By Travis Stewart/Texas Football -- At least the No. 1, 9 and 10 teams have distinguished themselves.
In back-to-back weeks, the Longhorns have lost two games, one at home to an unranked opponent, and the other at a neutral site in a dizzying array of mistakes, errors and bad decisions.
Welcome to No. 2, Longhorn Nation.
That's right. Despite Texas' worst-in-show play, UT still holds the second spot in our weekly power poll, mainly because every other team stuck behind it has failed to distinguish itself in anyway. Baylor, which checks in at No. 3, gets major kudos after it's destruction of Kansas. But the way it was manhandled by TCU is still fresh in our minds, and the Bears' historical ineptitude against Texas has to mean something. A&M? The loss to Oklahoma State was unacceptable considering how much better the Ags played early on Thursday night. And Texas Tech? Yikes.
SMU's win over Rice puts it in good stead in conference play, but it hardly earns it merit in this discussion. Houston was on a bye — I guess it can't lose a quarterback that way, huh? — and while UTEP did win again and is living up a 4-1 record, it did earn the victory over lowest-of-the-low New Mexico. Yawn.
So do you see the predicament? This weekend, where A&M has a chance for redemption against Arkansas, and where Texas Tech and Baylor do battle, will tell us quite a bit. TCU should roll, and Texas has a bye. But if Baylor were to trounce the Red Raiders — which could happen — wouldn't it stand to reason to put the Bears above the Longhorns? There's a thousand reasons to argue for both viewpoints. But i have a feeling that, right now, waters are about as murky as they're going to get. In coming weeks, we may be able to crystalize things.
Note: This is a topic we're going to discuss this week in our weekly radio show. Want to weigh in with your thoughts before we record? Drop us a line at texasfootball.com/feedback and we'll read your note on the air.
DCTF 2010 Texas College Football Week 6 Power Poll
| # | School | Points (1st-place votes) | Previous |
| 1 | TCU Horned Frogs (5-0/1-0) | Points: 50 (5) | 1 |
| Tom Sullivan: So "not enough style points" against Colorado State was the reasoning for losing votes in the coaches' poll this week? Since when is a shutout on the road and a four-touchdown win a BAD thing? | |||
| 2 | Texas Longhorns (3-2/1-1) | Points: 41 | 2 |
| Dennis Hall: I would love to drop the Longhorns lower, but behind who? Unless/until one of the other Big 12 Texas teams beats the Longhorns, I'm leaving them right here. | |||
| 3 | Baylor Bears (4-1/1-0) | Points: 38 | 7 |
| Travis Stewart: Griffin's career day was a by-product of Art Briles' offensive scheme: stretching the field with athletic receivers. The Bears are approaching double digits in number of 40+ yard touchdown passes. Works great against Kansas. Probably will against TTU and A&M, too. It'll be a lot tougher against the Longhorns, despite their struggles. | |||
| 4 | Texas A&M Aggies (3-1/0-1) | Points: 31 | 3 |
| Dennis Hall: Note to Jerrod Johnson: Protect the football. Your Aggies have terrific offensive talent and an improving defense. All you have to do is distribute the ball and avoid mistakes. Quit trying to do more than that. | |||
| 5 | Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-2/0-2) | Points: 28 | 4 |
| Adam Hochfelder: The honeymoon is over for Tommy Tuberville in Lubbock, and if losing to Iowa State by double digits becomes the norm, the marriage will be annulled, too. | |||
| 6 | Houston Cougars (3-1/2-0) | Points: 27 | 6 |
| Brad Hilliard: They may have lost Case Keenum, but they are still the team to beat in Conference USA. | |||
| 7 | SMU Mustangs (3-2/2-0) | Points: 23 | 5 |
| Adam Hochfelder: While SMU is lower in my poll than they are playing, I think the 'Stangs will be making a move into my top five in texas VERY soon. | |||
| 8 | UTEP Miners (4-1/1-1) | Points: 19 | 8 |
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Travis Stewart: At 4-1, UTEP is actually tied for the second-best record in Texas. So why are they eighth? They haven't beaten anybody remotely approaching good. Beat SMU, and you'll have impressed us. At the very least though, the Miners should make a bowl. And that's worth celebrating. |
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| 9 | Rice Owls (1-4/0-1) | Points: 10 | 9 |
| Travis Stewart: Rice gave up 14 points to SMU this weekend with the defense on the sideline — seven via interception return and seven via blocked kick return. When you play an offensive group like June Jones' Mustangs, giving up free points is bound to saddle you (no pun intended) with a loss. | |||
| 10 | North Texas Mean Green (1-4/1-1) | Points: 5 | 10 |
| Tom Sullivan: Eh. Too bad Todd Dodge isn't a genie ... it'd be nice for the Mean Green faithful if he could pull out a Chase Daniel or Greg McElroy out of his Carroll Dragon hat. | |||
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)
