NCAA REWIND
Saturday NCAA football recap: Big wins for Texas, Tech, Baylor, LSU in Week 6
Oct 6, 2019, 1:06 pm
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Texas gets revenge on the road, Tech bounces back after humiliation, and Joe Burrow sets LSU passing record. Here's a look at what happened in the Lone Star State and with LSU:
Texas 42, West Virginia 31
Last year West Virginia players left several Texas players upset after flashing the "horns down" sign during West Virginia's 42-41 win at Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. Although Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger insists he had put aside the defiant celebration of Mountaineers on his home field last year, he got his payback, leading the No. 11 Longhorns to a 42-31 victory over West Virginia on Saturday. Ehlinger finished 18-of-33 for 211 yards passing and two touchdowns. Freshman running back Roschon Johnson finished with career highs on 121 yards on 21 carries for the Longhorns. The Texas defense came up clutch for a team whose offense got off to a rough start. West Virginia quarterback Austin Kendall was intercepted four times, twice by cornerback D'Shawn Jamison. It's possible that Texas will reappear in the top 10 with the road win but I expect they will at least hold their 11th position on the poll. The Longhorns face off with the Sooners next Saturday in Dallas.
LSU 42, Utah State 6
Joe. Burrow. This kid is undeniably talented but what really strikes me is the LSU quarterback's relentless quest for greatness. After completing 27 of 38 passes for 344 yards, becoming the first LSU quarterback to stack 300 yards passing in four consecutive games, Burrow seemed unimpressed with his latest performance. "Last year, we would have been very happy," Burrow said. "But this is a new team and a new offense. Things have changed around here when you are not happy with this performance." Burrow was intercepted once on a deflected pass against Utah State before being replaced by Myles Brennan early in the fourth quarter due to a lopsided score. Burrow also rushed for 42 yards and another score. Despite only finishing one fourth quarter this season, Burrow has a 78.3 percent pass completion rate for 1,864 yards and 22 touchdowns. LSU receiver Ja'Marr Chase caught his sixth touchdown pass of the season helping the fourth-ranked Tigers rout Utah State 42-6 on Saturday to remain undefeated. LSU's injury-riddled defense also showed no signs of slowing down, intercepting Aggie quarterback Jordan Love three times, including a mystifying pick by freshman cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. which set the Tigers up for a 99-yard scoring drive. LSU's point total was a season low which coach Ed Orgeron says was intentional to allow its defense to rest before getting into the meat of their season next week. "It wasn't as fun, but it worked," Orgeron said. "This game was methodical. We were chewing up clock." Three of the Tiger's next four games are against teams that spent the past week ranked in the top 10: No. 10 Florida, No. 7 Auburn and No. 1 Alabama. Expect the Tigers to hold their position in the AP Top 25 poll after easily handling Utah State. LSU is home against Florida next Saturday.
Texas Tech 45, Oklahoma State 35
In his first start of the season, quarterback Jett Duffey completed 26 of 44 passes for 424 yards and four touchdowns, ran for a score and avoided turnovers (which plagued him in the past), leading the Red Raiders to a much needed 45-35 upset over No. 21 Oklahoma State on Saturday. Coming off a humiliating 55-16 loss at Oklahoma two weeks ago, the Red Raiders built a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter and never stopped fighting. "This was a tough week. It was an emotional week," Texas Tech coach Matt Wells said. "Nobody was very happy about the way we played last week. I thought they responded. Tremendous amount of guts." The Red Raider defense forced three interceptions and two fumbles by redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Sanders. Safety Douglas Coleman III snatched two interceptions for the Red Raiders, bringing him to five in five games this season. "We had to show the world, like, we can play defense at Texas Tech," Coleman said. "I think it was a big statement we had to prove." Texas Tech heads to Baylor next week for its first trip to Waco in 12 years.
Iowa State 49, TCU 24
Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns and ran 102 yards for two more scores, overwhelming the Horned Frogs defense and leading the Cyclones to a 49-24 victory for their first Big 12 win of the season. "I think Brock is really special. I don't know if I have any different feeling for the words I can use for to describe Brock," Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. "He's a guy who gives us an ability (as) a dual threat football player." Freshman quarterback Max Duggan finished 17 for 25 passing for 219 yards and two touchdowns for the Horned Frogs. TCU is off next week and plays at Kansas State on Oct. 19.
Baylor 31, Kansas State 12
Bad Baylor surprised me again, beating Kansas State 31-12 on Saturday. The victory extends the Bears undefeated record to 5-0 and marks Baylor's first conference road win since beating Kansas in 2017. "I'm really proud of our guys because this is a tough place to play with a great crowd," Baylor coach Matt Rhule said. "I thought our guys battled early, found a way to get a halftime lead and then grounded it out in the second half." Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer led his team with 230 yards passing and one touchdown, but left the game early in the fourth quarter with an injury and did not return. Running back John Lovett rushed for two touchdowns for the Bears, one of which came on a 46-yard run late in the fourth quarter to seal the Wildcat's fate. Baylor returns home to face Texas Tech next Saturday.
