THE TEXAS REPORT

Ranking the Texas Div. 1 schools: A&M stumbles as SMU rises up the rankings

University of Texas football coach Tom Herman
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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!


12. RICE

This season isn't looking up for Rice after a brutal loss to Wake Forest. This is the team though with the least to prove and just want to survive this season in better shape than how they finished last year. None of that starts here this week against Texas though.

11. TEXAS STATE

So last week I wrote they probably aren't the 11th worst team in the state but they were down. Well, they stayed down and this week they play SMU and another loss basically locks them in here at the bottom of the list.

10. UTEP

At 1-1, they at least are better than Texas State and Rice right now, but the Texas Tech game was brutal and you hate to have time off after a bad loss. A lot of coaches talk about time off is the hardest thing in a season, if you're winning you want to keep playing and if you're losing then you want to get rid of that funk as possible. On the plus side you can't lose to the bye week.

9. UTSA

So UTSA lost to Baylor and honestly the only reason they didn't move down is because UTEP lost to Texas Tech so they can all stay in the same spots but be sad about it. Army's coming to town and they've been playing and playing well, so it'll be interesting to see how UTSA can prepare for the triple option offense.

8. NORTH TEXAS

They lost to SMU. They should have been a little bit better than SMU but they weren't and now Cal is inviting them to town and things don't look to get better this week. It's always hard to drop a game with a hard game on the schedule coming up, they call them "trap games" and honestly this is what happens when teams lose focus. Hopefully they can get it back this week.

7. TEXAS TECH

Like I talked about last week, they beat a team they should have beat. The expectation of a win was high and the team took care of business. The real test comes this week, on the road at Arizona. They aren't my pick to win, so an upset would certainly help their case for dominance in the best state in the country.

6. SMU

SMU came out on top, and if you tuned in last week, you saw I predicted they might. They were the team most likely to steal one from this list last week. SMU is now poised to be the darling of the list if they can keep momentum going and beat Texas State which they really should considering they are at home and coming off a good win. Although this is the one where teams can get too excited and experience a letdown. SMU is a team that can go either way this week.

5. BAYLOR

Baylor won, which was the expectation and taking care of business is expected but not rewarded, so they stay in fifth place. They're off this week so there isn't any real pressure or expectation of progress but we'll keep an eye on it.

4. HOUSTON

This might just be the up and down season that comes with starting up a new program after a failed program. They beat Prairie View which they should have, but now they face #20 Washington State and a win would be massive for this program, especially at this time in the season. If they lose though, it isn't a big upset but it's kind of how this season may go.

3. TCU

Coming up this week is Purdue, on the road at the Boiler Makers. This is a tough game but winnable and would be a program boosting win nationally. This is one to watch this week.

2. TEXAS A&M

Texas A&M went out and under performed against Clemson honestly. I thought Clemson and A&M were closer than this but it turns out they aren't. Now the real question becomes, is Clemson that much better than this many programs or is A&M worse than we thought? This week we shouldn't learn much as Lamar shows up to take a beating.

1. TEXAS

That was an awesome heavyweight fight between two programs but someone has to lose and someone has to win. Texas coming out the other side of this knows they played well and belong with the big boys this season. Rice is coming to town and that isn't a problem unless they aren't paying attention to this week which is a possibility.

Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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The Astros beat the Guardians, 5-3. Composite Getty Image.

Jake Meyers scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, Isaac Paredes drove in an insurance run and the Houston Astros defeated the Cleveland Guardians 5-3 in 10 innings on Saturday.

Yainer Diaz had a two-run homer in the sixth as the Astros won for the fifth time in six games.

Cleveland's José Ramírez had two hits, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and extended his on-base streak to a career-best 33 games.

Steven Kwan added three hits, but the Guardians lost their third straight.

Meyers was the automatic runner in the 10th. He advanced to third on Jeremy Peña's grounder to first and scored when a slider by Hunter Gaddis (0-1) on an 0-2 count was low and outside.

Paredes then drove in Jacob Melton with a base hit to right field.

Cleveland had runners on first and second with two out in the 10th but Bennett Sousa struck out Jhonkensy Noel to end the game for his first save of the season.

Josh Hader (2-0) got the win.

Houston starter Hunter Brown, who was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors to reach nine wins this season, went 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run with nine strikeouts.

Key moment

Kwan led off the seventh inning with a walk before Ramírez tied it at 3-3 when he lined Shawn Dubin's changeup into the right field stands for his team-leading 12th homer of the season.

Key stat

Peña extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI infield single in the fifth inning. His career long is 14 games, which he had earlier this season.

Up next

Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee (4-6, 3.89 ERA) is 2-0 in day games this season. Left-hander Brandon Walter (0-0, 0.00), added to the taxi squad on Saturday, goes for Houston.

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