The 2-13 Texans got a leg up on the 3-12 49er’s in next weekend’s Reggie Bush Bowl in San Francisco as the Jags scorched them for 21 points in the final quarter to put this one on ice. The local media was agog over Texans QB David Carr throwing for 295 yards on 29 attempts with a couple of reasonably long TD passes, but he also threw his obligatory tipped-pass-at-the-line-of-scrimmage (largely the result of Carr’s defective throwing motion) for an interception, which set up one of the Jags’ fourth quarter TD’s. Assuming that the Texans don’t blow the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft by beating the 49er’s on New Year’s Day, the team not only has to decide whether to draft Bush (an easy decision, in my view), but whether to pick up what appears to be a fairly expensive $8 million option on Carr. My sense is that the Texans will probably do so, although the market for free agent QB’s will likely have an impact on the decision. Nevertheless, two things remain clear about Carr — the Texans made a mistake in making him the no. 1 draft pick in team history and he is not good enough to make an offense with a deficient line even average in the NFL.
After having their playoff hopes essentially written off in last week’s blowout loss to the Redskins, the 9-6 Pokes used a revived rushing attack and a break on a blown roughing-the-kicker call to get rught back in the playoff hunt. With the victory, the Cowboys are in a position to know their prospects for attaining a wildcard playoff spot before they tee it up with the Rams (5-10) on New Year’s Eve night. Earlier that day, both the 9-6 Redskins (at Philadelphia) and the 10-5 Panthers (at Atlanta) need a win to make the playoffs. If either of those teams lose and the Cowboys beat the Rams, then the Pokes will nab the final NFC wildcard playoff spot at the wire.
KU manhandled the Coogs (6-6) in the Ft. Worth Bowl on Friday night, limiting Houston to a total of 244 yards, including only 30 rushing yards. Somehow, with five minutes to go in the third quarter of this one, the Coogs were within a TD of tying the game. But KU then hit on a long TD pass and returned an interception for a TD on Houston’s next play and, presto, the Coogs were planning for spring practice. Although technically a bowl team, Houston remains a fringe college football program, good enough to win about half of its games with a quirky offense and speedy skill-position players, but woefully undermanned in almost all other phases of the game. Until the Houston program undertakes a systematic upgrading of the talent throughout all phases of the team, the Coogs will continue to struggle in Conference USA, which is not a prescription for an invitation into a BCS conference.