(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson photo; previous weekly reviews for this season are here).

Texans 16 Rams 13

It is a reflection of the Texans (7-7) endearing mediocrity that they can out-gain the Rams (1-13) by almost 200 yards and struggle to win by a field goal.

Now the Rams have been playing reasonably well over the past month and a half (only one blow-out loss during that span), but come on. They are still the Rams.

Although most sports talk hosts and fans think the Texans are underachieving, my sense is that their record is an accurate measure of their ability at this point in time.

For a variety of reasons, the Texans do not run the ball well. They do spray the ball reasonably well in the passing game, but they lost their second-most explosive receiver (Owen Daniels) to injury several games ago.

The defense has improved steadily during the season, but the lack of a consistent pass rush still puts too much pressure on the secondary, which is the weak link in the unit. The fact that 2007 first-round draft choice DT Amobi Okoye is doing a good imitation of former first-round DT bust Travis Johnson isn’t helping matters on the defensive line.

Finally, kicker Kris Brown has been so inconsistent that he looks as if he has all the confidence of a professional golfer undergoing a swing change in an effort to save his career.

Thus, with two games to go (the Dolphins at Miami and home against the Patriots), the Texans still have a chance to register the best record of their tortured eight-season existence. As a team, the Texans don’t seem to play with much confidence, which is probably attributable in good part to the overall youth of the team.

But the reality is that the Texans continue to improve. Just not as fast as their followers prefer.

The issue that Texans owner Bob McNair has to resolve is whether it is more likely that such improvement will continue under Gary Kubiak? Or is it more likely to continue under another head coach?

The answer is not clear.

(Bob Levey/Getty Image; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texans 34 Seahawks 7

Key tip of the day to Seahawk Defensive Coordinator Casey Bradley — your cornerbacks need safety help in covering Texans WR Andre Johnson.

After a 64 yd TD reception on the first play of the game, Johnson proceeded to run through, around and over the beleaguered Seahawk (5-8) secondary for 193 total receiving yards as the Texans (6-7) broke a four game losing streak in this laugher.

The game was so one-sided that Texans QB Matt Schaub had only 29 yds passing in the 2nd half and still had 365 yds for the game. Before the Seahawks final drive of the first half, the Texans had outgained them 311-25.

Moreover, the Texans defense continued to show signs of improvement as they held the Seahawks to under 300 yds of total offense while forcing three fumbles, sacking Seahawks QB Matt Hasselback three times and injuring his right shoulder on another hard hit. The Texans held the Seahawks to about 20 yards on 14 plays during their first four drives of the game, resulting in four punts.

The Texans to on the road for the next couple of weeks against the Rams (1-12) and Dolphins (7-6) before returning to Reliant Stadium to close the season against the Patriots (8-5). All those games are winnable, but one concern is that PK Kris Brown remains in a funk, missing a 48 yard FG attempt and having another short one blocked when he appeared to kick it thin and low. Many a close NFL game has been lost because of a kicker who suddenly has gone into a funk. Brown certainly appears to be in a serious funk.

(AP Photo/Stephen Morton; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texas Longhorns 13 Nebraska 12

Has any team ever gone through an undefeated season and been in position to win the national championship with a more unimpressive offensive line than 2nd-ranked Texas (13-0)?

If there has been one, I can’t remember it.

Nevertheless, the Horns overcame an inspired Nebraska (9-4) effort and a serious brain fart in the closing seconds to win the Big 12 Championship game and set up another Rose Bowl BCS Championship Game, this time with SEC champ, Alabama (13-0).

After their only truly bad game of the season last week against the Texas Aggies, the salty Texas defense reappeared just in time to bail out the Horns out. It didn’t hurt Bthat the Huskers’ offensive line is worse than the Longhorns’ line.

Bama opened as a four point favorite over the Horns in the national championship game, but Texas has a reasonable chance to pull off its second national championship in five years. The initial line is a bit skewed by the Tide’s impressive win over Florida (12-1) and the Horns’ difficulties against Nebraska, but Bama has had its own consistency problems this season. Plus, a dynamic of such big games is that there often is a psychological advantage to the team playing as an underdog.

