We passed the halfway mark for the current decade with the 2025 season and wanted to take stock of how the 13 FBS programs in the state of Texas have fared over the last six seasons. 

We compiled data for each team – overall record, conference wins, conference championships, CFP appearances, and 6+ win seasons – to see which teams have experienced the most and least success.

Success can be a relative term. After all, what is deemed as successful at Texas is not the same as it is at Rice. Still, there must be a way to measure success across the state and we tried our best to rank the programs of the decade below. 

1. Texas Longhorns 

Overall Record: 55-23 
Conference Wins: 35
Conference Championships: 1 (2023 Big 12)
CFP Appearances: 2 (2023, 2024)
6+ Win Seasons: 5

Texas is the only team in the state with two trips to the College Football Playoff and one of only two teams with a win in the CFP. The Horns have won at least eight games in four straight seasons and at least 10 three years in a row. Head coach Steve Sarkisian has returned the Horns to the top of the college football ladder in the Lone Star State and has them geared up for a national title run in 2026. 

2. TCU Horned Frogs 

Overall Record: 47-28
Conference Wins: 31
Conference Championships: 0
CFP Appearances: 1 (2022)
6+ Win Seasons: 4

TCU and Texas are the only two teams in the state with a win in the College Football Playoff. The Horned Frogs are the only team in Texas to reach the national title game this decade and that gives them an edge over programs with more overall wins since 2020. Head coach Sonny Dykes has won at least nine games in three of the four years in charge after taking over for Hall of Famer Gary Patterson. 

3. SMU Mustangs 

Overall Record: 53-23
Conference Wins: 35
Conference Championships: 1 (2023 AAC)
CFP Appearances: 1 (2024) 
6+ Win Seasons: 6

Only the Longhorns have more wins than SMU since the start of the decade. SMU has played in two conference championship games, winning one, and is 14-2 in the regular season against ACC opponents since moving up to the Power Four ahead of the 2024 season. The Mustangs are one of five teams in the state with a CFP appearance and won 11 games in two of the last three seasons and are the only P4 team in the state that’s qualified for a bowl game in each season this decade. 

4. Texas Tech Red Raiders 

Overall Record: 46-30
Conference Wins: 30
Conference Championships: 1 (2025 Big 12)
CFP Appearances: 1 (2025)
6+ Win Seasons: 5

Texas Tech gets the slight edge over Texas A&M here because of the Big 12 championship in 2025. The Red Raiders have won at least seven games in each of the past five seasons and have posted a winning record in the Big 12 in each of Joey McGuire’s first four seasons as head coach. If 2025 is any indication, expect Texas Tech to shoot up these rankings by the end of the decade. 

5. Texas A&M Aggies 

Overall Record: 48-25 
Conference Wins: 30
Conference Championships: 0  
CFP Appearances: 1 (2025)
6+ Win Seasons: 5

Texas A&M reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history in 2025, the second year in charge for head coach Mike Elko, who is 19-7 over the last two seasons. The trajectory for the Aggie program is obviously pointing up, but this is a ranking of the entire decade and not many people in College Station enjoyed the last few seasons of the Jimbo Fisher era. Texas A&M was 15-17 in the SEC from 2021-2024 and that keeps them lower on this list than most would expect. 

6. UTSA Roadrunners 

Overall Record: 53-26
Conference Wins: 35
Conference Championships: 2 (2021, 2022 CUSA)
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 6

UTSA remains king of the G6 here in Texas despite back-to-back seven-win seasons. Head coach Jeff Traylor took over in 2020 and turned the Roadrunners into two-time conference champions. The Roadrunners have posted a winning record in each season this decade and are tied with SMU for the second-most overall wins since 2020. 

7. Baylor Bears 

Overall Record: 36-37
Conference Wins: 24
Conference Championships: 1 (2021 Big 12)
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 3

On one hand, Baylor is one of five teams on the list to win a conference championship and that 12-win 2021 season would’ve ended with a CFP berth had the field been expanded to 12 teams earlier. On the other, the Bears are under .500 this decade and have posted a losing record in three of the last four seasons and four of the six since the start of 2020. 

8. Houston Cougars 

Overall Record: 41-31
Conference Wins: 27
Conference Championships: 0  
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 3

The Coogs have experienced highs and lows during this decade, registering a pair of 10-plus win seasons as well as three seasons with a losing record, including consecutive four-win campaigns in 2023 and 2024. Houston is coming off a 10-win season in Year 2 under Willie Fritz. 

9. North Texas Mean Green

Overall Record: 40-36
Conference Wins: 27
Conference Championships: 0
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 4

The 12-win 2025 season pushed North Texas’ decade record over the .500 mark as the Mean Green reached the American Conference Championship game and were a win over Tulane away from becoming the first G6 team in Texas to reach the CFP. But it was the only time this decade that the program has finished the year with more wins than losses.  

10. Texas State Bobcats 

Overall Record: 33-42 
Conference Wins: 19
Conference Championships: 0
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 3

The Bobcats hadn’t reached a bowl game when G.J. Kinne arrived in San Marcos ahead of the 2023 season. They’ve now gone to three in a row as they enter the Pac-12. The three seasons this decade before Kinne’s arrival is holding the program down in these rankings. 

11. Rice Owls

Overall Record: 26-42
Conference Wins: 17
Conference Championships: 0
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 1

The Owls have reached bowl games in three of the six seasons this decade but have not posted a winning record in any of those years. The high-water mark was a 6-7 record in 2023. 

12. UTEP Miners 

Overall Record: 23-46
Conference Wins: 13
Conference Championships: 0
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 1

A 7-6 record in 2021 was the lone winning season for the Miners this decade and the only trip to a bowl game. UTEP has won three or fewer games in four of the past six years, including a 8-28 record over the last three seasons. 

13. Sam Houston Bearkats (3 years at FBS)

Overall Record: 15-22
Conference Wins: 9
Conference Championships: 0
CFP Appearances: 0
6+ Win Seasons: 1

Sam Houston didn’t move to the FBS until 2023. We’re putting them last on this list because of that, but there is an argument to be made that the Bearkats have enjoyed more success in those three years than Rice or UTEP has in the last six. That’s because of the 10-win 2024 campaign under former head coach K.C. Keeler. It's also important to note that the Bearkats won an FCS championship in the spring of 2021.