RANKING THE TEXAS DIVISION 1 SCHOOLS
SMU rises as Texas A&M falls this week
Sep 26, 2019, 8:50 am
RANKING THE TEXAS DIVISION 1 SCHOOLS
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
This week was the first signs of life Rice has shown all season. They played Baylor close and they gave them a hard time. It's the first time all season we've felt like Rice had any intention of playing good football and that was a nice thing to see. Now if only they could win a game.
So last week I said the game against North Texas would go a long way for UTSA determining what kind of season they wanted to have and they lost big time. This is a team looking for a way to throw in the towel and get off the field. They don't want to be here which is good because they're off this week.
Texas State got a win and they play another winnable game this week against Nicholls. The true test of teams that want to be good is how they handle the games they are supposed to win. How do they prepare? How do they play and will they execute when they are expected to win. This is Texas State's opportunity to find out what kind of team they are.
A rough home loss to Nevada and now having to travel to Southern Mississippi doesn't bode well for UTEP. This is a program in trouble and there's no real chance of saving it this week I think, this is going to hurt but there's nothing else they can do.
North Texas is a team going the wrong way. SMU has left the bottom half of the rankings behind and that all started with a good win against North Texas. Now Houston has come to town and if there was ever a time to turn the table, this is it. North Texas has a season to save and a game to win.
Coming off the bye and facing Oklahoma is a tough task; Oklahoma has been having a great season and this isn't a game that Tech will come out of feeling good. It's basically a given they're going to lose, it's how they approach this game and how they execute that will set the tone for this season.
Can this season get any weirder for Houston? Now their quarterback has opted to redshirt himself rather than finish the season? What is going on in U of H? Well they have to go on the road to North Texas and while they should win, it's hard to think they will considering how much turmoil is surrounding the program currently.
They've lost to SMU and that can be a crushing loss. They're expected to bounce back against Kansas and are projected to win by a lot but it's hard to think that they will. I think it's going to be a close game and that if TCU wins it won't be by a lot.
So I honestly didn't think SMU would beat TCU, I thought they would play a close game but I didn't think they would win. They did, and they deserve this rise they're on. They're having a great season and if they keep it up they may finish the season ranked. Probably not high but ranked nonetheless.
Did Texas A&M lose two games to two good opponents? Yes. Should they be higher up this list? If they had won one of them or at least looked good in the Clemson game, then maybe. Losing hurts no matter who you lose to and so A&M slides down the list.
So much losing last week that even a mediocre win against Rice is great news. The lone bright spot on last weeks top end of the list, other than Texas, was Baylor's win against Rice. This is more about everyone else playing so bad and less about these guys playing great but hey number 2 is number 2 no matter how you get there.
Texas beat Oklahoma State, but close. It wasn't a great, clean win and while there's no doubt after this week that they are the best team in the state, they may not be as nationally dominant as they looked two weeks ago. Texas is off this week, so they can lick their wounds and watch everyone else play, confident in their spot at number 1.
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Alex Bregman couldn’t hold back the smile when he was asked who might have had the biggest impact on his decision to sign with the Boston Red Sox.
“My favorite player Dustin Pedroia,” Bregman said of the club's former second baseman and two-time World Series champion.
“He reached out a few times this offseason and talked about how special it was to be a part of the Boston Red Sox,” Bregman said Sunday. “It was really cool to be able to talk to him as well as so many other former players here in Boston and current players on the team as well.”
A day after Bregman's $120 million, three-year contract was announced, he sat at a 25-minute news conference between his agent, Scott Boras, and Boston Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. Manager Alex Cora, who gave Bregman a hug after he handed the infielder his No. 2 jersey, also was at the table along with team president Sam Kennedy.
Breslow and Cora wouldn't say whether Bregman would move to play second base, Pedroia's position, or remain at third — a position manned by Rafael Devers since July 2017.
A few players, Jarren Duran and Rob Refsnyder among them, and coaches stood behind the seated reporters to listen.
Bregman gets a $5 million signing bonus, a $35 million salary this season and $40 million in each of the following two years, with some of the money deferred, and he can opt out after the 2025 and 2026 seasons to become a free agent again.
Asked why he agreed to the shorter contract with opt outs, he leaned forward to the microphone in front of him and replied: “I just think I believe in my abilities.”
Originally selected by Boston in the 29th round of the 2012 amateur draft, Bregman attended LSU before the Houston Astros picked him second overall in 2015. His family history with the Red Sox goes back further.
“My dad grew up sitting on Ted Williams’ lap,” he said.
MLB.com said Stan Bregman, the player's grandfather, was a lawyer who represented the Washington Senators and negotiated Williams' deal to become manager.
Boston has missed the playoffs in five of the last six seasons and had avoided signing the highest-profile free agents. Boras said a conversation with Red Sox controlling owner John Henry showed ownership’s desire to get back to winning.
“I think it was after Soto signed,’’ Boras said, citing the record contract he negotiated for Juan Soto with the Mets. “We had a discussion. I could tell knowing John back with the Marlins and such, he had a real onus about ‘we need to do things differently than what we’ve done before.’
“This is a point and time where I believe Red Sox ownership was hungry for championship play and exhausted with what had happened the last five, six years.”
Called the “perfect fit” by Breslow, the 30-year-old Bregman joined the Red Sox after winning two World Series titles and reaching the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons with Houston.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the playoffs the first eight years of my career, and I plan on continuing to do that here,” he said in his opening remarks. “I’m a winning player and this is a winning organization.”
Coming off an 81-81 season, the Red Sox acquired left-hander Garrett Crochet from the White Sox and signed fellow pitchers Walker Buehler, Patrick Sandoval, Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson during the offseason.
After the pitching moves, they found a right-handed bat, too.
“As the offseason progressed it just became clearer and clearer that Alex was the perfect fit for what we were trying to accomplish,” Breslow said.
Bregman ranks first among players with at least 75 career plate appearances in Fenway Park with an OPS of 1.240.
“He fits like a glove for our organization,” Kennedy said.