I expect the game to be close with the Horns having a reasonable chance of pulling it out if they can control Bama’s punishing ground game and figure out some way of giving Horns’ QB Colt McCoy enough time to distribute the ball to Texas’ talented group of receivers.

But in the meantime, Bama’s defensive front will be licking their chops to get after Texas’ offensive line. Thank goodness for Texas that Bama doesn’t have Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh.

East Carolina 38 Houston Cougars 32

In a game that was as entertaining as the Texas-Nebraska game was not, the Cougars (10-3) spirited comeback effort in the Conference USA Championship game was snuffed out in the final minute as QB Case Keenum’s pass bounced off his receiver’s shoulder in the end zone and into the hands of an East Carolina (9-4) safety.

The teams were evenly matched and neither team’s defense could consistently stop the other’s offense. So, the game came down to turnovers, and the Cougars had three more (4) than the Pirates (1). The most costly one was bad throw that Keenum made at the beginning of the 4th quarter that was intercepted to set up the Pirates’ TD that extended the lead to 11.

But not widely reported in the mainstream media is the fact that an outrageously horrendous call by the officiating crew led to one of the interceptions and may well have cost the Cougars the game.

While leading 13-7 and driving deep in East Carolina midway through the 2nd quarter, the Cougars quick-snapped while the Pirates’ defense had at least 13 players on the field. Thinking that he had a "free" play because of the obvious penalty, Keenum threw the ball into the end zone trying for a TD, but the ball was intercepted. No problem though because of the penalty, right?

Not so fast. Not only did the officiating crew not throw a flag on the play, they ignored the clear video evidence (it’s a reviewable call) of 13 Pirate defenders on the field when UH Coach Kevin Sumlin challenged the call on the field.

So, rather than Houston having the ball deep in Carolina territory ready to go up 20-7, the officials gave the Pirates the ball first and ten on their 20.

ESPN commentators Ron Franklin and Gary Cunningham were incredulous over the blown call. To make matters worse, the officiating crew proceeded to call at least two other "too many men on the field" penalties on the Pirates’ defense at much less important stages of the game. Go figure.

As usual, Keenum was again phenomenal (56/75 for 527 yds/5 TD’s/3 INT) and cemented his performance this season as one of the greatest of any QB in NCAA history.

Also, Houston WR James Cleveland came back from an injury that had sidelined him the past two games to catch an incredible 19 passes for 241 yds and 3 TD’s.

Due to Conference USA’s poor bowl tie-ins, the Cougars are again slated to play Air Force (7-5) this bowl season in the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth on New Year’s Even afternoon. The game will be a replay of Houston’s win over Air Force in last season’s game.

There are a bunch of teams in bigger bowl games that are glad that they don’t have to play this Houston team.

Jaguars 23 Texans 18

Does this sound familiar?

The Texans (5-7) start lethargically, fall far behind, battle back gamely, but ultimately shoot themselves in the foot and lose.

Key note to Coach Kubiak — Chris Brown does not remind anyone of Paul Hornung on the halfback pass play.

The Texans begin playing out their eighth straight string next Sunday at Reliant Stadium against Seattle (4-7). My over/under for actual attendance — 40,000.

Finally, the Texas Aggies (6-6) will play Georgia (7-5) in Shreveport’s Independence Bowl on the evening of December 28th.

(AP Photo/Bob Levey; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Colts 35 Texans 27

As the Texans’ eighth season fades into the sunset of playoff also-rans once again, a legitimate question exists as to whether fourth-year Texans Coach Gary Kubiak is the right coach to transform the Texans into a legitimate NFL playoff contender.

Alan Burge examined that question earlier in the week and wondered whether Kubiak has the leadership qualities necessary to be a successful NFL head coach. I’ve been skeptical about Kubiak from the start, primarily because I believed that he was an odd fit for the "strong coach" model that Texans owner Bob McNair embraced when he fired the Texans’ initial GM and head coach after a disastrous fourth season.

Despite my reservations, each of Kubiak’s teams have improved during his tenure with the Texans, and his current team is the strongest team that the Texans have fielded in their eight seasons.

Thus, even though every other NFL team has either made the playoffs or fired its head coach during Kubiak’s tenure with the Texans, Kubiak supporters can make a decent case that McNair should stick with him despite this season’s disappointing performance.

