Texans 13 Jaguars 10

If I didn’t know better, I’d think that the Texans (3-6) have the Jaguars’ (5-4) number.

In a game that stands for the proposition that you don’t have to play great offensively to win when the other team’s QB plays poorly, the Texans took advantage of four Jaguar QB David Garrard interceptions and a stout defensive effort to win their third game of the season, two of which have been over the Jags. The win was the Texans’ first road in almost two years and ended an NFL-leading 12 game losing streak in road games, The Texans mostly stunk offensively (306 yds total offense) , but they were at least well-balanced (148 yds rushing/158 yds passing) and most importantly, protected the football. Texans QB David Carr was knocked out with a sprained shoulder in the 4th quarter, but it did not look like a serious injury. The Texans now actually have a chance of stringing some wins together as their next four games are at home against the Bills (3-6), at the Jets (5-4) and Raiders (2-7), and at home against the Titans (2-7).

By the way, Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice — who is presumably paid to notice such things — is just noticing that Texans kicker Kris Brown is not very good:

“K Kris Brown is becoming something of a concern. His miss of a 32-yard field goal late in the first half was his third miss in four games. He missed a more difficult kick, a 52-yarder, later in the game.”

Uh, Earth to Richard, Earth to Richard — Brown has been a concern for the past several seasons!

Nebraska 28 Texas Aggies 27

That huge sigh of exasperation that you hear is coming from the Bryan-College Station area.

After last week’s frustrating one-point loss to Oklahoma, the Aggies (8-3, 4-3) lost this one on a short TD pass with 20 seconds left in the game after having a field goal attempt blocked just a minute earlier and after a stupid roughing-the-passer penalty helped extend the Cornhusker scoring drive. Inasmuch as the Ags had almost 450 yards of total offense on 288 yards passing and 155 yards rushing with no turnovers, they really should have won this one, but a generally uninspired first half performance put the Aggies in a 21-10 hole. Given the developments in Manhattan, KN on Saturday night, the Aggies final game against Texas looks more winnable than before, but the Aggies will need to win that one to avoid the ignominious invitation to a minor bowl game. As Kevin Sherrington reports, it’s getting harder with each passing week to defend Coach Fran.

Kansas State 45 Texas Longhorns 42

The Horns (9-2, 6-1) run of good luck ran out in Manhattan on Saturday night as star QB Colt McCoy was injured and inexperienced backup QB Jevan Sneed was forced to play from a deep hole that was dug mostly by a leaky Horns defensive secondary. Two fumbles by the Horns’ running backs and a blocked punt in a disastrous three minute stretch of the 3rd quarter didn’t help, either. If McCoy’s banged up shoulder does not heal in time for the Horns regular season finale against the Aggies, then a season that was headed for a BCS bowl game could end up in a cold Cotton Bowl in Dallas in January.

Houston Cougars 37 SMU 27

The Cougars (8-3, 6-1) clinched the Conference USA West Division championship with the win over the Ponies (5-5, 3-3) and can wrap up hosting the C-USA championship game on December 1 with a win at Memphis (1-9, 0-6) next Saturday. As usual, nothing comes easy for the Coogs, who went up 14-0 in the 1st quarter, only to go to sleep for the next quarter and a half to find themselves behind 24-14 at the half. However, behind the incomparable Anthony Alridge (225 yds on 14 carries; two 77 yd TD runs!) and resourceful senior QB Kevin Kolb, the Cougars outscored the Mustangs 23-3 in the 2nd half to put this one away. As noted last week, Alridge’s phenomenal performance this season — he is currently averaging 12.5 yds per carry (797 yards on 64 carries) — is one of highlights of this college football season. Alridge has 8 TD runs this year the following yardages: 87, 77 (twice), 44, 29, 15, 14, and 3. Thus, one out of every eight carries is a TD and he averages taking it to the house from 46 yards. Too bad that his effort is utterly underpublicized because of the local media’s abysmal coverage of the Cougar football program.

Rice 41 Tulsa 38 (2 OT)

In another of the most remarkable stories of this college football season that the local media has largely ignored, the Rice Owls (5-5, 4-2) came within a game of bowl eligibility with a stirring double overtime victory over Tulsa (7-3, 5-2), which has had its once-promising season undermined by losses over the past two weeks to the Owls and the Houston Cougars. Although he probably has no chance because of the lack of publicity that the Owl program draws, first-year Rice head coach Todd Graham should be in the running for Coach of the Year honors for converting in less than a year a team based on an option-oriented ground game into an effective spread formation, pass-oriented team that has a chance of becoming the first Rice team to finish with a winning record since the 2001 team finished 8-4. The Owls conclude their season with home games the next two weekends against East Carolina (6-4, 5-2) and SMU (5-5, 3-3).