(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin; previous weekly reviews for this season are here)
The Texans 3rd loss in the fifth game of their eighth season (2-3) was actually four games in one:
The first 28 minutes, which the Texans were lucky to lose only 7-0;
The second was the final 2 minutes of the first half in which the Texans were pummeled 14-0;
The third was the first 23 minutes of the 2nd half, which the Texans dominated 21-0; and
The fourth was the final 7 minutes of the game, which the Texans lost 7-0 on a poorly-thrown pass that was returned for a TD and the failure to punch in a TD from the 1-yard line three times in the final minute of the game.
The message here is that, for whatever reason, the Texans do not play most games without breakdowns such as they suffered in the first, second and fourth games above. It’s not clear to me that they are capable of doing so on a consistent basis.
The Texans travel to Cincinnati (4-1) next Sunday to play the red-hot Bengals before returning home the week after to play the 49er’s (3-2).
Oklahoma State 36 Texas Aggies 31
Despite the NCAA’s best efforts to help the Aggies (3-2/0-1) by suspending Oklahoma State’s (4-1) best player (WR/PR Dez Bryant), the Cowboys prevailed as the Aggie defense — exposed last week in the loss to Arkansas — again could not stop a hard-chargin’ marching band, much less the potent Cowboys.
The Aggies travel to Manhattan, Kansas next week to face Kansas State (3-3/1-1) and then to Lubbock to face Texas Tech (4-2/1-1). The Kansas State game is winnable for the Aggies; the Tech game does not appear to be.
Texas Longhorns 38 Colorado 14
If the Longhorns’ (5-0/2-0) offense tries to hang another performance next week in Dallas against Oklahoma (3-2/1-0) like the one they got away with last Saturday against lowly Colorado (1-4/0-1), the 3rd-ranked Horns can kiss their dreams of an undefeated season and a national championship good-bye.
The Texas defense is very good. At this point of the season, the Texas offense is not.
Houston Cougars 31 Mississippi State 24
The 23rd-ranked Cougars (4-1/0-1) rebounded from their disappointing loss to UTEP by beating a BCS Conference opponent for the third time, which is the most of any non-BCS conference team this season. Despite throwing an interception for a TD, Cougar QB Case Keenum continues his amazing season, generating 434 yards passing (39-52) and 4 TD’s. There is simply no QB playing in college football at a higher level of efficiency than Keenum.
The Coogs play Tulane (2-3/0-2) at New Orleans next Saturday before returning home to host SMU (3-2/2-0) and Southern Miss (3-3/1-1) in successive weeks.
Yeah, it’s hard to prepare in a week for Navy’s (4-2) idiosyncratic triple-option attack. But it’s not that hard. The Owls (0-6/0-2) gave the first indication in this game that they are a team capable of losing every game season. I still think they will win a couple, but not if they play as they did against the Middies. The Owls travel to East Carolina (3-3/2-1) next Saturday.