But the Texans’ (5-6) loss to the Colts (11-0) yesterday — as well as last week’s Monday Night loss to the Titans (5-6) — are good examples of Kubiak’s main weaknesses as a coach — a failure to make adjustments on the fly during the game necessary to help the team win. This is one of the primary reasons Kubiak’s Texans teams have not been able to get over the hump of winning close games.

After building a 20-7 lead while largely dominating the first half, the well-seasoned Colts made multiple adjustments at halftime. From the looks of it, the Texans made none.

The result? The Colts bludgeoned the Texans 28-7 in the second half and won the game going away.

Similarly, during the Monday Night game, the Texans pass-rushers continually rushed up field past Titans QB Vince Young, which allowed Young to step up in the pocket and run for first downs on multiple occasions. The Texans never made the adjustments necessary to keep Young in the pocket where his passing statistics were quite pedestrian.

It’s almost as if Kubiak and his staff stubbornly say "Our game plan got us ahead and is good enough to win the game if executed correctly. We’re not changing it, no matter what happens." Along those lines, after the game, Kubiak stated that the Texans simply "did not play well in the second half." Maybe so, but Kubiak and his staff did not put the players into a position to play well in the second half.

Perhaps most frustrating for Texans fans is that Kubiak and his staff have shown that they are capable of making effective in-game adjustments. The first game against the Titans, as well as the first Colts game, are two examples this season of where Kubiak and his staff made adjustments on the fly that gave their team a chance to win.

But Kubiak and Co. have not shown that they can make such adjustments consistently. If Bob McNair decides to replace Kubiak after this season, then that failure will likely be at the top to the list of reasons why Kubiak is let go.

Texas Longhorns 49 Texas Aggies 39

What do you get when you mix 3rd-ranked Texas’ (12-0/8-0) worst defensive game of the season with Texas A&M’s (6-6/3-5) best offensive effort?

One heckuva entertaining Thanksgiving evening game.

Longhorn QB Colt McCoy continued his improved play of late by having his best game of the season (24/40 fpr 304 yds/4 TD’s/0 INT/18 carries for 175 yds/1 TD) and the Longhorns were lucky that he did. But even with McCoy’s Herculean effort, the Horns did not put this one away until WR Marquise Goodwin’s 95 yd kickoff return for a TD with just under 7 minutes to go in the game.

Although the Aggies’ well-balanced offense gave the Horns’ salty defensive unit fits all night, the game showed the big difference between the two programs. Outside of DE Von Miller, the Aggies lack of speed in their defensive front seven was palpable the entire game. Unless or until that deficiency is corrected, the Aggies will not contend for a Big 12 South title.

Meanwhile, despite the Horns’ poor defensive effort, I do not believe that it portends problems for Texas against Nebraska (9-3/6-2) next Saturday night in the Big 12 Championship game. Nebraska has about 1/2 the offense that A&M has and, although their defense is solid, the Horns will score at least 25 points against that unit unless the Horns suffer a turnover epidemic.

I look for a relatively easy Texas win and a berth in the BCS Championship Game against the winner of the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship Game.

Houston Cougars 73 Rice 14

You knew things were not going to end well for Rice (2-10/2-6) when Houston (10-2/6-2) led 31-0 less than one minute into the 2nd quarter and prolific Cougar QB Case Keenum had not even thrown a TD pass yet.

The 18th-ranked Coogs went on to lead 59-0 at halftime, at which time they had more TD’s (eight) than Rice had first downs (five). The game was not that close.

Keenum did not play in the 2nd half, but he generated his usual spectacular statistical line anyway (25/31 for 323 yds/2 TD’s/0 INT/2 carries for 8 yds/1 TD).

What makes Keenum one of the best QB’s in college football this season is his uncanny field presence — he is literally like having a coach on the field during the game.

Rice often dropped eight defenders into coverage in an attempt to slow down the Cougars passing attack, so Keenum checked-off at the line of scrimmage and unleashed Houston’s rushing attack, which rolled up 221 of Houston’s 683 yds of total offense. When Rice defenders crept closer to the line to stop the run, Keenum scorched them with quick-hitting passes to eight different receivers.

