That’s a huge sigh of relief that you are hearing from the South Main area as the Texans (1-6) avoided the real possibility of a 0-16 season with their win over the equally hapless Cleveland Browns (2-5). Amazingly, the Texans were able to pull out this field goal battle with only 237 yards of total offense, including 120 yards passing on David Carr’s 10 completions on 20 attempts. Let’s just say that I don’t think that’s a prescription for another victory next week in Jacksonville against the 4-3 Jaguars.
The Cowboys (5-3) continued to get stellar defensive play as they held the Cardinals (2-5) to just over 200 yards total offense in cruising to an easy victory. The Pokes needed a win in this one as they head into their bye week, after which they have to play three games in 11 days, including tough ones at Philadelphia against the Eagles (4-3) and at home against the Broncos (6-2).
Texas Longhorns 47 Oklahoma State 28
The 8-0 Horns fooled around for a half, but then Vince Young ran 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half and the Horns were off to the races against Okie State (3-5). The next junior varsity games for the Horns are at Waco against Baylor (4-4) and at home against Kansas (4-4). Then, it’s the Horns rivalry game against A&M (5-3) on the day after Thanksgiving and hopefully a date in the Rose Bowl against USC for the national championship. Stay tuned.
That sinking sound you hear is coming from College Station, where the Aggies (5-3) were clobbered by an underrated Iowa State (5-3) team and now face games at 7-1 Texas Tech (the current 16.5 point line in favor of Tech is a good bet — for Tech!), at Oklahoma (5-3), and at home against 8-0 Texas to close out the season. That 5-6 record that the Aggies are staring at is not what the Aggie faithful expected in Year III of the Coach Fran era. By the way, you can read about my experience trolling the sidelines in this game here.
The plucky Owls (0-7) scored three times after UTEP (6-1) turnovers in the second half and moved to the Miners’ 3-yard line in the final minute after recovering on onside kick. But the Owls lost 2 yards on fourth down with a minute left and that iced the Owls’ 13th straight loss. However, the Owls have a decent chance next Saturday at Dallas against 2-6 SMU, so keep your fingers crossed.
The Houston Cougars (4-3) were off this week and travel to Orlando next Saturday to play Central Florida (5-3). And, after a brief respite, Kevin Whited is back to summarizing all of the Big 12 Conference games from the past week over at PubliusTX.net.
Don’t discount Baylor that much. They have a real solid defense, one of the best in the Big 12 South, second only to Texas and possibly Oklahoma. They did a better job of shutting down Tech than Texas did, until the 4th quarter. Texas will win, of course, but I don’t think it will be the blowout that many expect.
Don, I will agree with you that Baylor plus 28 against UT is a better bet than taking A&M plus 16.5 at Texas Tech!