Fast Fact Friday Week Six

While the Bears are just 3-4 against the Jayhawks in Lawrence, they are heavily favored this weekend

Well Game Day begins tonight for Texas FBS teams as SMU and Houston face off. Hard to have Fast Fact Friday when two teams start on Thursday. Solution – Fast Fact…er…Day. Whatever you want to call it, here it is a day early!

In case you missed it or want a little more football to tide you over until Saturday, make sure you check out Week 6 game predictions, a look back at the SMU-UH game in 1989, and, in honor of Tom Herman’s fast start (4-0) as the newest Cougar coach, a look at  another fast Houston start in 1976.  

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Baylor – Baylor has outscored foes 255-104 through their first four games and leads the FBS in margin of victory (37.8 points).

Houston – Junior quarterback Greg Ward Jr. leads the American Athletic Conference and is fifth nationally with an average of 382.5 yards of total offense per game. Ward is the only player nationally to average over 200 passing yards per game (264.5) and over 100 rushing yards per game (118.0).

Rice – Travel costs are low - the Rice Owls will make their lone regular season venture outside the state of Texas this week when they travel to Boca Raton, Florida to face the FAU Owls (who doesn’t get jacked up when Owls play Owls?)

​SMU – The Mustangs defense recorded two interceptions versus ECU, giving SMU nine for the season. SMU picked off just six passes in all of 2014.

TCU faces one of the more difficult match ups of the weekend when they head to Manhattan to face Gary Patterson's alma mater

TCU – TCU’s Gary Patterson will be facing his alma mater for the fourth time as a head coach. He is 1-2 with all three meetings taking place since TCU began Big 12 play in 2012.

Texas State – Texas State is one of five teams in the nation to rank among the NCAA’s top 30 teams in both passing and rushing offenses this season. The other four teams are Baylor, Houston, TCU and West Virginia.

TTU – Texas Tech and Iowa State meet for the 14th time in series history and for the sixth-consecutive season with Tech holding a 10-3 advantage. The series began on Sept. 23, 1967, a 52-0 Tech win in Lubbock.

UNT – Wide receiver Carlos Harris is also one of just 17 active players in the entire country to have thrown, caught and run for a TD. While the Mean Green are looking to avoid their first 0-5 start since 2008, Harris has been a consistent bright sport for the UNT roster.

​UT – The second oldest and second most played rivalry in Texas history, the Red River Showdown has been played at the Cotton Bowl since 1929 (the first game was in 1900). While Texas is 1-4 so far this year, their four losses have come to teams who are now a combined 19-1. Texas is the only Big 12 program with a winning record against the Sooners, but will face tough sledding against OU this weekend, as Oklahoma has won four of the last five meetings and the Sooners are 40-5 since 2010 when facing unranked opponents.

​UTEP – Darrin and Jeremiah Laufasa made their first collegiate start together on Sept. 19 in Las Cruces, N.M., Darrin at fullback and Jeremiah at tailback. The Laufasa brothers are the only brothers on an FBS program starting together in the backfield, but they’re not the only brothers making starts on the same side of the ball. Air Force’s Connor and Patrick Healy start together at linebacker while Maryland’s Levern and Taivon Jacobs are starting wide receivers.

​UTSA – While UTSA’s record thus far is unimpressive (1-4), the Roadrunners played arguably the hardest non-conference schedule of any team in the country this year. A four-game slate that saw the Roadrunners face programs that all went bowling in 2014, combining for 36 wins a year ago. While the four teams all defeated UTSA, the tough competition should have helped the Roadrunners prepare for Conference play with weaker opponents. The Roadrunners are now 1-0 in conference and have every opportunity to take the C-USA crown.