Chron beat writer Steve Campbell pointed out in his blog that, over the past two blow-out games, Keenum has played four quarters and four minutes. In so doing, Keenum completed 54 of 70 passes (77 percent) for 728 yards, seven TD’s and no interceptions. The Cougars scored 14 touchdowns and one field goal, while punting once, in the
16 possessions that Keenum has directed over the past two games.

I am convinced that this season’s game films of Keenum’s field presence and management of the Cougars’ passing game will be studied by coaches and aspiring QB’s for years. He has been that good.

The game was a disappointment for Rice, which had played well over the past month after a disastrous start to the season. The gulf in talent between the Owls and the Cougars is quite large at this point in time.

The Cougars travel to East Carolina (8-4/7-1) next Saturday afternoon for the C-USA Championship game. ECU has won five of their last six games (their only loss was to Virginia Tech), so the Cougars will likely have their hands full in Greenville, N.C.

(AP Photo/Erich Schlegel; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texas Longhorns 51 Kansas 20

The 3rd-ranked Longhorns (11-0/7-0) continued their seemingly unstoppable roll to the BCS Championship Game with another laugher against a Big 12 North opponent, the Fighting Manginos (i.e., Kansas (5-6/1-6)).

QB Colt McCoy had his best game of the season (32/41 for 396 yds/4 TD’s/0 INT) in his final home game as a Longhorn, and it was fun watching him bang on Big Bertha and set off the cannon after the game. The clueless ESPN announcers continue to hype McCoy for the Heisman Trophy, but that they do so undermines the integrity of the award.

Although a fine QB, McCoy has not had close to as good a season as the best college football players this season. Given the highly complementary nature of football, that’s certainly not entirely — or even primarily — McCoy’s fault. But this Texas team revolves around its ferocious defense, not its QB.

Having said that, McCoy has had a phenomenal career at UT. It’s hard to think of a harder act to follow than Vince Young and the BCS National Championship that he delivered, but McCoy has actually been a big part of elevating the UT program to a level even higher than it was in Young’s championship season. That is a remarkable achievement and one that vaults McCoy to the very top of the list of best Longhorn QB’s.

The Horns finish the regular season with their annual rivalry game at A&M (6-5/3-4) on Thanksgiving evening and then the Big 12 Championship game against Nebraska (8-3/5-2) on December 5th at Jerry’s World in Arlington.

In the meantime, Mack Brown and his staff better figure out a way to shore up the Horns’ offensive line, which had McCoy dodging bullets quite often against a mediocre Kansas defensive front. Nebraska probably doesn’t have enough offense to beat the Horns, but their front seven is pretty salty and could give McCoy fits if the Horns’ offensive line plays like it did against Kansas.

Frankly, either the Florida or Alabama defensive front will likely annihilate McCoy if the Horns’ OL doesn’t shape up before the BCS Championship Game.

Texas Aggies 38 Baylor 3

The Aggies (6-5/3-4) schizophrenic season continued as they hammered Baylor (4-7/1-6) and qualified for a bowl game for the first time since the 2006 season. The Aggies have now won games by margins of 35, 37, 22, 25 and 35 while losing games by margins of 28, 48, and 55. Go figure.

The Ags finish up the regular season on Thanksgiving evening against the Longhorns, and the Ags would do well to stay within two TD’s of the Horns.

A&M still has a long ways to go before they have personnel or depth on par with the Horns, but progress is being made, particularly on the offensive side of the ball where the Aggies sport a well-balanced attack when not embroiled in one of their periodic desperation meltdowns. The extra practice time that the Aggies will receive in preparation for their bowl game should be a good springboard to the 2010 season in which A&M hopes to be competitive in every game on the schedule. As bad as A&M football has been over the past couple of seasons, this year’s bowl game will be the Aggies’ sixth in the past decade. Most programs only dream for such a success rate.

Houston Cougars 55 Memphis 14

The pure excellence of Cougar (9-2/5-2) QB Case Keenum was best displayed at the end of the 2nd quarter in the 23rd-ranked Cougars romp over Memphis (2-9/1-6).

