(Sue Ogrocki/AP photo; previous weekly reviews here)
Texans 24 Raiders 17

The banged-up Texans (4-5) gamely beat a dreadful Raiders (2-6) team in front of a few close friends and relatives in a nearly-empty Oakland Coliseum. Although the Raiders are one of the worst teams in the NFL along with Miami and St. Louis, the Texans played hard and overcame injuries to their starting QB (Matt Schaub), their best defensive back (Dunta Robinson) and their best running back (Ahman Green). The Texans get a badly-needed bye week next weekend before returning weekend to face the revived Saints (4-4) at Reliant.

Oklahoma 42 Texas Aggies 14

As one columnist put it:

Texas A&M chewed up considerable chunks of Owen Field turf with precise execution Saturday night.
And then the Aggie Band left the field.

A comment from an Aggie friend pretty well sums up how far the Aggies (6-4/3-3) football expectations have fallen under Coach Fran: “Well, at least it wasn’t 77-0.”
With less than 9 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, with the Aggies already down 28-0 and with a first down on the Oklahoma 44, check out the following sequence:
1st and 10 at TA&M 47 — Jorvorskie Lane rush for 9 yards to the Okla 44.
2nd and 1 at OKLA 44 — Stephen McGee pass incomplete.
3rd and 1 at OKLA 44 — Stephen McGee pass incomplete.
4th and 1 at OKLA 44 — Justin Brantly punt for 27 yards, fair catch at the Okla 17.
4th and 1, in Oklahoma territory, down by 28, and Coach Fran doesn’t have the Aggies go for it? My sense is that the Aggies have surrendered. Another lopsided loss is likely at Missouri (8-1/4-1) next week before the Aggies’ regular season mercifully ends on the Friday after Thanksgiving in College Station against UT (8-2/4-2).

Texas Longhorns 38 Oklahoma State 35

With under 12 minutes to go, the Cowboys (5-4/3-2) led the Horns (8-2/4-2) 35-14 and had outgained the Horns 495 yards to roughly 300 yards. Less than 8 minutes later, the Longhorns had tied the score and, a couple of minutes later, Longhorn K Ryan Bailey kicked the winning field goal to pull out the victory.
During that 4th quarter, Texas had 311 of its season-high 589 yards of total offense and scored on all four possessions, including drives of 91 and 99 yards. QB Colt McCoy completed all eight of his passes in the 4th quarter for 145 yards and came up with a 14-yard scramble that put the Horns within range of Bailey’s game-winning field goal.
But the real story was RB Jamaal Charles, who had an incredible 4th quarter for the second straight week. Charles had 125 of his 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the 4th quarter, which means that he has 340 rushing yards and five TDs in the 4th quarter during the last two games!
As noted a couple of weeks ago, this relatively mediocre Longhorns team remains in the hunt for a BCS bowl game if they can beat Tech (7-3/3-3) at Austin next Saturday and the Aggies in College Station on the Friday after Thanksgiving. On the other hand, this Horns team is eminently capable of losing both games. Now, that’s entertainment!

Houston Cougars 38 SMU 28

The Cougars (6-3/5-1) dodged an inspired bullet in beating the Mustangs (1-8/0-5) in the ESPN Sunday night game at the Rob. The Mustangs, who clearly were playing with enthusiasm for their recently-fired head coach (Phil Bennett), gave the Coogs all they could handle. Only a revived Houston defense in the 4th quarter and the usual 500+ of total offense from the Coog offense pulled this one out. And, oh yeah, the Cougars all-everything RB Anthony Alridge even threw for a TD in this one. The Cougars go on the road for their C-USA showdown game with Tulsa (6-3/4-2) next Saturday.

Rice 56 UTEP 48

How on earth did the Owls (2-7/2-3) manage to win this game despite committing seven turnovers and allowing UTEP to recover two onside kicks? QB Chase Clement was outstanding (395 yards passing and six TDs; 103 yards rushing and two TDs), while WR Jarett Dillard (11 receptions for 168 yards and two TDs) was merely very good (he lost a fumble after a 60 yard catch and run). Ever since last year’s Rice-UH game, I’ve been a big Clement fan, so it would not surprise me if the Owls win their final three games of the season (at SMU (1-7/0-4), at home against Tulane (2-7/1-4) and Tulsa (6-3/4-2)), particularly if the Owls can mount any meaningful defense in those games. Clement and Dillard are the real deal.

Other than bad NFL football teams, what do Houston and Cleveland have in common? Not much, except that they are the only U.S. markets in which the Patriots-Colts game this afternoon will not be available for home viewers via network television.
The Browns play the Seahawks on FOX at the same time as the Patriots-Colts game, so the Cleveland market gets that game. Similarly, Houstonians must endure the Raiders-Texans game on CBS rather than the Patriots-Colts game. Oakland area residents wisely didn’t buy enough tickets to sell out the Raiders-Texans game, so that game is mercifully blacked out in the Bay Area, allowing viewers there to watch the Patriots-Colts game.
It’s painful enough having to watch the Texans all the time. Isn’t it about time for the NFL to ditch these absurd rules that prevent the best games from being viewed in certain markets?

Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice’s inability to analyze the subject that he covers has been a common topic on this blog (see also here and here). Following up on that theme, Matt over at DGDB&D provides this clever post on his attempt to engage Justice in a dialogue over the latter’s constant criticism of Texans’ defensive end Mario Williams. He also notes that most of the articles and columns generated by the Chronicle sports staff about the Texans can be categorized into one of three columns:

At this point in the season, the majority of columns proffered by that group (that aren’t pure Megan Manfull rumormill) can be lumped into one of three categories: (1) Richard Justice bashing Mario Williams like a jilted schoolgirl, (2) blame-laying columns that excoriate the whipping-boy du jour (these are sometimes disguised as Vince-Young-praise columns that excoriate the fact that he was not drafted by Houston), and (3) jump-off-the-bandwagon pieces from the same people who profess to be the biggest cheerleaders.

The specialized blogs covering the Texans — DGDB&D, Stephanie Stradley, and Texans Tail Gate, to name just three — are far superior to the Chronicle in providing insightful analysis of the local team. Those layoffs that occurred this past week over at the Chronicle happened for a reason — readers are gravitating toward better analysis than what the Chronicle is providing. Absent an influx of new talent on the Chronicle sports desk, that drift is not likely to change.