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Saturday NCAA Football Recap: Texas and Texas Tech win big in Week 3
Kalah Winters
Sep 16, 2018, 1:04 pm
Kliff Kingsbury had a big win for Tech. Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images
The Longhorns find their mojo and the Cougars take a tumble in a wacky Week 3. Here is how it all went down:
Texas Tech 63, Houston 49
I have said it once and I will keep saying it until someone hears me: DEFENSE WINS GAMES. Saturday morning’s game started out as exciting as one would have hoped; Houston was out for revenge after losing to Tech last year, and up until the third quarter they played like they actually wanted to break the curse of the flying tortillas. The Cougars and the Red Raiders remained within one touchdown of each other, both teams flexing their muscles with their lightning fast offenses. But the Houston defense was nowhere to be found. "You can't expect to win any games giving up 63 points, so we've got to tackle better," Applewhite said. You can say that again, coach. The Cougars had so many critical missed tackles, I lost count. Tech quarterback Alan Bowman had a stunning game, completing 43 of 59 passes, five touchdowns and the fifth 600-yard passing game in Texas Tech history. In addition to Bowman’s historic game, Tech receiver Antoine Wesley set a school record with 261 receiving yards. Houston receiver Marquez Stevenson had nine receptions for 177 yards and two touchdowns. D’Eriq King was 30-of-51 passing for 431 yards and five touchdowns for the Cougars.
Ohio State 40, TCU 28
Fourth-ranked Ohio State went into this game knowing it would be a tough test, but the Buckeyes held off the Horned Frogs to remain undefeated for the return of semi-suspended coach Urban Meyer. TCU running back Daruis Anderson found a hole and rushed 93 yards down the sideline for a score in the second quarter. The Buckeyes trailed going into the third quarter and came out of the locker room ready for battle, scoring three back-to-back touchdowns in a four-minute span during the third quarter, including a 28-yard interception return by 286-pound defensive tackle Dre’Monte Jones. In his third start, Ohio State sophomore quarterback, Dwayne Haskins Jr. was 24 of 38 for 344 yards and two touchdowns, withstanding the pressure of the Frogs.
Texas 37, USC 14
What. A. Win. I for sure did not expect this turnout from a previously losing Texas team, but they clearly wanted this well-deserved 37-14 victory over No. 22 USC. The Longhorns were off to a rough start in the first quarter, only scoring on a field goal, but the Horns rallied to shut out the Trojans for the remainder of the game. Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and lineman Anthony Wheeler returned a blocked field goal 46 yards for a score. "There is a bit of release, a bit of a hump that we got over that we can win a big game. Not just come close, but win," Texas coach Tom Herman said. "We'll evaluate where this win stands by how we respond to it, how we play the rest of the season."
Duke 40, Baylor 27
Duke wasted no time in displaying dominance over Baylor in Saturday’s game. After traveling to Texas a day earlier than expected to get out before Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas, the Blue Devils overcame all distractions and are now off to a 3-0 start for the second year in a row. This is the first time the Blue Devils have had consecutive 3-0 starts since the 1987-‘88 season. "I told them at the hotel I had admiration for them. It's been incredibly smooth," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. "I told them we're leaving at 7 o'clock in the morning (Thursday) at the last minute, we loaded up the bus at 5:45 and not a single person was late. What does that tell you about this team?" Junior quarterback Quentin Harris was 12 for 30, threw for 174 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start for the Blue Devils. In addition to dominating on the offensive side, the Devils took advantage of Baylor’s two critical turnovers. Sophomore running back Deon Jackson scored on a 31-yard fumble return and freshman safety Leonard Johnson secured the victory with a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer threw for 175 yards and rushed for two touchdowns but that was not enough to overcome defeat.
South Alabama 42, Texas State 31
South Alabama quarterback Evan Orth was 24 for 30, with 266 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Jaguars to a 31-41victory over the Bobcats. Jaguar running back Tra Minter ran for 61 yards and two touchdowns to secure the win.
Texas A&M 48, UL Monroe 10
Sophomore Aggie quarterback Kellen Mond ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in Saturday night’s expected blowout win over UL Monroe.
LSU 22, Auburn 21
Field goals matter; just ask Cole Tracy, the LSU senior kicker who delivered a game-winning 42-yard field goal for the 12th-ranked Tigers in their 22-21 victory over No. 7 Auburn. LSU struggled offensively early on but left no score unanswered in their second victory against a Top 10 opponent. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow completed 15 of 34 passes for 249 yards and kept cool against the more seasoned Jarrett Stidham.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
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 YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.