After Keenum had filleted the Tigers for 35 points and 3 TD passes in the first 22 minutes of the game, Memphis came back with a long scoring drive to close to within 35-14 with 2:38 left in the half. The Tigers have an NFL-quality RB in Curtis Steele, who the Cougars’ leaky defense was having trouble stopping. If Memphis could generate another such drive at the start of the 2nd half, then one could see how they could make a game of it by keeping the ball away from the Cougar offense, much in the same way that Central Florida did in upsetting the Coogs last week.

Keenum would have none of that. In a minute and 58 seconds, he drove the Cougars 73 yds in 8 plays to make it 42-14 at halftime. When the Cougar defense forced a three-and-out on Memphis at the start of the 2nd half, Keenum drove the Cougars to another quick TD to make it 49-14. Keenum took a seat on the bench for the remainder of the game only four minutes into the 2nd half. The Coogs scored on 7 of their first 8 possessions and rolled up 690 yards to Memphis’ 342.

Game, set, match, Keenum and Houston.

It is a testament to Keenum’s brilliance this season that he generated better statistics (29/39 for 405 yds/5 TD’s/0 INT) in a little over a half against Memphis than Texas QB Colt McCoy generated in his best effort of the season this weekend against Kansas playing the entire game.

The Cougars host cross-town rival Rice (2-9/2-5) next Saturday night and, assuming they win that game, will either host Southern Miss (6-5/5-2) or go to East Carolina (7-4/6-1) in the C-USA Championship Game the following weekend, courtesy of Marshall’s (6-5/4-3) victory over SMU (6-5/5-2) this past weekend.

Rice 30 UTEP 29

The feisty Owls (2-9/2-5) upset UTEP (3-8/2-5) by forcing six turnovers. After an 0-7 start, Rice has now been competitive in all three games since their off-week during the last week in October, and have won two of those games by forcing turnovers, minimizing errors offensively and making big plays on both sides of the ball. The Owls’ strong play of late will make them sky-high for their game against Houston, which they would dearly love to knock off.

After two straight weekends off, the Texans (5-4) play the Monday Night Game tonight against the Titans (3-6) followed by a showdown next Sunday at Reliant against the undefeated Colts (10-0). Should be an interesting week of football in Houston.

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Central Florida 37 Houston Cougars 32

As I’ve noted many times, Houston (10-2/4-2) games over the past several seasons are just different. The game against Central Florida (6-4/4-2) was a case in point.

The 24th-ranked Coogs jumped out to a 17-3 lead with 7 minutes to go in the first half, but Central Florida — which had held out its starting QB and RB in last week’s game against Texas — controlled the ball for essentially the entire 2nd quarter and narrowed the score to 17-10 by the end of the half. Inasmuch as one of the Cougar TD’s was on a kick-off return, the Coogs’ offense really didn’t play much in the 2nd quarter.

Thus, by the 3rd quarter, the Houston offense had lost its rhythm. UCF’s defensive front — which is pretty stout — began dominating the line of scrimmage and Houston’s undermanned defense began to wear down.

Before you know it, the Coogs were reeling and UCF had outscored Houston 28-3 during the 3rd quarter and the first half of the 4th quarter. As usual, QB Case Keenum brought the Coogs back with two late scores, but the magic of a miracle finish was used last week at Tulsa.

With the loss and despite their fine season to date, the Cougars find themselves trailing SMU (6-4/5-1) in the C-USA West Division race. The Ponies play a decent Marshall (5-5/3-3) team next Saturday in West Virginia and then close at home against truly horrid Tulane (3-7/1-5). If SMU wins both those games, then the Ponies will win the C-USA West Division and play in the conference championship game against the C-USA East champ, either East Carolina (5-4/4-1) or Southern Miss (6-4/4-2). Despite having the best overall record in the league by far, the Cougars will be shut out of the conference championship game.

The Cougars close the season with home games against Memphis (2-8/1-5) and Rice (1-9/1-5). Interestingly, assuming Houston wins both those games and does not play in the C-USA Championship game, the Coogs will probably secure a more attractive bowl invitation than if they would receive if they won the C-USA Championship game (the Liberty Bowl in Memphis).

