College Football in Texas: A Season of Surprises
November of 2025 shall, in future times, be remembered as the glory days of the Southwest Conference, which is curious since the league disbanded 29 years ago.
But there you have it in the black-and-white of the AP Top 25 poll. Texas A&M checks in at a lofty No. 3. Your Texas Tech Red Raiders are riding high at No. 8. The Longhorns of once mighty but beaten Texas have snuck back in at No. 10. And let us not forget that SMU, absent from the top 25 at the moment, has elevated its hopes of playing in the national spotlight, too.
A New Era for Texas Football
No, I don’t recall the ‘30s when Sammy Baugh and TCU were battling SMU and the Aggies for glory, but I do remember the ‘60s when Texas and Arkansas did their shootout thing in front of Pres. Nixon in Fayetteville. But three Texas schools in the top 10? That seems like something entirely new.
It feels unwieldy at times and completely unnecessary at all times, but perhaps the craziness that has reshaped the power conferences isn‘t all bad? I’m thinking maybe one of my favorite TV characters, Cory Ellison of Apple’s “The Morning Show” is right. Maybe, when it comes to college football, “chaos is the new cocaine.”
Teams to Watch
Indiana is the only other state with two top 10 teams at the moment (Hoosiers and Fighting Irish) but they can’t match the Texas Three.
Not saying these good times will last forever. The Longhorns play Georgia in the ABC spotlight Saturday night (for those of you not afflicted with YouTube TV, anyway), and the Bulldogs took down Texas twice last year. But there’s at least a little momentum coming out of Austin, and maybe Arch Manning was built more for the underdog role than the burden of heavy favorite that the team carried into the season ranked No. 1.
Related
Texas Tech had its big day on the national ESPN stage Saturday and enjoyed it immensely, waxing Brigham Young, 29-7. The rest of the big boys showcase their quarterbacks and pile up the offensive numbers, and Tech can do that well enough when their man, Behren Morton, is healthy. But the Red Raiders come at you on defense like a relic from another era, and it’s disconcerting as the Cougars, unbeaten in the Big 12 before Saturday’s beatdown in Lubbock, can attest. Tech’s loss at Arizona State now feels like an anomaly, and the schedule allows them the virtual certainty of playing for the Big 12 championship at AT&T Stadium and guaranteed spot in the college football playoff.
Aggies on the Rise
It’s the Aggies who are unbeaten and enjoying the craziest season of all. At 9-0, A&M leads a pack of SEC teams near the very top of the rankings — Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi follow at 4,5,6. Thirteen years have passed since the Aggies bolted the Big 12 for the riches of the SEC. While that’s been fruitful enough to allow A&M to pay Jimbo Fisher a $76 million buyout a few years back, it was the hiring of Mike Elko that has turned everything around.
The real remaining challenge for the Aggies is their game at Austin the day after Thanksgiving. But depending upon other results, A&M could survive a loss there and still be playing for the SEC title. Ranked third, there’s little doubt that quarterback Marcel Reed is leading this team into the College Football Playoff for the first time.
SMU’s Resurgence
The SMU Mustangs made it a year ago after going unbeaten in their first ACC season before a championship game loss to Clemson. Their hopes seemed all but gone when they fell at Wake Forest last month. Coupled with non-conference losses to TCU and Baylor, the Mustangs were simply last year’s news flash.
Then craziness came to the ACC. Louisville and Miami might be the league‘s two best teams on paper, and they remain second and third highest ranked among ACC teams in the Top 25. But both have two conference losses, so neither is among the group of five one-loss teams (Virginia, Georgia Tech, Pitt, SMU and Duke) that appear to be bobbing and weaving for that trip to Charlotte on Dec. 6.
No longer a member of the AP Top 25, SMU crawled back up to 23rd in the ESPN FPI rankings (use at your own discretion) after a one-sided win at Boston College Saturday. Assuming they can win two more games, Rhett Lashlee’s squad might be in for its second ACC title game depending upon how the tie-breakers bounce.
Conclusion
Anyway, my SWC memory bank goes back into the 1960’s and the days of the wonderful Morning News cartoons of Bill McClanahan (look him up). And I don’t recall rolling into mid-November with Red Raiders, Aggies, Longhorns and Mustangs all sharing title hopes of various sizes. Some of the contrived rivalries of the modern alignment leave us gasping (Tech plays UCF this week, SMU’s going to need a win at Cal-Berkeley soon). But at least this season, spreading the wealth is working for the old SWC.
X: @TimCowlishaw
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FAQs
Q: Which Texas teams are currently ranked in the top 10?
A: Texas A&M is ranked No. 3, Texas Tech is ranked No. 8, and Texas is ranked No. 10.
Q: What is the significance of the Southwest Conference in college football?
A: The Southwest Conference was a collegiate athletic conference that existed from 1914 to 1996 and was known for its competitive football teams, including Texas, Texas A&M, and SMU.
Q: How has the hiring of Mike Elko affected Texas A&M’s football team?
A: The hiring of Mike Elko has turned everything around for Texas A&M, leading the team to an unbeaten season and a top ranking in the SEC.
