COUNTING DOWN
Del Olaleye: The weekly look at college football includes Ed Oliver on a LOT of watch lists
Del Olaleye
Jul 18, 2018, 6:20 am
Ed Oliver will be on a lot of watch lists. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
Ed Oliver on all the watch lists
If preseason watch lists are to be believed then Ed Oliver has a shot to be the most decorated defensive player to ever play at the University of Houston. Major college awards won’t be voted on until the end of the season but what Oliver has done in his first two years at Houston put him in a prime to position to have a very successful award season. The Outland, Nagurski, Bednarik, and the Maxwell awards have all listed Oliver as a person to look out for. Houston doesn’t have a game on the schedule this season that will garner the star defensive tackle the type of attention that his first ever game did. There is no Oklahoma for Oliver to dominate in 2018. No top 5 opponent on a national stage to help stake his claim. A great Houston season would certainly help but overwhelming numbers and dominance will be Oliver’s path to a fruitful postseason awards circuit. That path starts Sept. 1 against Rice.
Conference media days are upon us
I don’t particularly care that this week is devoted to conference commissioners and coaches waxing poetic about their conferences and programs. I do care that it is one more landmark in our long trek back to the the start of the college football season. By the end of the week we’ll be about two weeks away from the start of fall practice. I will credit Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby with the line of the week so far. When asked about some Big 12 schools selling alcohol in their stadiums during games, Bowlsby said it might be preferable to having people “power drinking” in the parking lots at halftime. You win, Mr. Bowlsby. You win. That isn’t the only great thing to come out of the Big 12 media days. The SEC has the standard bearer for the our conference is better than your conference slogans with “It just means more.” The Big 12 jumps into the conversation with “Hardest path to the CFP.” Pretty straightforward and somewhat boring. The SEC remains the king when it comes to pretentious conference slogans.
Gary Patterson is against the new transfer rules
The TCU head coach called the recent change that removes the ability of institutions of restrict the movement of college football players stupid. The NCAA now allows players to choose a new institution to transfer to without the player’s current coach or school having much of a say. Schools now have to place a player’s name in a national database within two days of being informed of an intent to transfer. In an interview with Star-Telegram, Patterson cites the ability of players on other teams to recruit a potential transfer as a problem. The Horned Frogs head coach also believes the rule is indicative of modern society, “What we’re teaching our kids to do is quit. I’m not starting. I’m not getting my playing time. Every freshman I’ve ever known wants to transfer because it’s harder than anything else he did in high school.”
I don’t buy a word of what Patterson is saying. The rule makes his job harder and that is his real problem. He winds up snitching on himself when he says this, “As I tell people all the time, at your house you’re going to allow your 17-year-old, 18-year-old to run your household? Let them pay your bills, that’s what you do? No. You don’t do that. So why are we putting our jobs in jeopardy because of an 18-year-old? That’s stupid.” You didn’t birth these players, coach. You’re their football coach. You don’t have custody.
For all the talk about the fall of modern society, Patterson’s outrage comes from a place we all know something about, CYA. As you read more and more of the article it is pretty clear that Patterson’s biggest objection is he’ll have to work harder. He now has less control over the future of the kids who decide to play for him and I’m all for it.
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's so much more to discuss! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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*ChatGPT assisted.
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