Rice 28 Tulane 20

The Owls (1-9/1-5) finally broke through against woeful Tulane (3-7/1-5) for their first victory as WR Toren Dixon did his best Jarett Dillard imitation (7 rec/158 yds/3 TD’s), including a spectacular 29 yard TD reception in the final minute that secured the win.

Rice has now played two straight good games after their off-week, and they have another chance for a win this Saturday against up-and-down UTEP (3-7/2-4). The Owls close their season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving against cross-town rival Houston.

Oklahoma 65 Texas Aggies 10

As with the Kansas State game a month ago, the Aggies (5-5/2-4) rolled over and played dead against an underachieving Oklahoma (6-4/4-2) team that was itching to hammer someone. Even considering the Aggies’ talent limitations, how can that not be a huge concern for those who are hoping for a rebound of the Aggie program?

The Aggies finish the season with home games against Baylor (4-6/1-5) and Texas (10-0/6-0). After A&M’s recent wins over Texas Tech and Iowa State, the Baylor game looked like a reasonably sure win as the Aggies marched toward bowl eligibility. But after two straight disheartening losses, the Bears are no longer looking like such a sure thing.

A loss to Baylor would almost make certain that the Ags would not become bowl eligible, which would be another major disappointment in the Mike Sherman era.

So it goes these days in Aggieland.

Texas 47 Baylor 14

The Horns (10-0/6-0) continued to cruise toward a probable berth in the BCS Championship game with an easy win over the chronically undermanned Bears (4-6/1-5). The Horns were up 40-0 at the half and let up on the gas pedal for the rest of the game.

Texas finishes the regular season against Kansas (5-5/1-5) and A&M before taking on either Kansas State (6-5/4-3) or Nebraska (7-3/4-2) in the Big 12 Championship game. It will be shocking If UT wins any of those games by less than two TD’s.

The Texans (5-4) were off this past week as they prepare for two straight interesting home games against the resurgent Titans (3-6) and the suddenly vulnerable-looking Colts (9-0).

(AP Photo/Tom Stratton; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Colts 20 Texans 17

The Texans (5-4) basically rolled over and played dead against the Colts (8-0) for the first quarter and a half. By early in the 2nd quarter, the Colts led the Texans in first downs 15-0 and total yards 196-12, while Texans already had seven penalties.

But amazingly, the Texans made a game of it and would have sent the contest into OT but for Kris Brown’s missed 42 yard FG attempt in the final seconds of the game.

However, even more important than Brown’s miss was head coach Gary Kubiak’s blunder with two minutes to go in the first half. With the Texans poised to score with a first and goal at the Colts 2-yard line, Kubiak elected to allow the play clock to run-down to the two-minute warning timeout rather than run a first down play. The timeout gave the Colts coaching staff time to challenge the preceding play in which the Texans’ Ryan Moats appeared to fumble while being tackled at the out-of-bounds line. The instant replay official overturned the ruling on the field and ruled that the fumble was recovered by the Colts on the goal line, resulting in a touchback and ball to the Colts at the 20-yard line.

Had Kubiak directed the Texans to run the first down play prior to the two-minute warning, it is extremely unlikely that the Colts’ coaching staff would have gotten it together in time to challenge the call on the previous play. It’s precisely that lack of situational awareness that makes me wonder whether Kubiak really has what it takes to be an above-average NFL head coach.

The Texans now have their off-week and so don’t play again until the Monday night before Thanksgiving when they meet the Vince Young-led Titans (2-6), who have won two straight. The Texans get the Colts again at Reliant Stadium the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Houston Cougars 46 Tulsa 45

What is Case Keenum going to do for an encore?

Last week, the amazing Houston Cougar (8-1/4-1) QB drove his team 78 yards for a TD in 30 seconds of the final minute to pull out a victory over Southern Miss.

On Saturday night against Tulsa (4-5/2-3), Keenum drove the Coogs 60 yards for a TD in the final 3 minutes to close to within 45-43 with 21 seconds to go. Then, after the Cougars recovered the ensuing on-side kick, Keenum drove the Cougars 28 yards in 17 seconds to set up Matt Hogan’s game-winning 51-yard field goal as time expired.

