The Longhorns (9-0; 6-0 Big 12) relentless march to the BCS National Championship Game against USC continued on Saturday as the Horns barely broke a sweat in racing past undermanned Baylor and Miami took care of Virginia Tech‘s dream of sneaking past the Horns in the BCS standings. The Horns face a scrimmage against Kansas at home, a rivalry game against a demoralized Aggie team in College Station, and a reasonably competitive game against Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game in in early December at Reliant Stadium. But make no mistake about it — this Texas team is making its reservations for Pasadena in the first week of January and only a huge upset could scuttle those plans.
Texas Tech 56 Texas Aggies 17.
The Aggies (5-4; 3-3 Big 12) officially packed this season in on Saturday night as the Red Raiders (8-1; 5-1 Big 12) beat the Aggies for the sixth straight time in Lubbock. As predicted earlier, the 16.5 point spread in favor of Tech was the lock bet of the year, and with upcoming games at improving Oklahoma and at home against Texas, the Aggies are facing an almost certain second losing season in the first three seasons of the Coach Fran era. A&M’s football program is now clearly among the most underachieving programs in major college football.
The Texans (1-7) continued their march to the number one choice in the 2006 NFL Draft by gift-wrapping a win to a listless Jaguars team Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville. After the Texan defense shut out the Jaguars in the first half and stopped them again on their first series in the second half, Texans QB David Carr fumbled deep in Texan territory while being sacked. The Jags recovered and took in for a score and then tacked on scoring drives of 80 and 82 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the win, prompting Carr and defensive lineman Gary Walker to get into a shouting match as they walked off the field. The Texans go to Indianapolis next week to be served as sacrificial lambs to Peyton Manning and Co., and then return for two straight home games against Kansas City and St. Louis.
Central Florida 31 Houston Cougars 29.
Sigh. Watching the Cougars (4-4; 3-2 CUSA) is just plain frustrating. Penalties, missed tackles, turnovers, tipped passes, and questionable playcalling interspaced with a few big plays that keep the Coogs in the game. Alas, it’s hard to beat a team when you give up 500 yards of total offense. Amazingly, the Coogs can still become bowl eligible by winning at least two out of their three remaining home games against Southern Mississippi, S.M.U., and Rice.
The Owls (0-8; 0-3 CUSA) now have lost 14 straight, the longest losing streak in Division 1A football. After mustering only 230 yards total offense against a bad SMU team (3-6; 2-3 CUSA), the prospects for a win in their remaining games against Tulane, Central Florida and Houston do not appear to be particularly good. The Ken Hatfield firing watch continues.
The Cowboys (5-3) were idle this week, but play three games in 11 days starting next Sunday at Philly, and then at home against Detroit and Denver.
SMU and Rice are looking like big bullseyes on the Coog’s schedule. At this point, I’ll gladly take an invite to the EV1.net Bowl to get over recent setbacks in Astro-land as well as with my old high school’s football team (though the playoffs bring renewed hope).
The Coogs were expected to contend for a title in the weakened CUSA this year.
Sigh indeed.
This collection of high school coaches just doesn’t seem to be up to the task of coaching a major Div I-A program. Or, in UH’s case these days, a minor one. It’s really unfortunate to watch upstarts like Central Florida and UTEP surge by UH mostly because they are not headed by high school coaches.