Well now, that’s a relief!
In an entertaining but not particularly well-played game, the Texans (1-3) won for only the third time in the past 21 games as the Dolphins (1-3) could not convert a questionable play call on a two-point conversion attempt late in the 4th quarter. The Texans defense finally showed a long-awaited pass rush, sacking the immobile Dolphin QB Dante Culpepper five times and hurrying him at least another dozen times or so. The Texans offense was mediocre, but QB David Carr and WR Andre Johnson were able to put the Texans in a position to score a couple of TD’s, which was enough to get the job done against a Dolphins team that is dragged down by a rather pedestrian offense. The Texans have a bye in Week Five and then go to Dallas to be smoked by the Cowboys (2-1) in Week Six before returning home to face the Jaguars (3-1) in Week Seven. Although the win against the Dolphins was refreshing, this team has no NFL-average running back, is soft in the defensive secondary, tackles poorly overall and continues to have problems protecting the QB. Thus, my sense is that the Texans will be 1-5 when they have their next realistic chance for a victory in Week Eight against the Titans in Nashville.
“We may have lost, but I got’em with the strawberries . . .”
Whether A&M Coach Franchione is currently doing his best imitation of Capt. Queeg in The Caine Mutiny is anyone’s guess. However, the heat in the Texas A&M football kitchen increased considerably over the weekend as the Ags (4-1; 0-1) lost in the last minute to Texas Tech (4-1; 1-0) in both teams’ Big 12 Conference opener. Tech should have put the game away in the first half, but led by only 24-14 after giving A&M a kickoff return TD and fumbling away another TD at the goal line. Then, in the second half, the Aggies mounted a comeback by controlling the clock (the Ags had the ball over 20 of the 30 second half minutes) and keeping the potent Tech offense off the field. Alas, after taking the a 27-24 lead with just over two minutes left, the Aggies gave up a perfectly-thrown bomb for a Tech TD to allow the Raiders to pull out the win. As I’ve been harping all season, A&M’s cupcake non-conference schedule ill-prepared the Ags for Big 12-caliber competition and it doesn’t get much easier for the Ags next week as they travel to Lawrence to take on a 3-2 Kansas team that lost to Nebraska in overtime at Lincoln on Saturday. Get it goin’ quickly, Coach Fran, or start calling the real estate agents.
The Coogs (4-1), who were 16-point underdogs, played the Hurricanes (2-2) off their feet in Miami and probably would have won the game but for a second half fumble on the Miami 10-yard line and an awful first half call nullifying a Houston fumble recovery deep in Miami territory. This is the worst Miami team in recent memory, but the Hurricanes still have excellent talent and the Coogs’ effort in almost pulling off the win in the Orange Bowl is probably the Coogs’ second most-impressive performance of the season to date (the win over Oklahoma State being the most impressive). The Coogs have 2-2 La-La (a/k/a University of Louisiana-Lafayette) at home before taking on tough Southern Miss (3-1) on the road and high-scoring UTEP (2-2) at home the following week, so there is no rest for the weary at UH.
Let’s see here. A&M barely beat Army with a home field advantage, Baylor lost to Army with on its home field, and Rice routed the Cadets at West Point. So, how would Rice fare against A&M and Baylor?
Comparing scores is risky undertaking, but this was still an impressive win for a Rice team that was playing with extra emotion after the sudden death last week of one of their freshman players, Dale Lloyd, a former Houston high school star. The Owls dominated Army behind first team QB Chase Clement, who had to sit out the past three games with a thumb injury suffered in the closing minutes of Rice’s first game this season against Houston. The Owls have no one who can operate their spread offense even close to as efficiently as Clement does, so losing him for the past three games was a real blow to the Owls. However, it may have been a blessing in disguise because the Owls really didn’t have a chance of winning any of those three games and Clement avoided being injured even more severely. As I’ve noted earlier, this Rice team is capable of winning several games this season with Clement at the controls. Next up for the Owls is Tulane (1-3) at New Orleans before returning home to face Alabama-Birmingham the following Saturday.
Texas Longhorns 56 Sam Houston State 3
The Longhorns (4-1) warmed up for Texas-OU Weekend next Saturday in Dallas by participating in what amounted to a scrimmage against a team comprised of players who probably could not bust the Longhorn three-deep roster. OU (3-1) had a bye this week, so it will be interesting to see which team is sharper next Saturday. As I noted earlier here, this Longhorn team is big, strong, fast and deep, and very well could be better overall than last season’s national championship team except for the QB position. Thus, OU will have its hands full on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.
Tom:
What was that price tag for SHSU to play up in Austin ($500,000.00)? At least that’s what they are saying!
As for the Texans, we need to give Kubiak some leeway, I do see some improvement in certain areas and just plain dumb mistakes in others. Overall, this is what I expected as his first year game plan. I remember what my football coach always told me, you lineman are the key to this game, if we don’t have a running game the sticks will not move down the field. The running game in the west coast style offense is what gets the passing game going. If we can’t run, then we can’t pass. Kubiak’s my coach and I think he will get us to the superbowl, he just has to get through the Casserly era and picks to get the right personnel in place to start winning.
Dennis