Texans 30 Raiders 17. With the Stros winning the Wild Card playoff spot at the Juice Box downtown, the Texans did their part at Reliant Stadium to make Sunday a very good day for Houston sports fans. David Carr easily had his best game of the season as he was 14-22 for 238 yards, one TD pass in finding Andre Johnson as a secondary receiver on the play, no interceptions or fumbles, and 35 yards rushing on 8 carries. The Texans offensive line played well, protecting Carr sturdily and allowing third team running back Jonathan Wells to run for 105 yards. On the defensive side, the Texans were able to turn a Jamie Sharper sack into a TD and, while they did not ever really stop the Raiders’ offense, they did pick off three Kerry Collins‘ passes and force two fumbles. The high-scoring Vikings come to town next Sunday, so the Texans’ defense better plug the holes or else the Texans offense may need to score 40 just to stay in the game. Will the over/under on that game break 60?
Longhorns 44 Baylor 14. The Horns endured their final scrimmage of the pre-season before the real season begins next weekend in Dallas against Oklahoma. Although the Arkansas win from three weeks ago was a solid one, the three other teams that the Horns have played are not remotely comparable to Oklahoma’s talent level. Similarly, Oklahoma’s only reasonably tough game to date was this past weekend’s win over Texas Tech, which was not particularly impressive. So, to a certain extent, next week’s Red River Shootout will involve two talented, but largely unproven, teams. Although I think the addition of Dick Tomey to UT’s defensive coaching staff will improve that unit, I’m not sure that the improvement will be sufficiently developed at this stage of the season for the Horns to hold the Sooners under 28 points, which I think is a requirement of beating them. And the Horns still have to figure out now to deal with the fact that the Sooners head coach Bob Stoops is a far superior game day tactician to UT’s head coach Mack Brown.
Texas Aggies 42 Kansas State 30. This was a strange game. The Aggies really never stopped Kansas State, but four Wildcat turnovers allowed the Ags to have a short field for several of their scoring drives. Moreover, the Wildcats were behind for much of the game by double figures, so they abandoned their potent rushing attack behind Darren Sproles, despite the fact that it appeared to be working quite well. Nevertheless, with two and a half minutes to go, the Wildcats were driving the ball in Aggie territory and down only 35-30. Then, the KSU coaching staff inexplicably makes several questionable play calls and, for one of the only times in the game, the Aggie defense holds and KSU turns the ball over on downs with a minute and a half to go. As the Ags are running out the clock, Reggie McNeal takes off around left end and scoots 62 yards for a TD to put the game away. The Ags travel to Ames, Iowa next Saturday to play the Iowa State Cyclones, who are coached by my old friend Dan McCarney.
Memphis 41 Houston 14. On their way to a 1-6 record, the Coogs lay an egg against a good Memphis team. The problem with junk offenses such as the one the Coogs run is that, once the opposition’s defensive coordinators have seen it, they make adjustments and force the offense to do something else. If the junk offense does not have something else that it can do well, then it gets ugly in a hurry, and that’s where the Coogs find themselves now. Art Briles‘ second season is quickly turning into a rocky one. The Coogs play Southern Miss next on this week’s ESPN Thursday night football.
San Jose State 70 Rice 63. When I first heard this score, I thought that Rice’s basketball season had started early. The Owls uncharacteristically blew leads of 34-7 and 63-49, and somehow figured out a way to lose despite gaining 634 yards. In case the Owls had any doubts that their decision to move to Conference USA is the correct one, the attendance at this game was only 4,000, which means that this game drew less than a large number of Texas high school football games each week. Rice plays SMU next Saturday night at Rice Stadium.
And remember that Kevin Whited has the best weekly review of Big 12 games over at PubliusTx.net.

Texans 24 Chiefs 21. In the biggest upset of the young NFL season, the Texans took advantage of a Trent Green blunder that resulted in Marcus Coleman‘s 102 interception return for a touchdown to edge the Chiefs at Arrowhead on Kris Brown’s 49 yard field goal with 2 seconds to play. The Chiefs really should have won this game, as they were about to go up 21-6 when Coleman picked off Green. But David Carr overcame another mediocre performance for three quarters and played well down the stretch along with receivers Johnson, Gaffney, and newcomer Derick Armstrong to pull out in impressive victory. The Texans have the Raiders and Vikings the next two weeks at home, and the Texans have a shot in both games if they can slow the offenses of the opposition as they did in the Chiefs game.
The Cowboys play the Redskins on Monday Night Football this week.
Texas 35 Rice 13. The Horns pounded the gritty Owls in what amounted to a scrimmage as Texas continues to prepare for their October 9th showdown in Dallas with OU. As of now, I don’t think Texas can throw well enough to move the ball consistently on OU and the Horns do not seem strong enough defensively to keep OU’s offense in a low scoring game. But Texas does have serious offensive talent in Young and Benson, so a surprise in Dallas is possible. However, at this point, I just don’t see how the Horns win that game. OU plays their first tough game of the season this coming Saturday against Texas Tech, while the Horns tune up against Baylor. Rice goes to San Jose State this Saturday, which is a very winnable game for the Owls.
Miami 38 Houston 13. THe Coogs improbably made a game of it with the Hurricanes into the third quarter, but the Miami defense ultimately proved too strong for the Coogs to score enough points to really worry the Canes, although the Coogs beat the spread comfortably. As usual, Miami’s defense is big-time good, but the Canes’ offense is not National Championship caliber this season. The Coogs go to Memphis this Saturday, which is definitely no picnic. Expect the Coogs to be 1-4 after this Saturday.
The Texas Aggies were idle as they prepare for their Big 12 opener against Kansas State in College Station next Saturday.

