By Travis Stewart/Texas Football -- Texas falls to sixth; A&M secure in the second spot.
It's rare this year that you end up with two consensus teams in the Power Poll outside of UNT and Rice — which have rarely wavered from the basement — but TCU and A&M pitched perfect games in this week's voting: TCU swept the top spot, as you would expect from the nation's No. 3 team, and A&M cleaned up the second spot easily. A&M's big win over Oklahoma clearly impressed everyone here at the DCTF offices, and now it's up to the coaching staff to keep those kids' heads on straight for the final three-game stretch. Can't let it all slip away now!
The rest of the poll is fairly uninspiring, though Texas Tech moves back to the No. 3 spot after it's strong showing against Missouri and Baylor's wholly disappointing no-show with the 'Pokes. But the real shock? Seeing the burnt orange of Longhorn Nation relegated to a humbling sixth, tied with — gasp! — UTEP. The Miners took care of business by dispatching a now-reeling SMU team, but against Kansas State, UT once again showed a complete inability to execute even the simplest of offensive sets. If this kind of performance continues, and the 'Horns lose two of the final three (very possible with A&M and OSU coming up), then Texas wouldn't even make a bowl. SMU probably will. UTEP should. Houston, sans Case-Keenum would. Baylor will go to a pretty solid bowl. And UT will be left at home.
Wonder of wonders.
DCTF 2010 Texas College Football Week 11 Power Poll
| # | School | Points (1st-place votes) | Previous |
| 1 | TCU Horned Frogs (10-0/6-0) | Points: 50 (5) | 1 |
| Tom Sullivan: Saturday in Salt Lake City was probably the best game in the Gary Patterson era. 198 yards of offense for No. 5 Utah? On their home turf? No wonder they're leaving for the Pac-10 ... | |||
| 2 | Texas A&M Aggies (6-3/3-2) | Points: 45 | 3 |
| Travis Stewart: Hah! I told you. A&M's win over Oklahoma showed that, when the Ags play to the gameplan, they're really good. If the offense can get an early lead and then just not turn the ball over, a defense built to play with the lead can take over and finish the job. Most of the time. | |||
| 3 | Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-4/3-4) | Points: 40 | 6 |
| Dennis Hall: Just when you're ready to give up on the Red Raiders, they go out and beat No. 12 Missouri. Not sure if thats a fluke or a positive sign for the future. | |||
| 4 | Baylor Bears (7-3/4-2) | Points: 33 | 2 |
| Adam Hochfelder: RGIII said after the TCU debacle that this is not the "same old Baylor." Well, the Bears sure played like the same old Baylor in an embarrassing rout vs. Oklahoma State. Maybe he ought to wait until the end of the year before he makes any more statements. | |||
| 5 | Houston Cougars (5-4/4-2) | Points: 30 | 5 |
| Dennis Hall: The Cougars lost to UCF but have nothing to be ashamed of. UCF looks like the class of Conference USA, and it was a road game for the Coogs anyways. | |||
| t-6 | Texas Longhorns (4-5/2-4) | Points: 23 | 4 |
| Brad Hilliard: Garrett Gilbert has plenty of time to turn his college career around, but right now he looks like he might be one of the rare misses by a "can't-miss" recruit. | |||
| t-6 | UTEP Miners (6-4/3-4) | Points: 23 | 8 |
| Travis Stewart: Raise your hand if you thought that, at any point in time, you'd ever see a Mack Brown-led Longhorn team tied with UTEP in the DCTF Power Poll. (Looking around) Yeah, that's kind of what I figured. UTEP's win over SMU can get them into a bowl, but watching UT plummet to the bottom half here is the main story. | |||
| 8 | SMU Mustangs (5-5/4-2) | Points: 18 | 7 |
| Adam Hochfelder: That's a tough loss to the Miners, and now the Ponies need a win to make its second-straight bowl game. The C-USA title is looking like a big reach at this point. | |||
| 9 | Rice Owls (2-7/1-4) | Points: 10 | 9 |
| Travis Stewart: What else is there really to say? At this point, you can't use losing the main crop of kids from '08's amazing crew as a crutch. Dude, you're giving up 60+ to Tulsa. Who cares if the Golden Hurricane are good? At no point in time should you ever give up that many points. Ever. | |||
| 10 | North Texas Mean Green (2-7/2-4) | Points: 5 | 10 |
| Dennis Hall: Note to the Dallas Cowboys: Firing a coach at midseason can give a team a boost of energy. UNT and interim coach Mike Canales gave Sun Belt power Troy all it could handle on Saturday. | |||
ABOUT THE PANEL:
> Adam Hochfelder is the Executive Director of DCTF and several other IMG College properties
> Dennis Hall is a managing editor with DCTF
> Travis Stewart is a managing editor with DCTF
> Brad Hilliard is the operations coordinator for DCTF and several other IMG College properties
> Tom Sullivan is an account executive for DCTF
> Rick Epstein is an account executive for DCTF (inactive this week)
