Welcome to the Extra Points, our weekly college wrap-up at Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. This is your one stop to quickly get up to date with all the most important FBS happenings in the state from Week 12.

DENTON, WACO and UNIVERSITY PARK -- Texas State coach Everett WIthers was fired on Sunday morning after falling to 3-8 on the season. There was some thought that the Bobcats might keep him around after clear improvement this season, but it wasn’t to be.

The timing of the firing was strange. Texas State lost to Troy 12-7, but played by far its best defensive game of the season against a 9-2 opponent. Troy mustered just 220 total yards and 3.0 yards per play against the Bobcats. The Trojans averaged 30.5 points per game and 6.1 yards per play heading into the night. However, freshman quarterback Tyler Vitt threw five interceptions in the loss.

Withers finishes with just a 7-28 record at Texas State in three seasons. For comparison, former Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione finished with a 20-28 record in four seasons as the lead man in San Marcos.

Texas State is the only Sun Belt school in Texas. There are real advantages to being here. In 2017, Withers recruited the No. 1 class in the Sun Belt. With 14 commits now, the Bobcats have a top-three class in the conference, behind only Louisiana-Lafayette and Troy.

The facilities are also much-improved. The investment is rising. It doesn’t hurt that San Marcos is a great city. There’s no reason Texas State can’t be a contender in the Sun Belt with the right coach.

Withers joined an unstable Texas State squad without direction after Franchione. Now, the Bobcats have several years of Sun Belt-level classes. This next hire will be a critical one for athletic director Larry Teis and the university.

Conference title options

Heading into Week 13, there are still two teams in the state of Texas that can appear in conference championship games. Both only got there after some luck elsewhere.

Texas suddenly has a track back to the Big 12 championship once again after West Virginia bungled a late lead against Oklahoma State. The Longhorns also won a big game against Iowa State on Saturday, the first Cyclones loss of the Brock Purdy era.

Now, the Longhorns only need to beat lowly Kansas in David Beaty’s final game in Lawrence. If Texas can take care of business, the Longhorns are on the inside track to the Big 12 title game. The result of West Virginia vs. Oklahoma will decide the other spot in the game.

SMU could have likely locked up a spot in the American championship game with a win over Memphis. However, a poor performance means Houston and Memphis face off on Saturday for a spot in the title game against high-powered UCF.

Unfortunately, the Cougars will have to finish the year without superstar quarterback D’Eriq King. The Manvel junior tore his meniscus on a non-contact play against the Green Wave. It was the worst thing that can possibly happen in a 48-17 win over a conference opponent. King leads the nation with 50 touchdowns.

However, getting back to the conference title game after a disappointing 2017 season is a huge deal for Houston coach Major Applewhite. He’s starting to put his own touches on the program.

SMU, Baylor continue to learn

Baylor coach Matt Rhule and SMU coach Sonny Dykes both took over programs that had recently undergone some significant improvement. Over the weekend, both teams played similar games with major stakes on the line.

The Bears faced off against heated rival TCU. Baylor could make a bowl game for the first time under Rhule, and knock the Horned Frogs out of one for the first time since 2013 in one fell swoop. SMU could have virtually clinched a spot in the American title game, and earned a division championship for the first time since 2010.

Unfortunately, both teams fell apart in similar fashion. Strong defensive performances were wasted by disappointing offensive showings. Baylor lost 16-9 in an ugly game against TCU. SMU fell 28-18 against Memphis to set up a de facto American West title game between the Tigers and Houston next week.

Dykes spoke postgame about his team being young and still learning how to win. The Mustangs lost earlier in the year against Cincinnati in overtime as well. Rhule said something similar about trying to get his team under control emotionally after winning just one game a year ago.

“Everything is sort of a work in progress,” Rhule said. “We kept talking about, hey, this is the same as last week and we had a chance to come back and win. You know what, let’s hang in there. And I thought they hung in there. They never let it get away from them, and just too many plays where we beat ourselves.”

But despite the losses, both programs are ahead of schedule. It’s been a while since SMU has competed for much of anything. Baylor won just one game a year ago. The Bears have a slim chance to make a bowl game next week if they can beat Texas Tech. Not many programs are making that level of progress in just one year at the Power Five level.

There’s plenty of reason for optimism with both programs. SMU can make a bowl by beating Tulsa on Saturday. Baylor can do the same against Texas Tech. Doing that would be a big step forward. This season is still a success for everyone.

Around the state:

• North Texas 41, FAU 38: Quarterback Mason Fine overcame an injury scare to lead the Mean Green to a huge Conference USA win over Lane Kiffin's FAU squad. The Mean Green still have a chance to win 10 games. 
• Marshall 23, UTSA 0: The Roadrunners put forth one of the worst offensive performances imaginable against Marshall, averaging just 2.5 yards per play and scoring a cool zero points. UTSA is averaging 6.0 points per game over its last five games – not great!
• Kansas State 21, Texas Tech 6: The Red Raiders’ luck finally ran out. Jett Duffey turned the ball over twice and the offense mustered an embarrassing 181 yards, fewer than half as many as Kansas State. The Red Raiders need to beat Baylor in a week just to make a bowl game.
• No. 7 LSU 42, Rice 10: The Owls couldn’t do much of anything against a ridiculously good Tigers defense, but that was to be expected. Rice hit a 51-yard field goal before the half, and that was effectively the highlight of the game.
• Western Kentucky 40, UTEP 16: Everything went wrong in the first half against Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers scored touchdowns on their first four possessions; UTEP threw interceptions on all of its first four possessions. Ultimately, a 40-0 halftime lead was far too much to overcome. It was a disappointing letdown for a steadily improving Miners squad.
• Texas A&M 41, UAB 20: Trayveon Williams ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns to pace Texas A&M to a strong performance against the Blazers. However, freshman UAB quarterback Tyler Johnston III still managed to exploit the Aggie secondary to the tune of 306 yards and two touchdowns.