Lions 28 Texans 16. “Uh-oh” is the barely audible sound that you will hear emanating from Reliant Park this week. Not only did the Texans lose their second straight, but they once again showed the inconsistency that could really make this a long season. The offense — particularly QB David Carr — was horrible in an excruciating first half that mercifully (for the fans, anyway) ended with the Lions ahead 7-3. Then, in the second half, Carr played reasonably well and threw his first two TD passes of the season only to have the Texans’ defense go into the tank and the kickoff return team give up a 99 yard kickoff return for a Lions’ TD. Given that the Texans play the Chiefs, Raiders, Vikings and Titans in the next four games, a 1-5 or 0-6 start is looking quite likely. My sense is that the Texans’ honeymoon with Houston is quickly coming to an end.
Cowboys 19 Browns 12. Incredibly, the Cowboys turn it over four times and still win, primarily because the Browns’ QB Jeff Garcia was 8-28 for 78 yards passing. I’m glad I resisted the urge to take him as my reserve QB in my Fantasy Football League draft.
The Texas Longhorns were idle this weekend, and most of the Horn players were probably here.
Texas Aggies 27 Clemson 6. The Ags finally won a game under Coach Franchione against a reasonably tough opponent, although Clemson does not appear to be comparable to top Big 12 caliber opposition. However, the Ags rolled up over 500 yards total offense, committed no turnovers, and held Clemson QB Charlie Whitehurst to under 200 yards passing. Certainly progress for a program that has been in steady decline — much to the consternation of its rabid fan base — for the past four seasons. The Aggies have an off week before taking on Big 12 North rival Kansas State on October 2 in College Station.
Houston 35 Army 21. Coogs finally get their offense cranked up and pull out the win after the Cadets tied it at 21 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. UH should be about a 60 point underdog in this Thursday evening’s ESPN game at Reliant Stadium against Miami.
Rice 41 Hawaii 29. I don’t know why, but I always enjoy it when a triple option team such as Rice beats a Run ‘n Shoot team such as Hawaii. The Owls now try to beat a spread that will be around 35 next week in Austin against the Longhorns.

Given the over-analysis of football that takes place in Texas, I am going to institute a brief review of each local team’s game from the past weekend with links to more thorough analysis:

Chargers 27 Texans 20. In their first game as a betting favorite, the Texans lay an egg as four turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 David Carr interceptions) undermine the Texans’ chances to pull out the win. The Chargers’ fourth year QB — Drew Brees from Austin — who the Chargers have been trying to get rid of since the end of last season, threw two TD passes to none for the third year QB Carr, who was the first pick in the 2001 draft. As noted earlier here, Carr has shown very little to date to indicate that he is a talent worthy of taking with the first pick of the NFL Draft. That he was outplayed by Brees in the first game of the season is telling.
Minnesota 35 Dallas 17. Vikes culpepper Pokes. Big Tuna will not be pleased.
Horns 22 Arkansas 20. A quality road win for the Horns, who received productive games from both QB Vincent Young and RB Ced Benson. UT’s defense looked improved over last season’s unit, as new defensive coaches Dick Tomey and Gregg Robinson appear to be making an impact. One major problem for the defense against Arkansas was a poor pass rush and containment, which better be fixed before the Horns tee it up in three weeks with OU in the Red River shootout. Offensively, it is still unclear to me whether UT can throw the ball well enough to force OU’s safeties to play safety rather than linebacker, which is essential if a team wants to beat the Sooners. Unfortunately, neither Rice nor Baylor — the Horns’ next two opponents before the OU game — will provide quality competition in which UT can develop that part of their offense.
Oklahoma 63 Houston 13. In a game that was not as close as the score indicates, the Cougars were in it all the way through the coin flip. In glancing at the Coogs’ schedule, it appears reasonably likely that UH will be 1-6 (Army appears to be the only likely win) by the end of October unless dramatic improvement occurs. Quite a comedown from Art Briles’ first season magic.
A&M 31 Wyoming 0. The Aggies take care of business against a patsy at home, which is an accomplishment for A&M the way they have been playing for the past couple of seasons. The Ags get a better test this Saturday night a home against a decent Clemson team, which is coming off a close loss to Georgia Tech.

