Here's a look at what happened in the Lone Star State and with LSU
Saturday NCAA Football Recap: Tough losses plague Texas teams in Week 12; LSU remains undefeated
Nov 17, 2019, 12:09 pm
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Memphis 45, Houston 27
Houston quarterback Clayton Tune burst up the middle for a 68-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter. That was the most memorable offensive play of the game for the Cougars. Memphis quarterback Brady White threw for 341 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another score and No. 18 Memphis overcame a 10-point first-quarter deficit to beat the pants off Houston 45-27 on Saturday. Tune was 14-of-22 for 157 yards with one touchdown for the Cougars. "I think we ran out of gas with four minutes to go in the second quarter," Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said. Houston started off strong but was held to just 113 yards of total offense in the final three quarters. The Cougars got into the red zone and settled for field goals twice. Memphis finished with nine tackles for loss and three sacks. Houston is at Tulsa on Saturday.
LSU 58, Mississippi 37
Joe "Superman" Burrow was unbelievably good against Ole Miss on Saturday night. The Heisman front-runner completed 32 of 42 passes, threw for a career-best 489 yards and five touchdowns, and the top-ranked Tigers rolled past Mississippi 58-37. LSU built an early lead, scoring on four of its first five possessions to jump out to a 28-0 lead over the Rebels. "It wasn't pretty, but we did it after a big win last week," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "We came in here to win a football game and we won by 21 points. We're 10-0 and I'm very proud of that." At one point, Burrow completed 17 consecutive passes to set a school record, passing Rohan Davey's 2001 single-season school record for yards passing. Sophomore receiver Ja'Marr Chase snagged touchdown passes of 34, 51, and 61 yards for 227 total yards for LSU. "We dug ourselves too deep a hole," Ole Miss coach Matt Luke said. "We had a chance to get it to a one possession game, but we never could get there." Ole Miss freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee finished with 212 yards rushing, a school quarterback record, three touchdowns and was 9 of 16 passing for 123 yards. LSU hosts Arkansas on Saturday.
Iowa State 23, Texas 21
Connor Assalley drilled a 36-yarder as time expired and Iowa State beat No. 22 Texas 23-21 on Saturday. Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy had 354 yards passing and two touchdowns, and he led the Cyclones 63 yards in three minutes to set up the field goal of Assalley's life. "They continue to fight when I think everyone has written us off at times," Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. "Our kids just keep playing." Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger had 273 yards and three touchdowns for the Longhorns. Ehlinger gave Texas a 21-20 lead with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Epps with 5:37 to go. But the Cyclones stuffed the Longhorns on their next possession. "Obviously a really, really poor performance by our offense the first two quarters," Texas coach Tom Herman said. "Not being able to run the ball the way we thought we would be able to was the biggest difference." Texas plays at Baylor on Saturday.
Oklahoma 34, Baylor 31
Boomer Sooner. Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts threw four touchdown passes and Gabe Brkic booted a 31-yard field goal with 1:45 left to cap the Sooner's wild 34-31 comeback victory over Baylor on Saturday. Although the Sooners were without star receiver Cee Dee Lamb, Hurts was 30-of-42 passing for 297 yards, all of his touchdowns coming after Baylor took a 28-3 lead early in the second quarter. The loss snaps Baylor's 11-game win streak leaving No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson as the only undefeated FBS teams. Baylor hosts No. 19 Texas on Saturday.
TCU 33, Texas Tech 31
After squandering multiple 17-point leads in the first half, Jonathan Song won TCU the battle for bowl eligibility on a 20-yarder with 5:38 left to play. TCU quarterback Max Duggan accounted for 323 yards and all three touchdowns, helping the Horned Frogs to a 33-31 win over Big 12 rival Texas Tech. TCU's Vernon Scott forced a fumble by McLane Mannix on Tech's final possession. The Frogs' went into play ranked first in the Big 12 in holding opponents below their total offense average. Texas Tech, which went into the game averaging 478.6 yards, was held to 402. TCU visits Oklahoma on Saturday and Tech hosts Kansas State.
Troy 63, Texas State 27
Troy quarterback Kaleb Barker threw for 363 yards and a school-record six touchdown passes to roll over Texas State 63-27 on Saturday. Texas State quarterback Tyler Vitt was 29-of-44 passing for 263 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted four times.
Rice 31, Middle Tennessee 28
Rice quarterback Tom Stewart threw three touchdowns and Rice beat Middle Tennessee for its first win of the season. Stewart finished 12-of-23 passing for 222 yards.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.