(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).
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.
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.
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).