSU really an SEC favorite?  

The only two undefeated teams in SEC play meet at Kyle Field on Friday night when the Aggies host the Tigers under the lights. The winner sits alone in the top spot of the SEC standings with four games to play in the regular season. For Texas A&M, that includes home games against New Mexico State and Texas and road games at South Carolina and Auburn. 

Beat LSU on Saturday night and a 2-1 SEC record down the stretch likely sneaks the 12th Man into the SEC championship game. The best team in the conference is still Georgia, but the winner on Saturday night has an inside track to the championship game. And an appearance in the championship game likely clinches a berth into the expanded College Football Playoff. Not bad for two teams that lost in Week 1. 

2. Can Texas avoid becoming the next Vanderbilt victim? 

Vandy is ranked and the program already slayed one giant this season in Nashville when they knocked off Alabama a week after the Crimson Tide faced Georgia. Sound familiar? The Longhorns are next to visit the fighting Diego Pavias after a knockdown drag out with the Bulldogs. The Vanderbilt defense struggles against the pass, so expect a get-right game for Quinn Ewers and the Texas passing attack. If he doesn’t right the ship, will Steve Sarkisian permanently hand the keys over to Arch Manning? All of Texas' goals – an SEC championship, berth into the CFP, and a national championship – are still on the table, but the margin of error is erased with a loss to Vandy. 

3. Does Texas Tech or TCU need to win the Week 9 contest more? 

TCU and Texas Tech hired Sonny Dykes and Joey McGuire, respectively, in the same cycle. Both hit the ground running. Dykes led the Frogs to a 12-0 start and into the national championship game. McGuire knocked off Texas and Oklahoma en route to the Red Raiders’ first winning season in conference play since Mike Leach roamed the sideline. But this is college football and two seasons ago might as well be two decades ago. 

The honeymoon is over for both coaching staffs. TCU missed a bowl game last year and Texas Tech failed to meet the sky-high expectations set in West Texas. The two teams enter Week 9 with winning records, but plenty of angst. A win for either serves as a pacifier. A loss starts hot seat talks for 2025, whether fair or not. 

4. Will Baylor save its season? 

What a difference a win makes, huh? Most wrote off Dave Aranda and the Bears in 2024, refusing to pay attention to the football happenings in Waco until what was believed to be an inevitable coaching search kicked off in November or December. A Week 8 win over Texas Tech doesn’t save Aranda’s job, but it absolutely serves as a stay of execution as head coaches start to lose their jobs in a fast-forwarded version of the coaching carousel.

The victory over Texas Tech could catapult the Bears into momentum and Aranda & Co. into the 2025 season. Baylor is a touchdown favorite at home against Oklahoma State on Saturday. They’ll play host to TCU and Kansas and road trip to West Virginia and Houston over the last four games. Beat the Cowboys to improve to 4-4 on the season and a bowl bid starts to seem more probable than possible for Baylor. That could be enough to give Aranda 2025. 

5. How good is SMU? 

The Ponies are 11.5-point favorites on the road against a 6-1 Duke squad that is 2-1 in ACC play. Flash backward to the first month of the season and convince anyone that SMU is an ACC contender and in the CFP conversation and you’d get laughed off the Hilltop. Now, there is no denying the truth – the Mustangs are one of the best teams in the country and a schedule without Miami or Clemson allows them the runway to play in the conference championship game as first-year members.