For the game, Keenum was 40/60 for 522 yds, 3 TD’s and 0 INT. That was the 10th time that Keenum has passed for more than 400 yards in a game. The 4th-quarter comeback victory was the fourth that Keenum has engineered this season and the eighth of his collegiate career.

He is simply the best quarterback in college football this season.

By the way, the win was particularly sweet for a couple of reasons. First, it gave a Houston team another victory over Tulsa head coach Todd Graham, much to the delight of most Rice Owl fans.

Moreover, the Coogs also prevailed despite the strong appearance that Graham had at least a half-dozen of his players fake injuries during the Cougars’ 4th-quarter comeback in an effort to slow down the Houston no-huddle offense. C-USA officials should be taking a careful look at the game films and sanctioning Graham unless Tulsa provides evidence that the suspicious-looking injuries were legit.

The 13th-ranked Cougars travel to Orlando next Saturday to play Central Florida (5-4/3-2), which held out its starting QB and top RB in its game against Texas this week so that they would be ready for Houston. That’s life in the Top 20.

Colorado 35 Texas Aggies 34

This one hurt the Aggies’ (5-4/2-3) fragile rebuilding project badly.

The Aggies led 21-10 at the half and 31-21 midway through the 4th quarter before a pretty bad Colorado (3-6/2-3) rallied to pull out the victory with a TD pass with 2 minutes to go. Even then, the Ags had two more chances to move into field goal range, but blew those opportunities with an interception and a fumbled punt. Ouch!

The Ags must now regroup to travel next Saturday to Norman to take on a wounded Oklahoma (5-4/3-2) team, which — after their upset loss to Nebraska (6-3/3-2) on Saturday — has dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in memory. That sixth win for bowl eligibility is not going to come easily for the Aggies.

Texas Longhorns 35 Central Florida 3

This amounted to nothing more than a well-attended scrimmage for the 2nd-ranked Horns (9-0/5-0).

With Central Florida (5-4/3-2) holding out their starting QB and top RB for Houston next week, the Horns cruised to victory while finally showing some signs of a consistent passing offense (star WR Jordan Shipley went off for 273 yards on 11 receptions).

But the story of this UT team remains the defense, which held UCF to 150 yards of total offense. Interestingly, the top three teams in college football this season — Texas, Florida and Alabama — all have suffocating defenses with somewhat underachieving offenses. Call it the backlash of the defenses to the spread offense.

The Horns travel to Waco to play Baylor (4-5/1-4) next week before returning home to face Kansas (5-4/1-4) and the Aggies in their final two regular season games. With Kansas State (6-3/4-2) or Nebraska (6-3/3-2) as their opponent in the Big 12 championship game, Texas has the easiest route of the top three teams to the BCS National Championship game.

SMU 31 Rice 28

Rice (0-9/0-5) played their best game of the season, but a 10-point turnaround at the end of the first half (blocked Rice FG attempt was returned by SMU for a TD) was more than the struggling Owls could overcome against improving SMU (5-4/4-1).  The Owls have their two best chances for a victories this season against Tulane (3-6/1-4) and UTEP (3-6/2-3) at home over the next two weekends before finishing the season with their traditional post-Thanksgiving Saturday game against Houston.

(AP Photo/Don Heupel; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)

Texans 31 Bills 10

The Texans (5-3) dominated the game, but somehow found themselves trailing the Bills (3-5) after three quarters.

Previous Texans teams probably would have folded, but this one seems to be improving on defense enough that the offense can shoot blanks for awhile and the game will not be lost (but remember, this is the Bill’s offense that we’re talking about here). The Texans’ offense finally straightened things out in the fourth quarter, hammered away at the Bills’ tiring defensive front and the Texans won this one going away with three rushing TD’s in the final quarter. All in all, not a bad way to prepare for next Sunday’s showdown at Indianapolis against the Colts (7-0).

A couple of notes. Backup RB Ryan Moats played really well (23/126 yd/6 rec/63 yd/3 TD’s) in relief of fumble-prone RB Steve Slaton. Somewhat surprisingly, there did not seem to be any drop-off in production in going with Moats over Slaton and, if anything, it appeared that Moats hit the holes quicker and with more authority than Slaton. And without the fumbles.

