THE NCAA REWIND

Saturday NCAA Football Recap: Baylor is still undefeated; LSU continues its quest for perfection in Week 8

Kalah Winters
Oct 20, 2019, 10:50 am
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Maybe Bad Baylor isn't so bad after all. Here's a look at what happened in the Lone Star State and with LSU:

Houston 24, UConn 17

While my thoughts on the Cougars' coaching staff have not changed since last week, defensive back Grant Stuard further solidified my views that he is quite possibly the most disruptive player in college football. He's hungry and it shows. Stuard had 15 tackles, including a touchdown-saving effort to stop a 58-yard run by UConn's Kevin Mensah in the Cougars' 24-17 win over the Huskies on Saturday. While some credit the win to Houston coach Dana Holgorsen's son, Logan, I know the victory would not have been possible without Stuard. Dana Holgerson was caught on the sideline in the second quarter making a profanity-riddled comment about his players' inability to be coached which, to me, speaks volumes about his inability to communicate effectively with his team. "I say things all the time I don't mean," Holgorsen said. "In the heat of the battle, things on the sidelines, hot mics or cameras getting caught. My guys know good and well what I think of them, how hard I'd coach them and how much I think of them and how much I appreciate everything that they do." People who "appreciate" you show it. That's all I'm going to say about that. The Cougars return home to No. 19 SMU on Thursday night.

Texas 50, Kansas 48

Dicker. Kicker. On the brink of a massive upset by an unranked opponent, it was up to quarterback Sam Ehlinger and kicker Cameron Dicker to bring it home for the Longhorns. And they delivered. Ehlinger drove the Longhorns to the Jayhawks 21-yard line, putting Texas within field goal range with 1:11 left to play. Dicker kicked a 33-yarder as the clock expired to lift the Longhorns to a 50-48 victory, bringing an end to a fourth quarter scoring shootout that saw schools exchange six touchdowns, two field goals and a blocked extra point for a two-point safety. "I love kickers," said Herman, who makes a joke of not saying a kicker's name, and still didn't in his postgame news conference. "I'm glad that we have the one we have." Ehlinger finished with 399 yards passing, four touchdowns and added another 91 yards on the ground. "A win's a win," Ehlinger said. "Very thankful we were able to pull that out." Despite having the worst offense in the Big 12, the Jayhawks were explosive under recently promoted offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon. "I got guys that are fighting like hell to be a part of what we're doing here and Dearmon is one of them," Kansas coach Les Miles said. Despite the win, Texas could drop in the polls after nearly losing to the worst team in the Big 12. Texas is on the road against TCU next Saturday.

​Kansas State 24, TCU 17

It's been a long time coming for Kansas State. Junior quarterback Skylar Thompson threw two touchdowns that sparked a late game surge to top TCU 24-17 in Kansas State's first win on over a month and their first Big 12 win of the season. "Just the toughness and resolve because he got hit a lot and he always just kept coming back," Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said of Thompson. The Wildcats finished with only 266 yards in a game that felt like TCU should have won. "I mean, we practice what they do and then we react to whatever else they do," TCU cornerback Julius Lewis said. "We've got to keep working." TCU hosts Texas on Saturday.

Texas A&M 24, Mississippi 17

After trailing midway through the third quarter, Texas A&M defensive tackle Justin Madubuike made two game-changing plays that elevated the Aggies to a 24-17 comeback victory over Ole' Miss in Saturday night. "I just tried to put myself in position to make big plays for my team," said Madubuike, who finished with five tackles, including a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry. "It's blocking a ball, sacking a quarterback and all those little things that helped us come out with a win." Aggie quarterback Kellen Mond was 16-of-28 for 172 yards passing and 76 yards rushing on 15 carries. The Aggies host rival Mississippi State on Saturday.