UAB 35, Rice 20
Quarterback Tyler Johnston III threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns and running back Lucious Stanley ran for two scores, leading UAB to a 35-20 win over Rice on Saturday. The Owls have lost 17 of their last 18 games dating back to last season. Rice is off next week and plays at UTSA on Oct. 19.
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Astros can't overcome missed opportunities, drop series to Rangers
Jul 14, 2024, 4:11 pm
With the Astros' surge from 10 games out of first place to within two games of Seattle, catching and going past the Mariners has naturally become the top objective. It's no given to happen but it's right there. In the final series ahead of the All-Star break, while the Mariners are in the midst of four games with the lowly Angels, the last two World Series champions renew (un)pleasantries at Minute Maid Park.
The Astros enter the weekend five games ahead of the Rangers. They lead the season series with the reigning champs four wins to three. While the Astros can't quite finish off the Arlingtonians by sweeping them in this three game set, shoving them eight games back (even further back of Seattle and the current Wild Card teams) and clinching the tiebreaker would seem close to a death blow. Taking two out of three would be fine for the Astros. If the Rangers win the series, they are clearly still in the American League West and Wild Card races coming out of the All-Star break.
Last year the Rangers had the best offense in the AL. So far in 2024 they rank a mediocre eighth in runs per game. Nathaniel Lowe is the lone Ranger (get it?!?) regular playing as well as he did last season. Corey Seager has been fine but not at the MVP runner-up level of last year. Marcus Semien is notably down, as is 2023 ALCS Astros-obliterater Adolis Garcia. Stud 2023 rookie Josh Jung has been out with a broken wrist since ex-Astro Phil Maton hit him with a pitch in the fourth game of this season, though fill-in third baseman Josh Smith has been the Rangers' best player. 21-year-old late season phenom Evan Carter largely stunk the first two months this season and has been out since late May with a back injury. Repeating is hard, never harder than it is now. Hence no Major League Baseball has done it since the Yankees won three straight World Series 1998-2000.
Chasing down the Division at a crazy clip
From the abyss of their 7-19 start, the Astros sweep over the Marlins clinched a winning record at the break with them at 49-44. Heading into the Texas matchup the Astros have won at a .627 clip since they were 7-19. A full season of .627 ball wins 101 games. If the Astros win at a .627 rate the rest of the way they'll finish with 92 wins, almost certainly enough to secure a postseason slot and likely enough to win the West. Expecting .627 the rest of the way is ambitious.
With it fairly clear that Lance McCullers is highly unlikely to contribute anything after his latest recovery setback, and Luis Garcia a major question mark, what Justin Verlander has left in 2024 grows more important. With the way the Astros often dissemble or poorly forecast when discussing injuries, for all we know Verlander could be cooked. Inside three weeks to the trade deadline, General Manager Dana Brown can't be thinking a back end of the rotation comprised of Spencer Arrighetti and Jake Bloss should be good enough. The Astros have 66 games to play after the All-Star break, including separate stretches with games on 18 and 16 consecutive days.
All-Star MIAs
Viewership for Tuesday's All-Star game at Globe Life Field in Arlington will be pretty, pretty, pretty low in Houston. One, All-Star Game ratings are pitiful every year compared to where they used to be. Two, the Astros could be down to zero representatives at Tuesday's showcase. Kyle Tucker was rightfully named a reserve but had no shot at playing as he continues the loooong recovery from a bone bruise (or worse) suffered June 3. Being named an All-Star for a ninth time was enough for Jose Altuve. He opts out of spending unnecessary time in Texas Rangers territory citing a sore wrist. This despite Altuve playing four games in a row since sitting out the day after he was plunked and highly likely to play in all three games versus the Rangers this weekend. Yordan Alvarez exiting Wednesday's rout of the Marlins with hip discomfort and then missing Thursday's game seem clear reasons for him to skip, though he has indicated thus far he intends to take part. Yordan is the most essential lineup component to the Astros' hopes of making an eighth straight playoff appearance.
Ronel Blanco should have made the American League squad on performance, but pretty obviously his 10 game illegal substance use suspension was held against him. As it works out, Blanco will pitch Sunday in the last game before the break which would render him unavailable for the All-Star Game anyway. Blanco is eligible to pitch, but given the career high-shattering innings workload Blanco is headed for, no way the Astros want him on the mound Tuesday. Just last year the Astros kept Framber Valdez from pitching in the game.
While waiting, and waiting, and waiting on Tucker's return, the Astros have also been waiting on Chas McCormick to get back to something even faintly resembling the hitter he was last year. McCormick routinely looks lost at the plate. He has four hits (all singles) in his last 32 at bats with his season OPS pitiful at .572. During the break the Astros should seriously weigh sending McCormick to AAA Sugar Land and giving Pedro Leon a try in a job share with Joey Loperfido.
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.