Here's a look at what happened in the Lone Star State and with LSU:
Saturday NCAA Football Recap: Texas teams win big in Week 11; LSU holds off Alabama
Nov 10, 2019, 1:30 pm
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LSU 46, Alabama 41
Joe "Superman" Burrow completed 31-of-39 passes for 393 yards and three touchdowns, leading the first ranked Tigers to a wild win over No. 2 Alabama on Saturday. 'Bama rallied from a 33-13 halftime deficit to put the Crimson Tide within a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The game lived up to the hype as a duel between high-powered offenses and star quarterbacks. "He's one of the best we've had here," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said of Burrow. "But we've still got four games left and we're going down the road, we're going to try to win every game and we're going to bring a championship back to Louisiana." 20 days after ankle surgery, Alabama quarterback Tug Tagovailoa was 21-of-40 for 418 yards and four touchdowns with an interception and a fumble. Tagovailoa was called a "game-time decision" all week and appeared to be limping after the game, but he kept Alabama in the game. "He said he could play in the game, he wanted to play in the game and he thought he could go out and do a good job," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "I think he was a warrior in terms of what he did." LSU faces Mississippi on the road Saturday night.
Texas 27, Kansas State 24
Once again, kicker Cameron Dicker bailed the Longhorns out with a game-winning field goal. Dicker's flawless 27-yarder lifted Texas to a 27-24 victory over Kansas State on Saturday. "It could have been a really, really bad scene," Texas coach Tom Herman said. "The win is obviously very important for us. The way that it happened, to be down 14-0 in the blink of an eye ... We put ourselves on the ropes (this season) and we took a step toward swinging and scratching and clawing our way off." Dicker has now kicked two game-winners on the final play this season. The first came on a 33-yarder to beat Kansas on Oct. 19. Kansas State quarterback Skylar Thompson threw for a career-high 253 yards most of which came in the first quarter. Thompson passed for just 36 yards in the second half. "I thought he hung in there really well," Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. "They were bringing pressure and we were barely getting guys free." The Texas defense looked better than it had all season with a secondary return from All-Big 12 safety Caden Sterns. The secondary didn't force any interception but it kept the opposing receivers from running wide open all over the field. "We showed you all that this is what happens when we're fully healthy," Texas defensive tackle Keondre Coburn said. "This is a great team. Our defense is really good. We've just been hurt." Texas is on the road against Iowa State No. 16.
Baylor 29, TCU 23
No. 11 Baylor needed three overtimes to hold off TCU and get its 11th consecutive victory. Receiver Denzel Mims made a leaping 4-yard touchdown for the Bears to beat TCU 29-23 on Saturday. Mims matched his three touchdown receptions in regulation with three more in overtime, including a lunging grab for a 20-yard score on fourth down in the second overtime. "I knew it was crunch time and it was time for like grown-man football," said Mims. After being shut out in the first half, Baylor needed kicker John Mayers' 51-yard field goal just to stay in the game with 36 seconds left in regulation. This is the seventh time in two seasons that Baylor has won after a fourth-quarter comeback and the 11th straight win for the Bears since losing to TCU last November. The offensive struggles for the Bears continue as the sole undefeated team in the Big 12 managed only 294 total yards of offense, 90 of which came in overtime. "Winning is never ugly," Rhule said. "I've lost a lot, and I'll take this any day of the week." Baylor hosts No. 9 Oklahoma in a huge Big 12 matchup on Saturday. TCU is on the road Saturday against Texas Tech.
Texas Tech 38, West Virginia 17
Texas Tech quarterback Jett Duffey threw for one touchdown and moved the offense at will to beat West Virginia 38-17 on Saturday, handing the Mountaineers their fifth consecutive loss. Duffey's touchdown boosts his total scores to 10 after taking over for the injured Alan Bowman in mid-September. Duffey finished 24-of-34 for 354 yards passing. West Virginia quarterback Austin Kendall was intercepted twice and fumbled the ball on fourth down in the first quarter. West Virginia's losing streak is its worst since losing five straight in 2012. Texas Tech hosts TCU nest Saturday.
Texas State 30, South Alabama 28
Texas State kicker Joshua Rowland drilled a 31-yarder late in fourth quarter lifting the Bobcats to a 30-28 victory over South Alabama on Saturday. Quarterback Tyler Vitt completed 23-of-33 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns in the Bobcats first win of the season.