LSU 36, Mississippi State 13

Another week of college football brings about another opportunity for me to rave about the amazing Joe Burrow. The Starkville crowd got a glimpse of Burrow's backside after the star quarterback was pulled to the ground by his pants during his third sack of the game. "I heard there was supposed to be a full moon in Starkville tonight," Burrow joked. Burrow finished 25-of-34 with 327 yards passing and four touchdowns to break LSU's season record with 29 in the No. 2 Tigers' 36-13 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday. "It's a testament to him, the receivers, the offensive line, the coaches," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "But we're just getting started. Our team is not satisfied." We know, coach. You're never satisfied and that's probably why the Tigers are so gosh darned talented. In Burrow's postgame comments, the team leader made it clear he and Orgeron are of one mind in their relentless quest for perfection. "If we play like this next week (versus No. 11 Auburn), we'll lose," Burrow said. "I think we're going to have to execute much better in the red zone than we did this week, because I don't think we'll get as many chances." At a glance it's hard to find fault in the final score for LSU. The Tigers had 415 yards of offense and forced three turnovers against Mississippi State. However, LSU struggled to find a rhythm in the first half, having to settle for field goals on its first three drives. "We didn't play our best game today, but I knew this day was going to come, and I'm proud of our defense," Orgeron said. "Your offense is not going to play great, on fire every week." Mississippi State freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader threw for 238 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice by the Tigers. Expect LSU to hold its poll position after taking care of business on the road against an unranked opponent. LSU hosts No. 11 Auburn next week.

​Baylor 45, Oklahoma State 27

Somehow, some way, Bad Baylor has managed to go undefeated for seven-straight games this season. Don't worry, I'm just as shocked as you. Baylor was the four-point underdog going into Saturday's game against Oklahoma State and for the first three quarters, we learned why. Oklahoma State led at halftime, in the third quarter and in the fourth. Baylor responded with 21 unanswered points in the final 10 minutes to beat the cowboys 45-27 on Saturday. Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer completed 13-of-17 passes for 312 yards and one touchdown and ran for another score to extend the Bears' winning streak to nine games, the third longest in program history. "I thought we showed heart and I was very appreciative of our guys' effort," Baylor coach Matt Rhule said. "We knew eventually we were going to be OK. I think our team felt like, if we just hang in there, eventually we'll make enough plays to win. I thought everyone stepped up and it was a great team win. It wasn't perfect but they didn't panic." Bad Baylor will probably move up a few spots in the rankings but that's contingent upon how the teams ahead of them fare. Baylor is off next week and faces West Virginia at home on Oct. 31.

Iowa State 34, Texas Tech 24

Iowa State quarterback Brock Burdy threw for 378 yards and three touchdowns to rout Texas Tech 34-24 on Saturday. Freshman running back Breeve Hall ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Cyclones to victory. Texas Tech plays at Kansas next Saturday.

UTSA 31, Rice 27

The Rice Owls fell to 0-7, losing at UTSA. This might have been the last chance for Rice to win a football game, as they went in favored.

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RANKING THE STATE

Texas Division I Football Rankings: North Texas falls as Oklahoma comes to Baylor

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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

Rice University was off this weekend and that's about where the good news train ends. This week they go to Middle Tennessee and play the Blue Raiders, who are heavy favorites to continue Rice's losing streak. It's tough to keep kicking this program while it's down and obviously it is very down but there seems to be no opportunity for the beatings to cease. The other issue for Rice Football, it's a newer regime and it isn't going well, if they decide to pull the plug then they'll be consistently making changes and keep losing and starting over; patience is hard through the losing but there seems to be no other way.

11. UTEP

The losing continues for the Miners and somehow they have fallen behind Rice in the Conference USA - West division to the very bottom of the standings. Rice and UTEP play at the end of the year and therefore there will be a winner decided in the conference between these two bottom feeders but it's tough to say who matters less at this point.

10. NORTH TEXAS

Man was it a bad weekend for The Mean Green or what? Losing huge to Louisiana Tech is not the way to go after winning big the week before against UTEP. The massive loss kills any momentum they built the week before and they go from a team trending up and strongly to being inconsistent and questioned from all sides. The team is off this week which probably isn't as great of a thing as they thought it was a week ago, but there it is, a bye week.

