(AP Photo/John Russell)
After a week off in deference to Hurricane Ike, the weekly local football review is back (previous weekly reviews are here).
OK, it wasn’t as bad as the Week One loss to the Steelers, but that’s faint praise. The Texans (0-2) defense was actually better against the Titans (3-0), but the offense continues to hit on far fewer than all cylinders. Rookie RB Steve Slaton looked promising(18 car/115 yds/1 TD), but QB Matt Schaub (17-37/ 188 yds/ 3 INT’s) and Pro Bowl WR Andre Johnson (2 receptions for 29 yds and two dropped passes in the end zone) looked awful. The road to a first 2008 victory doesn’t get any easier for the Texans next week as they travel to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars (1-2), who handed the Colts (1-2) their second loss in three 2008 games on Sunday. And guess who the Texans get after the Jags? The Colts at Reliant Stadium. The Chron’s Lance Zerlein sums up the state of the Texans after two games here.
Aggie RB Michael Goodson started the game off with an electrifying 62 yard TD catch and run, but then Miami tied the game four plays later and never looked back. The score was 41-10 by late in the third quarter, so this game was a blowout well before the Aggies scored two meaningless scores late. The Aggies (1-2) better get a win next Saturday at College Station against Army (0-3) because their next legitimate chance for a victory after that game is a month later against Big 12 doormat, Iowa State (2-2), and that’s by no means a sure thing. My, how low can it go in Aggieland?
As the Owls (2-2) served up their annual sacrificial lamb offering to the Longhorns (3-0), does anyone else think the Horns’ soft schedule may make them prime meat for an upset at Boulder by Colorado (3-0) two weeks from now? The Horns play a bad Arkansas (2-1) team next Saturday in Austin, while the Owls will have a scoreboard-burning free-for-all against North Texas (0-3) at Rice Stadium.
Colorado State 28 Houston Cougars 25
Given that UH players and coaches were inexplicably forced to play last week while many of their families were enduring peril from Hurricane Ike, and then spent most of last week trying to get back to a largely power-deprived city in the aftermath of the hurricane, I am almost inclined to give the Cougars (1-3) a pass on this loss. That is until I discovered that Colorado State (2-1) struggled to beat Sacramento State (!) two weeks ago. The Coogs better get their mojo back quickly because they travel next Saturday to Greenville, North Carolina to play East Carolina (3-1), which was the 15th-ranked team in the country before they were upset in overtime by North Carolina State on Saturday. A 1-4 start is not what new Cougar coach Kevin Sumlin had in mind as his introduction to the Houston sports community.