Saturday NCAA Football Recap
A&M makes history and Texas teams live to fight another day in Week 13
Nov 26, 2018, 6:40 am
Kellen Mond led the Aggies to a big win. Cooper Neill/Getty Images
Houston misses its shot at a championship and the Aggies made history. Here’s look at what happened in the Lone Star State:
Texas 24, Kansas 17
Sam Ehlinger was a dominant force in the Longhorn’s victory over Kansas on Friday. The star quarterback threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and No. 11 Texas beat Kansas 24-17 to clench a spot in the Big 12 championship game. "We treated this game like a semifinal, if you will, win and advance," Texas coach Tom Herman said. "And our guys found a way to win and advance." Kansas coach David Beaty is on his way out after four losing seasons with the Jayhawks and high-profile Les Miles is taking over to hopefully restore the program. It was a good day for the longhorns who lost to the Jayhawks back in 2016. The loss seald the fate of Charlie Strong and led to the hiring of Herman.
Memphis 52, Houston 31
Welp, the Cougars blew it. They had one last shot to make it to the American Athletic Conference championship and they blew it. Despite being down 21-17 at halftime, Memphis rushed for five touchdowns and scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to beat the Cougars 52-31. The Tigers took advantage of the run game after defensive tackle Ed Oliver was benched due to a lingering knee injury. Running back Darrell Henderson rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns, setting a single-season conference record, passing the previous mark of 1,629. Memphis will face No. 8 UCF in the AAC title game.
Baylor 35, Texas Tech 24
After a season full of high highs and low lows, Charlie Brewer and the Bears get to go to a bowl game. The sophomore quarterback threw for 308 yards, two touchdowns and ran for another score, leading the Bears to a 35-24 victory over Texas Tech in the regular season finale. "Excited to have more time with those seniors," Brewer said. "I have the utmost respect for those guys that have stuck around here through tougher times than I could ever imagine." The Bears have earned bowl-eligibility after finishing with only one win last season. Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was fired Sunday. The former quarterback turned head coach was 35-40 in six seasons as head coach. Baylor waits to find out what bowl game it will play in.
TCU 31, Oklahoma State 24
Despite being plagued by injury, TCU gained bowl-eligibility with a 31-24 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday night. "With everything that happened to us, I think we ended up overachieving at the end. Simple," coach Gary Patterson said. "I don't think you can take away from our kids what they just got accomplished." Sophomore receiver Jalen Reager had one touchdown and 121 yards rushing on five carries and caught eight passes for 91 yards and another score. Both TCU and Oklahoma State wait to find out which bowl game they will play in.
Texas A&M 74, LSU 72
This game just would not end! After an early celebration on the LSU sideline and seven overtimes, the Aggies staved off the Tigers with a 74-72 victory on Saturday night. Receiver Kendrick Rogers was stunningly clutch, picking up 53 yards and two touchdowns on three receptions. After being frantically tended to on the sidelines, Rogers returned to the game in time to close it out with a two-point conversion. "These are moments you live for, so no matter what's going on with your body you want to be out there," Rogers said. "So, you just have to talk yourself out of it, just mentally fight through it." Sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond was the glue that held the Aggies together, throwing for 287 yards, six touchdowns, three 2-point conversions and ran for another touchdown. "You had two teams out there refusing to lose and we just made one more play," Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. The 74 points allowed by LSU are the most ever given up by a ranked team. The 146 combined points are the most in an FBS game in NCAA history.
Rice 27, Old Dominion 13
Juma Otoviano rushed for two touchdowns and a freshman school record 224 yards, leading the Owls to a 27-13 victory over Old Dominion on Saturday.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.