Rice was idle this past Saturday. The Owls play the Run N’ Shoot Hawaii Warriors this Saturday at Rice Stadium. If Rice plays defense as well as they did against Houston’s junk offense a week ago, then the Owls could be 2-0 before becoming sacrificial lambs to Texas in Austin the following week.

For more information on Texas Tech, Baylor, and other Big 12 teams, Kevin Whited does a good weekly analysis of Big 12 games over at PubliusTx.Net.

Kevin Whited has this interesting post over at PubliusTX.net about the demise of the old and beloved (at least in Texas) Southwest Conference, and how former University of Houston Athletic Director Bill Carr flubbed the chance to shoehorn UH into the Big 12 Conference.
I was quite close to the Jack Pardee–John Jenkins coaching staffs at UH, and I ended up representing Jenks in the settlement of his contract with UH (but that’s the subject of an entirely longer post!). The info in Kevin’s post is pretty much the way I remember it and his point about Baylor’s acceptance into the Big 12 as being a booby prize is right on the mark.
For most of their existence, UH’s athletic programs have generally competed very well despite fewer resources than most of their competitors. For years, several of the old Southwest Conference schools refused to agree to admitting UH until Darrell Royal and the few other statesmen in the SWC lobbied for UH’s admission. I’m sure that UH will continue to face similar obstacles in attempting to join one of the BCS Conferences (the Southeastern Conference probably makes the most sense). But it would be great for Houston to have UH’s athletic programs back in a major conference.

Lest you think that the only baseball and the Stros are the only sports subjects addressed on this blog, we bring you a review of the first weekend of college football. I generally ignore football until the National Football League pre-season games are concluded because they combine all the tedium and meaningless nature of baseball’s spring training games without the charm.
The Texas Longhorns pounded North Texas in their first game, but the Chronicle provides Oklahoma some little needed bulletin board material as columnist Richard Justice predicts a UT victory already in the annual Texas-OU game. Given UT’s futility with Oklahoma over the past several seasons, can’t everyone just shut up about Texas-OU until the game is played?
Meanwhile, things are not going well with the transition from the R.C. Slocum era to the Dennis Franchione era at football-obsessed Texas A&M. After putting up a 4-8 mark in his first season last year, Coach Fran’s crew allowed Utah to cream them this past Thursday night on ESPN’s nationally televised game. That went over like the proverbial turd in the punch bowl in College Station, and Texas’ best sportswriter — the Chronicle’s Mickey Herskowitz — is not impressed with some of the contrived efforts of Coach Fran:

If you had played as poorly as the Texas A&M Aggies did against Utah, wouldn’t you be glad not to have the names on the back of your uniforms?
This was one of the many questions that emerged from the ashes of A&M’s 41-21 loss in its opener on national television.
Coach Dennis Franchione removed the names to make a point about playing as a team.
Sadly, the Aggies missed the point, along with a boatload of passes, tackles and blocks.
So the ploy did not work. In the best interest of Aggie survival, we implore coach Fran: please, please, give them back their names.
This isn’t the 1970s, when a few teams still thought that identifying the players might cut into their program sales.
The blank space on the back of the A&M jerseys seemed to merely reinforce the feeling that the Aggies didn’t know who they were or what they were doing in Salt Lake City.
They appeared not to know where the football was, which can cost a team dearly and did. The Aggies had the Utes backed up to their own 10, and you saw at the start they had no intention of trying to blitz or put pressure on the quarterback, Alex Smith.
So right there, Smith hit a pass for 12 yards. Going without a huddle, he connected with Steve Savoy on a short pass that the receiver turned into a 78-yard touchdown.
Just like that, the Aggies were doomed.

Moving on to the Houston Texans, the local media, which generally fawns over the Texans, has its usual puff pieces as the team prepares for the opening of its third National Football League season. As a grizzled veteran of observing football at all levels, I am skeptical that the media’s optimism is justified.
The Texans have a great owner in Bob McNair, but after that, all I see are question marks. The defense — which is the foundation upon which solid NFL teams are built — was awful last season and the Texans still do not have the potentially dominant defensive front that is essential to a top flight NFL defense.
Moreover, on the offensive side, the left side of the offensive line is inexperienced and quarterback David Carr, coming into his third season, has shown little (admittedly, on undermanned teams) to indicate that he is a top tier NFL quarterback. Finally, Coach Dom Capers is a capable NFL coach, but my sense is that he is defensive coordinator masquerading as a head coach. Accordingly, I do not believe that the Texans will break out into a playoff caliber NFL team under him.
But Mr. McNair is a great guy and deserves a winner, so I hope I’m wrong on my forecast for the team.
Finally, the best game of the first weekend will take place this afternoon in Houston at Reliant Stadium, where the University of Houston and Rice tangle in their annual game for the Bayou Bucket Trophy. The Cougars hung a 48-14 pounding on the Owls last season, so the Owls will be primed to make this one a more competitive affair. The Coogs are a 3 1/2 point favorite in the 4 p.m. kickoff at Reliant.

Former University of Texas star running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams has stunned the Miami Dolphins and the National Football League by announcing his retirement from professional football while in the prime of his career.