Twelve of the 13 FBS teams in Texas are in action in Week 8 of the college football season with Rice the lone program on an idle week.

Texas and Texas A&M are on the road as heavy favorites in the SEC. Texas Tech heads to Tempe to face defending Big 12 champion Arizona State. The action in the Lone Star State began on Wednesday in a showdown between UTEP and Sam Houston. 

Week 8 should provide plenty of answers, so here are my three biggest questions entering the weekend.

1. Must win or can’t lose? TCU, Baylor edition  

Carter Yates is my cohost on the Dave Campbell’s College Football Podcast (please subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Spotify) and he loves a question that typically annoys me, maybe in part because it annoys me. But as long as no one tells him, I’d like to steal it for this exercise because it is begrudgingly fitting for the Week 8 contest between Baylor and TCU. For which team is this a must-win and for which is it a can’t-lose?  

This feels like a must-win for the Baylor Bears. They entered 2025 with high hopes and they won’t return Sawyer Robertson for the 2025 season. Heck, they might not return offensive coordinator Jake Spavital if the Bears keep scoring at this clip. They’re 2-1 in Big 12 play with the only loss by three points at home to Arizona State. With conference contenders like Cincinnati and Utah left on the schedule, Baylor must win this one to keep hope alive in the Big 12. 

This also feels like a must-win for Dave Aranda. Let’s say his Bears lose this one against TCU and the Week 9 game at Cincinnati, what does McLane Stadium look like when they host UCF on Nov. 1? Unfortunately, Aranda has entered a stage in his tenure where every game – win or loss – is a referendum on his future in Waco. A win on the road against rival TCU puts Baylor squarely in Big 12 contention and hopefully puts the fan base back in his corner. 

Conversely, this feels like a can’t-lose for Sonny Dykes and the Horned Frogs. TCU is 1-2 in Big 12 play and 10-11 against conference foes since the start of the 2023 season. The two Big 12 losses of the 2025 season followed a similar script as the Frogs lost the turnover battle and were outrushed by a significant margin in both. Josh Hoover is a superstar quarterback but he can’t be asked to do everything for this offense. When TCU lacks balance, too much is put on his plate, and that’s when turnovers start. 

Dykes’ tenure began as a dream with TCU racing out to a 12-0 regular season record, knocking off Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl, and reaching the national championship game. Since that win over the Wolverines in Arizona, the Horned Frogs have been an inconsistent football team. A 1-3 start to the Big 12 would put TCU outside the conference race by mid-October for the third season in a row. 

2. Can North Texas get over the UTSA hump? 

North Texas is on a four-game losing streak to UTSA entering the Week 8 matchup in Denton. The last time the Mean Green knocked off their rivals was in Denton in 2021 when they ruined the Roadrunners’ undefeated season. Though, UTSA won its first conference title a week later. UTSA won twice in 2022, including in the Conference USA Championship game, and again in 2023 and 2024. Jeff Traylor is 5-1 against North Texas. Eric Morris is 0-2 against UTSA. 

It is Morris & Co. that are the favorites entering the 2025 matchup, however. The Mean Green opened as four-point betting favorites and are 5-1 on the season, compared to the 3-3 Roadrunners. The two are coming off opposite results in Week 7. Denton was the capital of the college football world on Friday night, but a 28-0 run by South Florida ruined North Texas’ College Football Playoff dreams. The Mean Green can’t let that loss become two. UTSA blasted Rice amid chatter from the outside about the .500 record over the last two seasons. 

I personally have no idea how this one is going to play out. The statistics suggest that both offenses should enjoy success, but North Texas’ ability to create turnovers – 13 forced on the season – should play a large role. The Roadrunner rushing attack is scary, though. A win for North Texas puts the Mean Green back in American Conference contention, especially given their remaining schedule. A win for UTSA restores some faith back into a staff that probably never deserved to lose it. 

3. Is SMU an ACC contender? 

SMU is a conundrum so far in 2025, and not completely by their own fault. On one hand, the Ponies are 4-2 and undefeated in ACC play. They haven’t lost a regular season conference game since joining the conference ahead of last season and they’ve outscored both ACC opponents in 2025 by a combined 65-28. 

On the other, the Mustangs haven’t played a team that could challenge them since the Sept. 20 trip to TCU. Syracuse, without its starting quarterback, and Stanford didn’t offer enough resistance to glean much from the SMU performances. Rhett Lashlee’s bunch has lost both games against peer competition this season, losing in overtime to Baylor two weeks before the loss to the rival Horned Frogs. 

The Week 8 trip to Clemson provides us with a better understanding of where this year’s version of SMU falls in the ACC pecking order. Miami looks like the clear favorite and the Mustangs will host the Hurricanes on Nov. 1. Whether they do so as a contender or a team on the outside looking in depends on how well they play at Clemson, the team that beat SMU in last season’s ACC Championship game. 

Picks Against the Spread

TCU -2.5 over Baylor 
Texas A&M -7.5 over Arkansas
North Texas -3.5 over UTSA
SMU +5.5 over Clemson
Mississippi State +12.5 over Texas
Arizona -1.5 over Houston
2025 record: 22-17