SATURDAY NCAA RECAP
College football: Texas schools win big in Week 7
Kalah Winters
Oct 14, 2018, 3:00 pm
Ed Oliver and the Cougars defense came up big. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Texas college football was full of upsets this week. Here’s how it all went down:
Houston 42, East Carolina 20
Can we all take a minute to bask in the glory that is the Houston Cougar offense? Quarterback D’Eriq King threw for two touchdowns and ran for another score as the Cougars rolled over East Carolina on Saturday night. Star defensive tackle Ed Oliver got his first sack of the season, forced a fumble, and lineman Emeke Egbule scooped it up and barreled five yards to the end zone for the Cougars.
Texas Tech 17, TCU 14
There is much to be said about the mental stamina of the Red Raider’s offense. With two quarterbacks injured, Jett Duffey got his first start of the season and pushed Tech to a 17-14 victory over TCU. After a low-scoring first half, McLane Carter replace Duffey for only one series on a sprained ankle that wasn’t ready for full-speed action. Duffey returned to throw a 62-yard touchdown and ran for another score. "I was really proud of Jett. That's such a hard situation, first start ever and at halftime we're going to try something else," coach Kliff Kingsbury said. "Then have to put him back in, and find a way, dig deep, be mentally tough enough to handle that, make enough plays to win the game. I can't say enough about his mental toughness." Duffey finished 13-of-24 passing for 190 yards and 16 carries for 83 yards.
LSU 36, Georgia 16
Defense wins games but calculated play-calling and prefect execution sure does help. Joe Burrow threw for 200 yards and two touchdown runs as the 13th-ranked Tigers beat the No. 2 Bulldogs 36-16 on Saturday. Fourth-down decisions by coach Ed Orgeron made all the difference. The Tigers converted all four times they ran an offensive play on fourth-and-short and produced a total of 13 points. "We were going to be as aggressive as we can. We were going to take shots and go for it and play to win the game the whole time,'' Orgeron said. "We were going for it as hard as we can today. We were throwing out the kitchen sink, man. We were giving them everything we had, and we did it.'' Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm arguably had his worst game of the season, completing a mere 16-of-34 passes for 209 yards, one score and an interception.
Texas 23, Baylor 17
Remember when I said Texas was a conference championship contender? I meant it. Even without Sam Ehlinger, the ninth-ranked Longhorns still managed to survive Baylor on Saturday, defeating the Bears 23-17. "We knew this wasn't going to be easy and obviously when your starting QB goes out on the first drive, there could have been some panic, a little shock," Texas coach Tom Herman said. Quarterback Shane Buechele entered the game for the Longhorns when Ehlinger was injured early in the first quarter. Texas struggled offensively for most of the game as Buechele passed for 184 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer threw for 245 yards and one touchdown. Now bowl-eligible Texas is off next week before traveling to Oklahoma State on Oct. 27.
Texas A&M 26, South Carolina 23
After a surprisingly strong start, and a squandered 16-0 second half lead, the 22nd-ranked Aggies held off the Gamecocks in their 26-23, and third straight victory on Saturday. A&M quarterback Kellen Mond was 25-of-37 passing with 353 yards, the second most in his career. Aggie kicker Seth Small had four field goals and tight end Jace Sternberger had seven receptions for 145 yards.
Alabama-Birmingham 42, Rice 0
UAB quarterback A.J. Erdely was 11-for-17, 274 yards and two touchdowns as the Blazers shut out Rice on Saturday.
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All-Star balloting opened up this week for what used to be known as the Midsummer Classic in Major League Baseball. I guess some still refer to it as such but the All-Star Game has been largely a bore for many years, though the honor of being selected on merit remains a big one. As always, fans can vote at all positions except pitcher. The fan balloting has resulted in mostly good selections for years now, though pretty much all teams still do silly marketing stuff trying to drum up support for their players. The Astros’ part in that silliness is their campaign to make it the “All-’Stros” game on the American League squad in Atlanta next month. It’s one thing to be supportive of your team, it’s another to be flat out ridiculous if voting right now for Yainer Diaz, Christian Walker, Yordan Alvarez, Mauricio Dubon, or Cam Smith. The Astros tried to game the system in submitting Jose Altuve as a second baseman where the competition is weaker than it is in the outfield, but given Altuve has played only about 25 percent of the games at second base this season he should not be an All-Star second baseman selectee for what would be the tenth time in his career.
Isaac Paredes’s recent freefall notwithstanding, he has a legitimate case as a backup third baseman, especially with Alex Bregman likely missing more than a month of games due to his quad injury. Jake Meyers is having a fine season but is obviously not an All-Star-worthy outfielder unless he is sensational for the rest of June. That leaves Jeremy Peña, who is simply the best shortstop in the big leagues so far this season. To be clear, no team in baseball (including the Astros) would rather have Peña going forward than the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., but we’re talking about the here and now. There are another 100 games to be played, but Peña not only is about a lock to deserve his first All-Star nod, but he is in contention to put in the books the greatest season ever by an Astro shortstop.
Over his first three seasons, Peña was a consistently mediocre offensive player. His highest batting average was .266, best on-base percentage .324, top slugging percentage .426. He is blowing away all those numbers thus far in 2025. While unlikely to come close to reaching his preseason goal of 50 stolen bases, Peña is swiping bags at the best success rate of his career. Add in Peña’s stellar defense and that he has played in every Astros’ game so far this season, and Peña has been irrefutably one of the 10 best and most valuable players in the American League. You could certainly argue as high as top three.
If Peña's productivity holds up for the rest of the season there are only three other seasons posted by Astro shortstops that are in the same league as what would be Peña’s 2025. Carlos Correa has two of them. Lack of durability may be the biggest reason Correa is not tracking to be a Hall of Famer. In only two seasons as an Astro did Correa play in more than 136 games. He was fabulous in each of them. 2021 was his peak campaign, playing in 148 games while compiling an .850 OPS, winning a Gold Glove, and finishing fifth in AL MVP voting. Correa’s Baseball-Reference wins above replacement number for 2021 was 7.3. Peña is at 3.6 with nearly 20 games still left before the midway point of the schedule.
For the other great Astro shortstop season you have to go back to 1983. Dickie Thon turned 25 years old in June of ‘83. He put up a .798 OPS, which gains in stature given Thon played his home games in the Astrodome when the Dome was at its most pitching-friendly. Thon won the Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive shortstop in the National League, and played superior defense. His Baseball-Reference WAR number was 7.4. He finished seventh for NL MVP playing for an 85-77 Astros’ squad that finished third in the NL West. Dickie Thon looked like an emerging superstar. Then, in the fifth game of the 1984 season, a fastball from Mets’ pitcher Mike Torrez hit Thon in the left eye, fracturing his orbital bone. Thon missed the rest of the ‘84 season. While Thon played in nine more big league seasons, his vision never fully recovered and he was never the same player. It’s one of the biggest “What if...” questions in Astros’ history.
Arms race
Players and the Commissioner’s Office pick the All-Star pitching staffs. Unless he suddenly starts getting lit up regularly, Hunter Brown can pack a bag for Georgia. Framber Valdez wouldn’t make it now but has surged into contention. Josh Hader’s first half is going vastly better than last year’s, so he is in line for a reliever spot.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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