Also, the Texans lost their second-best receiver — TE Owen Daniels — to what appeared to be a serious knee injury that will probably end his season. Will we now have a James Casey sighting?

Finally, for some reason, CBS did not show a replay of how Daniels got hurt (he was not involved in the pass on the play in which it occurred). However, Coach Kubiak was furious with the referees on the sideline at the time. Why on earth did the CBS announcers simply ignore how Daniels’ injury occurred and why Kubiak was so upset?

Texas Longhorns 41 Oklahoma State 14

As noted last week, I expected the second-ranked Longhorns (8-0/5-0) to beat the Cowboys (6-2/3-2) relatively easily if the Horns’ offense did not give the game away. As it turned out, the Horns’ rugged defense forced five Cowboy turnovers, returned two of them for TD’s and generally suffocated Okie State’s high-powered offense. An impressive performance, indeed.

Despite this story line, ABC’s absurd television production subjected viewers to dozens of shots of QB Colt McCoy and his parents, plus non-stop blather about McCoy’s Heisman Trophy prospects.

Note to ABC — McCoy specifically, and UT’s offense in general, is not having all that good a season. Yes, McCoy had a very good season last year. But that was last season.

This season, there are at least a dozen QB’s in major college football who are having a better season than McCoy. Yes, Texas remains undefeated, but that is largely the result of its stout defense and the fact that the offense has not stunk it up so badly in any game so far to blow one (although they were close to doing so in the OU game).

So, please. Give this "McCoy for Heisman" stuff a rest.  

The Horns have a non-conference scrimmage next Saturday in Austin against Central Florida (4-3/3-3) of C-USA before finishing the regular season at Baylor (3-5/0-4), at home against Kansas (5-3/1-3) and at A&M (5-3/2-2). With its probable opponent in the Big 12 championship game being either Kansas State (5-4/3-2) or Nebraska (5-3/2-2), the Horns appear to have the easiest route of any of the top teams to the BCS National Championship game.

Houston Cougars 50 Southern Miss 43

15th-ranked Houston (7-1/3-1) QB Case Keenum’s legend continues to grow.

This was one of those back and forth Houston games in which the opposition — this time a pretty good Southern Miss (5-4/3-2) team — couldn’t stop the Cougar offense while the somewhat undermanned Houston defense was having trouble slowing down the other side.

Nevertheless, Houston usually wins these games, except when it turns the ball over more than the opposition, which it did in this game. So, when Southern Miss scored the tying TD with only 51 seconds to go, this game looked as if it was headed to overtime.

But Keenum proceeded to direct a five-play, 78 yard drive in about 30 seconds to pull out the win in regulation. His stats on the day — 44 of 54 for 559 yds, 5 TD’s and 1 interception. As I’ve noted many times, Keenum is playing at the highest level of any QB in major college football this season.

The Coogs face another tough test next Saturday at Tulsa (4-4/2-2), which is looking to bounce back from a home loss on Saturday to SMU. After the 70-30 shellacking the Cougars put on Tulsa in Houston last season, expect the Golden Hurricanes to be primed for an upset next week.

Texas Aggies 35 Iowa State 10 

For the second straight week, the Aggies (5-3/2-2) generated a productive, balanced offense and won going away against the outmanned Cyclones (5-4/2-3). In their final four games, the Ags have two games in which they could win their sixth game and become bowl eligible — at Colorado (2-6/1-3) next week and home against Baylor (3-5/0-4) on November 21st. The other two games — OU (5-3/3-1) and Texas (8-0/5-0) — appear to be long shots for an Aggie victory.

Thus, next week’s Colorado game appears to be critical for the Aggies’ season. The Ags will probably handle Baylor, which is playing out the string after losing star QB Robert Griffin for the season. A loss to Colorado would likely mean a 6-6 season for the Ags and a marginal bowl bid. Despite its poor record this season, Colorado is not without talent, so the young Aggies will have their hands full in Boulder next Saturday. But 7-5 final record sure looks better than 6-6.

Rice (0-8/0-4) was idle this past weekend. The Owls have a tough game at SMU (4-4/3-1) before returning home to play Tulane (2-6/0-4), which appears to be the Owls only remaining realistic chance for a victory this season.