Daily Archives: October 10, 2004

2004 Weekly local football review

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Vikings 34 Texans 28 (OT). Down 21-zip midway through the third quarter, the Texans came charging back to tie the game at 28 behind a gutty performance from QB David Carr and extraordinary efforts from WR’s Andre Johnson and Derick Armstrong. Unfortunately, the Texans defense could not stop a hard chargin’ marching band, so early NFC Pro Bowl QB candidate Dante Culpepper threw for over 400 yards, five TD’s, and the hit the 50 yard gamewinner in overtime. And Dom Capers is supposed to be a defensive coach? The Texans go to Nashville next Sunday to play the well-balanced (at least if Steve McNair is playing) Titans.
Giants 26 Cowboys 10. With no passing offense, 11 penalties, and two turnovers, this performance will not be on Bill Parcells‘ career highlight film. The Cowboys remind me of the NFL version of the Texas Longhorns. The Pokes play the Steelers next Sunday in Dallas.
Oklahoma 12 Texas Longhorns 0. As noted in earlier weekly reviews, Texas simply does not have the passing game to force OU’s DB’s to play defensive back rather than linebacker. Consequently, OU stuffed the Horns’ running game and Vincent Young was incapable of making the Sooners pay for stacking their defense to stop Ced Benson. Texas’ defense did an admirable job stopping OU’s vaunted passing game, but OU freshman phenom Adrian Peterson shredded the Horns’ rushing defense for 232 yards. Based on their performance on this game, the Horns are going to have tough games against Tech, Oklahoma State, and A&M, although they get Okie State and A&M at home, which will help. However, Bob Stoops continually outcoaches Mack Brown while Texas continues its mystifying inability to develop their quarterback talent — Major Applewhite is the only UT QB in recent memory to develop reasonably well over his career. If the Horns slip to third or fourth in the Big 12 South this season, how long will UT’s alums — who have invested an enormous amount into the UT program over the past five years — put up with this obvious inability to reach the top tier of college football? The Horns get Missouri next week in Austin, which should be reasonably easy, but Tech looms in two weeks in Lubbock.
Texas Aggies 34 Iowa State 3. The Ags are starting to gain some confidence as they reel off their fourth straight win. Next week is a tougher test — Okie State at Stillwater. Man, is the Big 12 South looking tough this season or what?
Southern Miss 35 Houston 29 (OT). The Coogs beat the spread in this Thursday night ESPN game, but allowed USM to score the last 14 points of the game to grab the loss from the jaws of victory. The Coogs somewho lost this game despite almost 520 yards of total offense and no turnovers. Oh, well, the Coogs are off next weekend before trying to avoid a 1-6 record at TCU the following weekend.
Rice 44 SMU 3. The Owls crushed the Ponies while racking up 501 yards of total offense, 496 of which was on the ground. The word in the coaching community is that SMU head coach Phil Bennett is in hot water, and performances like this one will only make the hot seat even warmer. The Owls go to Nevada next week for another WAC game that they should win.
And remember, for a more thorough weekly review of Big 12 games, check out Kevin Whited’s analysis over at PubliusTX.net.

Braves force Game 5

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The Braves fought back from a 5-2 deficit and J.D. Drew had the game winning hit in the top of the ninth as Atlanta forced a fifth game on Monday at Turner Field by beating the Stros 6-5 on Sunday afternoon in a heart-pounding thriller at the Juice Box. The Braves win broke the Stros’ 19 game winning streak at the Juice Box that had propelled the Stros into this National League Division series.
Craig Biggio’s three-run yak in the second and Roger Clemens gutty pitching performance on three days rest had given the Stros a 5-2 lead going into the sixth inning, but the Stros’ Chad Qualls gave up a massive 3 run tater to Adam Larouche in the sixth that tied the game. The clubs remained knotted through the next three excrutiating innings of wonderful playoff baseball until Drew knocked in the winning run in the ninth.
The Stros placed two men on in both the eighth and ninth innings only to have John Smoltz make two incredible plays to keep the Stros from scoring. In the eighth, with two outs and runners on first and third, Marcus Giles made a great play in the hole between first and second on Orlando Palmeiro‘s grounder and made a perfect off balance throw to Smoltz, who barely beat Palmeiro to first base for the third out. Then, in the ninth, after Berkman‘s clutch single put runners on first and third with one out, Smoltz induced JK to hit into a GIDP that sent the series back to Atlanta for Game 5.
Clemens was running on fumes today as he never could gain a rhythm, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks in his five innings. Still, the Rocket put the Stros in a position to win the game, and that’s all anyone could reasonably ask of a 42 year old man starting his second game in a week while recovering from a stomach virus. The key to this game turned out to be the Braves’ superior depth in the bullpen, as that group pitched six scoreless innings after the Stros’ five run second inning to give the Braves a chance to come back.
Despite the trauma of the loss to Stros’ fans, the Stros actually are in pretty good shape going into Game Five tomorrow in Atlanta. Roy O is ready to start and Lidge was limited to seven pitches in Sunday’s game, so he should be reasonably fresh, too. The Braves counter with Jaret Wright, who was no mystery for the Stros hitters in Game 1 of the series, and their bullpen has been stretched in both of the last two games. So, keep the faith, Stros fans, the Stros still have a good chance to pull this one out.