COLLEGE FOOTBALL REWIND

Saturday NCAA recap: Crazy week sees big wins for TCU, Houston

Seth Livingston
KALAH WINTERS
Nov 5, 2017, 12:18 pm
TCU and head coach Gary Patterson bounced back with a win over Texas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

The weekly recap of college football sees Baylor gets its first victory of the season and the Houston Cougars win big. Take a look at the highs and lows for Texas colleges:


Houston 52, East Carolina 27

Sophomore quarterback D’Eriq King threw for three touchdowns in his first start of the season against the East Carolina Pirates Saturday morning. The Cougars pushed ahead early in the first quarter, scoring two touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the game. Houston senior Steven Dunbar compiled six receptions for a career-high 171 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown catch. King also threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Linell Bonner and a 5-yarder to Courtney Lark. The bowl-eligible Cougars converted three forced turnovers into scores in the 52-27 win over East Carolina.

TCU 24, Texas 7

The two best defenses in the Big 12 conference battled it out in Fort Worth on Saturday. Coming off their first loss of the season against Iowa State last week, the Horned Frogs knew this game was a big deal and they did not disappoint, beating Texas 24-7. The Longhorns are still struggling offensively and gained a mere 263 total yards, nine of which were rushing in this humbling defeat against TCU.

Auburn 42, Texas A&M 27

After a scoreless first quarter for the Tigers, Auburn kicked it into gear in this road win over the Aggies. Kerryon Johnson had 145 rushing yards, including a dazzling one-handed catch in the fourth quarter. Jarrett Stidham threw for three touchdowns and 268 yards.

Alabama 24, LSU 10

The undefeated Crimson Tide hammered out a victory over the LSU Tigers. Despite their many defensive stops, LSU struggled offensively and it cost them this game.

Central Florida 31, Southern Methodist 24

Undefeated UCF put up unusually low numbers in this road win over SMU. Typically high-performing UCF quarterback Mckenzie Milton threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for an SMU touchdown.

Baylor 38, Kansas 9

Baylor has finally won a game. Freshman Charlie Brewer made his first start of the season and led his team to victory over Kansas. Brewer threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns, while the Bear’s defense held Kansas to a mere 289 yards in this 38-9 blowout over Kansas.  

UAB 52, Rice 21

In their first season back after ending their football program two years ago, bowl eligible UAB rolled over Rice for a dominating victory at home.

New Mexico State 45, Texas State 35

Per usual, the Bobcats saw their seventh loss of the season. Tyler Rodgers threw for 474 yards and led the New Mexico State Aggies to a win over Texas State.

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MONEY TALKS

Evaluating the 3 worst current Texans contracts

Paying a kicker 17 million dollars? Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Head coach/general manager Bill O'Brien engineered questionable moves during the off-season that already have come back to bite the Texans in the butt. Fans have yet to see the Texans on the right track, at least on television for now. Here are the top three, or bottom three, contracts that have Houston raising eyebrows, shrugging shoulders, and shaking heads.

Randall Cobb: 3 years, $27 million

The 30-year-old wide receiver has been quiet so far this 0-2 season with seven catches for 82 yards. New offensive coordinator Tim Kelly is favoring "12 and 21" schemes which render Cobb the third option behind Will Fuller and Brandin Cooks. This could change now with Fuller nursing a hamstring injury sustained against the Ravens. To be fair, with no preseason games or extended practice, Cobb has not had time to build chemistry with quarterback Deshaun Watson. So let's mark him, "bad contract," but jury still deliberating.

David Johnson: 3 years, $39 million

Johnson has carried the ball 22 times for 111 yards. Normally, these would be acceptable, even commendable stats. However, Johnson carries the burden of being involved in the trade that sent DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. BTW, Hopkins in tearing it up in Arizona with 22 receptions for 219 yards. Also, more evidence condemning Johnson's contract, the Texans could have made a run at Leonard Fournette (17 carries for 108 yards) or Adrian Peterson (21 carries for 134 yards), both chewing up more turf for less money.

Whitney Mercilus: 4 years, $54 million

Here's another 30-year-old who was being paid big and producing little. He was MIA against the Ravens with no tackles and no sacks, despite being on the field for 70 percent of the Ravens snaps. Mercilus was able to squeeze the Texans for huge money last year when he picked up the workload of injured J.J. Watt.


Honorable Mention

Ka'imi Fairbairn: 4 years, $17,650,000

Fairbairn is the third highest-paid kicker in the NFL. Fairbairn had a rough start against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1, missing an extra point and a deep 51-yard field goal attempt. Meanwhile, up in Dallas, Greg 'The Leg' Zuerlein is being paid half of what Fairbairn makes, but knocking them down from the logo, including a last-second, game-winning field goal to beat the Falcons. Former Texans kicker Randy Bullock is enjoying greater success in Cincinnati for considerably fewer dollars, too. Fun fact: Fairbairn is paid more than most Texans secondary defenders.


But really, the worst, and most regrettable Texans contract of all might be Bill O'Brien's deal- 4 years, $20 million.

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