STAFF ROUNDTABLE: Ranking The Texas G5 Teams In 2024

G5 Football Daily Staff | Jun 10, 2024

Dec 19, 2023; Frisco, TX, USA; UTSA Roadrunners quarterback Owen McCown (13) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Marshall Thundering Herd at Toyota Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports / Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports

Everything's bigger in Texas - that includes the importance of succeeding as a G5 football program.

With the departure of SMU to the ACC, six Group of Five teams remain in the state of Texas. With changes to the landscape, including a guaranteed spot in the College Football Playoff for one G5 program, those six teams should be taking the battle for Lone Star State supremacy seriously.

This week, G5 Football Daily managing editor Joe Londergan and staff writer Kevin Barral are joined by Eric Henry of 247Sports and Horns247 as they give their power rankings of the six G5 teams battling it out deep in the heart of Texas.

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Joe: 6. UTEP 5. Sam Houston 4. North Texas 3. Rice 2. UTSA 1. Texas State

Let’s start at the bottom. I think Scotty Walden can turn UTEP back into a decent operation. However, they’re basically starting from scratch this year, which puts them at the bottom. Sam Houston lost some talent in some positions, but gained some in others. I see them improving from their 3-9 first FBS season last year, but I’m not expecting to be blown away either. 

UNT confuses me, frankly. They always seem to have the athletes, and can make the odd huge play, but there’s always been something missing, usually defensively, since those 2017 and 2018 teams.

After their body of work last season and their impressive transfer portal, 2024 Rice could post their first winning season in a decade. Texas State and UTSA are right next to each other, which makes that rivalry even more exciting. I think we have a better idea of what Texas State’s ceiling is offensively, so I gave them the top spot. 

Kevin: 6. UTEP 5. Sam Houston 4. North Texas 3. Rice 2. Texas State 1. UTSA

I was a bit surprised to see the Miners’ struggles last season with the players that they had in place. Ultimately, it had to do with quarterback injuries, but to just win three games was a bit of a shocker. With that, Scotty Walden I think will put this program back on the map in due time, but this first season will be a rough one. 

Sam Houston I believe will be a very good team in a year or two. They kept it close in most of their conference games, losing in overtime to Jax State, then failing in the red zone against Liberty, a double overtime loss against FIU and a three point loss to the UTEP Miners. If at least half of those games went their way, the outlook for Sam Houston would be different.

The decision between who would be the number one team simply came down to which program has been more successful. Maybe if we do this poll in a year, it’ll be Texas State after a strong recruiting class, but UTSA has been far away the more successful team. What Frank Harris did for that program is amazing. They recently won their bowl game against Marshall and were Conference USA champions in their last season in the conference.

Eric: 6. UTEP 5. North Texas 4. Sam Houston 3. Rice 2. Texas State 1. UTSA

Scotty Walden has an uphill climb out in El Paso and especially given the transfers the saw with Dana Dimel not returning, they’re at the bottom of the pack. My number five and four teams may be a little surprising. Eric Morris is a good head coach who did an excellent job at Incarnate Word and he’ll get things going in Denton. However, K.C. Keeler built an FCS power at Sam Houston and the Bearkats lost six games by one-score or less last year. That’s a program that knows how to win and they’ll be better prepared to close games in their second season at the FBS level. 

The jury is still out for me with Rice, especially with Luke McCaffrey in the NFL, but the Owls should again be competitive with Mike Bloomgren. Texas State had an eventful offseason, losing T.J. Finley to Western Kentucky but adding Jordan McCloud from James Madison along with several impact transfers including former UTEP RB Deion Hankins. G.J. Kinne gets to prove if his program is the real deal this year. 

While UTSA transitions into a new era of Roadrunner football without Frank Harris and Rashad Wisdom, Jeff Traylor has done a solid job building up the infrastructure of that team with talents from the Lone Star State and my expectation is they’ll again be at least an 8-9 win team.