9. UTSA

On top of winning against Old Dominion, The Roadrunners also moved up a spot because North Texas lost. With three wins over the last five weeks, they're playing some of the best football in this half of the list but that isn't saying much. This week the Roadrunners are facing University of Southern Mississippi who is near the top of the Conference USA West division and this game gives them the chance to gain some serious ground in the standings. This season isn't over and there's still some good football to play.

8. TEXAS STATE

In the battle of big cats that I get confused about The Texas State Bobcats beat the South Alabama Jaguars and are now hosting Troy. With only three wins so far this season, they need some help but they aren't done yet as their Sun Belt Division hasn't run away from them. The Troy game has some implications for a program that can't figure out if its coming or going.

7. TEXAS TECH

Able to finally put the brakes on a three game losing streak, The Red Raiders beat West Virginia. It was an important game and they needed the win far beyond the standard "every game is important" as this win sets up Texas Tech, who last week I wrote needed four in a row and got win one last weekend. If they keep winning they finish bowl eligible. It's an exciting opportunity for The Red Raiders to save a season that two weeks ago looked pretty bad.

6.  HOUSTON

Houston was off this week and I had an interesting conversation with a buddy of mine who is a wealth of college football information. He's confident in the new regime at Houston and believes that in a few short seasons the Cougars will be a relevant program nationally. I told him how much I hated all of their moves and decisions and he wisely pointed out, that it's a new coach and most of this doesn't matter, this isn't really his program yet and there is nothing but time. I was impressed by his arguments and I suppose we'll just have to wait and see if my buddy is right or not as Memphis comes to town.

5. TCU

Well for a second they had even me believing they could pull it off. After the surprise upset against Texas a few weeks back and now facing Baylor and forcing Baylor to need a last second field goal to force overtime and then pushing it a few overtimes but staying in it none the less, TCU had me believing. If only they could have turned any of those first half field goals into touchdowns then this may be a different story for the Horned Frogs but for now the story stays the same. There aren't many wins left on TCU's schedule but the role of under dog seems to suit them just fine. This week they travel to Texas Tech in what should be a fun game.

4. TEXAS A&M

The Aggies enjoyed some much needed downtime but now they host The Gamecocks and they need all the wins they can get as the in what has been a rough second season foJimbo Fisher. WIn and win and win some more is the only real option for The Aggies who still have Georgia and LSU on their schedule, so they need this win.

3. TEXAS

Honestly, they won and they should have but it almost doesn't matter because you just never know with this team. With the Longhorns traveling to Iowa State and Baylor still ahead on the schedule, The Longhorns can still finish strong and save some face for this season but at this point it's hard not to look at this season as anything other than disappointing for The Longhorns.

2. SMU

After a close loss the week before, The Mustangs did exactly what you expect a good team to do coming from a loss, they won 59-51 against East Carolina. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't what you're looking for if you're trying to make a case nationally that you are worthy of ranking and attention but they won the game they had scheduled and that's the first step towards success. SMU is off this week and will get to sit back and look at their season thus far with great pride and hope they can finish as strong as they started.

1. BAYLOR

Well that wasn't supposed to be that hard. A few weeks ago I was writing TCU off with several big games left on their schedule and not having won any games of merit. Then they turn around and upset Texas and suddenly you start thinking they're on to something but Baylor comes along and you have to expect that TCU is going to give it their best shot and remarkably Baylor survived. They didn't look great, which is starting to become a theme for this program as they looked awful in the first half against Oklahoma State and have struggled to put together four quarters of good football, but they are unbeaten and they are ranked and they have a shot to keep winning and shocking the world as this week they face Oklahoma. There isn't a lot of meat on Baylor's schedule so this game and Texas will go a long way to deciding how the voters and ranking algorithms feel about this program.

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