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If you are a believer in the third time is a charm, go ahead and book the Texans for their first ever appearance in the AFC Championship game! Saturday is the Texans’ third crack at the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. Of course, the Texans had a third time is the charm opportunity at advancing beyond the division round back in 2016 and came nowhere close. Charm will have nothing to do with the outcome at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs have administered the Texans’ two most humiliating postseason defeats in franchise history. They came as the bookend postseason appearances of Bill O’Brien’s tenure as head coach. In 2015, the Texans won the worst division in the AFC (that sounds familiar) but as a division champ got to play host to the Wild Card 11-5 Chiefs. The visitors were three-point favorites. They won by 30. 30-0 to be more precise. Knile Davis returned the opening kickoff 106 yards for a touchdown. It would have been in the Texans’ best interest to have forfeited right then and there. In what was not exactly a shocking development, Texans’ quarterback Brian Hoyer wasn’t up to the task, throwing for just 112 yards and four interceptions. On the Chiefs’ side third-year tight end Travis Kelce had eight receptions for 128 yards. Taylor Swift was not in attendance.
The second Texans-Chiefs playoff get together is the most incredible game in Texans’ history. The Texans showed up in Missouri fresh off the greatest comeback win in their history, having come from down 16-0 in the third quarter to best the Buffalo Bills in overtime. In what could safely be characterized as stunning, the Texans put up three first quarter touchdowns for a 21-0 lead. *Massive bonus points if you can name the three Texans who scored those TDs, answer below. A field goal made it 24-0 Texans with 10:54 left in the second quarter. In a collapse tough to pull off, the Texans would trail before halftime. The Chiefs scored four touchdowns in nine minutes and eleven seconds of game time, with that Kelce fellow scoring the last three of them. Some will recall O’Brien calling a fake punt from his own 31-yard line with the Texans up 24-7. Too soon? Justin Reid (now pursuing his third Super Bowl ring in three seasons as a Chief) was stopped short. An even more damning O’Brien moment came later in that game when he actually had to use a timeout to change his mind and go for it with 11:49 left in the fourth quarter, the Texans down 48-31, and facing fourth and four at the K.C. 42. That was a fire-able on the spot offense! Instead it took an 0-4 start to the 2020 season for O’Brien to be ousted. 51-31 Chiefs was the final score, and they went on to win the first of their three Super Bowl titles in the ongoing Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes era.
Back to the present
Those routs were then, this is now. For a 15-2 team the Chiefs seem vulnerable. Maximum credit to them for having won an NFL record 16 consecutive games decided by eight or fewer points, 11 of them this season including their 27-19 victory over the Texans December 21. Perhaps the two-time defending champions were often bored with the regular season and often did just enough to win. The Texans would have been tied with them late in the third quarter had Ka’imi Fairbairn not botched an extra point. On the other hand, it was the play that got them within 17-16 which resulted in Tank Dell’s catastrophic season-ending knee injury. Who besides Nico Collins will do something in the passing game Saturday? Last Saturday the Texans’ pass rush harassed and flustered Chargers’ quarterback Justin Herbert. Mahomes is a different breed. Four weeks ago the Texans sacked Mahomes just once and did not intercept him. That seemingly must change for the Texans to pull off what be a shocker for most people. Saturday’s high temperature forecast for Kansas City is 25 degrees. Not ideal for the Texans but better than if the game had been scheduled for Sunday when the high is supposed to be 16.
Still standing
Four Texans who dressed for the debacle five years ago will suit up against the Chiefs Saturday: Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard who were in their first season with the team, Fairbairn, and long snapper Jon Weeks. Granted he’s just a long snapper (important role but not physically taxing), but Weeks is in his 15th season with the Texans and has yet to miss a game-244 regular season games (with Saturday his 14th playoff game, also without a miss). Presuming he is back next season, Weeks (who turns 39 next month) can crack the top five list of most consecutive games played in NFL history by answering the bell in the first 12 regular season games.
*The Texans’ three early TDS in the 51-31 loss at KC: 1. Kenny Stills with a 54-yard reception 2. Lonnie Johnson with a 10-yard return of a blocked punt 3. Darren Fells with a four-yard grab
For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube
The Astros are always in season for discussion. Our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts drop Mondays: Click here to watch!