AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Texans 20 Chiefs 3

Pinch yourself. The Houston Texans have won three straight regular season NFL games (previous weekly summaries are here).
The Texans (1-0) took advantage of four turnovers and a tepid Kansas City offense to win their season opening game for only the second time in franchise history. The Texans defense, which is the area of the team that clearly has the most potential, held the Chiefs to 219 yards total offense and DE Mario Williams returned one of the KC fumbles 38 yards for an early third quarter TD that put the Texans up 17-0. Meanwhile, the Texans offense was not great, but it was better than the Chiefs’ offense. QB Matt Schaub guided that unit to 315 yards total offense, including a 77 yard TD bomb to WR Andre Johnson. Schaub was 16-22 passing for 225 yards in his Texans debut, including the TD pass to Johnson and a first quarter interception in the Texans end zone. The Texans face a stiffer test on the road next Sunday against Carolina (1-0), whose back-up QB is the Texans fromer QB, David Carr.

Texas Longhorns 34 TCU 13

The Horns (2-0) pulled away late in a game that was closer than the final score indicates. Texas was down 10-7 late in third quarter when the sloppy kicking game of TCU (1-1) scuttled the Horned Frogs’ dreams of a defining win and BCS bowl contention. After the Longhorns tied the game at 10, a TCU fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Texas on the Horned Frog 26 and, a few plays later, a rejuvenated Texas offense rammed the ball into the end zone for Texas’ first lead of the night. Then, on the ensuing kickoff, an illegal block penalty backed up the Frogs to their own 10 and, after a three and out, Texas’ next drive started at the TCU 44. The Horns ground out a couple of first downs and then kicked a field goal, making the score 20-10. The following offensive possession generated another three and out for TCU, and when the Horned Frogs punter dropped the snap, Texas’ Brandon Foster scooped it up and returned it for a TD and a 27-10 Longhorn lead. Game, set, match. The Longhorns go on the road next week to Orlando to help C-USA member Central Florida (1-0) christen their new stadium.

Texas Aggies 47 Fresno State 45 (3OT)

The most entertaining game of the day occurred in College Station where the Aggies (2-0) blew a 19 point lead and then held on for dear life to pull out the victory when Fresno St. missed the mandatory two-point conversion at the end of the third overtime period. As with last season, the Aggies have a good and competent team, but it appears unlikely that the Ags will be able to contend with the likes of Oklahoma and Oklahoma for the Big 12 South championship. The Aggies can control the ball and clock with their strong rushing attack, but they have no downfield passing game and — outside of RB Michael Goodson — do not have anyone with quick-strike capability against first-rate defenses. Meanwhile, the Aggie defense is just average, so the Ags will be giving up plenty of points this season. Without a high-scoring offense and with a defense that will give up some high point totals, my sense is that the Aggies are an 8-4-type team. At this point, it’s hard for me to see them at any better than 9-3. They have another sure win next Saturday at home against Louisiana-Monroe (0-2) before going on the road the following Thursday to play a very average Miami (1-1) team in the Orange Bowl.

Baylor 42 Rice 17

The headline to last week’s Rice Football Newsletter story on the Owls’ loss to Nicholls State was “Could it get any worse than this?” Well yes, it could, as the Owls (0-2) found out on Saturday in Waco. The Owls gave up 531 total yards to the same Bears team that could only muster 282 yards and no points a week earlier against TCU. It’s a bit frightening to think how many yards and points that Texas Tech (2-0) might run up on the Owls next Saturday at Rice Stadium.

The Houston Cougars (0-1) were idle this week and play C-USA rival Tulane (0-1) in New Orleans next Saturday.