Saturday NCAA Football Recap

Texas colleges - but not Texas - dominate in Week 1

Texas colleges - but not Texas - dominate in Week 1
Jimbo Fisher is off to a fast start. Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Week 1 saw some expected victories and a few surprises from the Lone Star State:

Houston 45, Rice 27

Trailing 24-17 at the half, it was apparent the Cougars thought they were playing the same team they destroyed in the Bayou Bucket last year. They were not. The Owls dominated the first half but D’Eriq King and the Cougars rallied in the second half for their 45-27. King ran 4 yards in the third quarter, then completed scoring passes of 57 yards to Marquez Stevenson and 18 yards to Courtney Lark. Stevenson displayed dazzling speed in his first game after being out last season due to injury. Patrick Carr included a 37-yard touchdown run to seal the deal for the Cougars in their season opener against their city rivals. It is worth mentioning Aaron Cephus caught a few impossible passes with impeccable situational awareness for the Owls throughout the game on Saturday.

A&M 59, Northwestern State 7

In their season opener, the Northwestern State Demons were simply outmatched against the Aggies. However, NW State quarterback Clay Holgorsen completed 9 passes for 105 yards and one touchdown which should translate to more success when they play other FCS schools. As for the Aggies, they had little trouble in Jimbo Fisher's debut as head coach.

TCU 55, Southern 7

As expected, No. 16 TCU dominated both sides of the field in their 17th consecutive home opening victory. The Horned Frogs were favored to win, obviously, but with their second quarter touchdown, the Jaguars became the first SWAC team to score against TCU.

Maryland 34, Texas 29

Tom Herman had an entire game to prove he could outcoach a team with no coach and somehow the Longhorns still came up short. Maryland dedicated its season to their fellow Terrapin, Jordan McNair, who tragically died of heatstroke during the offseason. Freshman receiver Jeshaun Jones ran for a score, threw for a score, and caught a 65-yard touchdown pass, playing a pivotal role in Maryland’s victory. Interim coach Matt Canada was full of pride during his post-game interview. “I just can't say enough about our players, everything they've been through and the way they stuck together,” Canada said. The Terrapins came to play but the Longhorns essentially beat themselves. In addition to three turnovers, Texas committed 10 penalties for 102 yards.

Rutgers 35, Texas State 7

“It’s been three years to get here,” Rutgers coach Chris Ash said on starting with a win for the first time in his tenure. Running backs Raheem Blackshear and Jonathan Hillman had two touchdowns apiece, leading Rutgers to their 35-7 win over Texas State.

Mississippi 47, Texas Tech 27

Mississippi racked up more than 500 yards in the blowout of Texas Tech on Saturday. Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns, leading Ole’ Miss to their 47-27 victory over Tech

Baylor 55, Abilene Christian 27

The Bears snapped their eight-game home losing streak in their 55-27 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday evening. Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer and Jalan McClendon threw for a combined 311 yards, leading the Bears to victory.










 

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A new era begins. Composite image by Jack Brame.

It’s go time! While the Astros are not the juggernaut they were over the more than half-decade stretch from 2017 through 2022 that yielded regular seasons with 101, 103, 106, and 107 wins, four American League pennants, and two World Series Champions, as the saying goes, they ain’t dead yet. There is no superpower in the American League West the Astros need to overcome. In fact, the American League as a whole is grossly inferior to the National League. As a result, a fifth Astros’ AL title in this era is not some absurd fantasy, though it is certainly unlikely. But winning the pennant is unlikely for every AL team, so if you’re a fan of the Astros there is nothing wrong with a “Why not us?” mentality. On the other hand, the floor for the 2025 Astros is lower going into a season than it has been in almost a decade. The lineup has numerous question marks, and if the terrific trio atop the Astros’ starting rotation (Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, and Ronel Bronco) runs into injury or performance issues the Astros would have serious problems. That the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners both finish ahead of the Astros is clearly plausible. Play ball!

Astros history lives in these moments

It is simple fact that time marches on, but it is still amazing that the Astros are beginning their second quarter-century of play at what for its first two seasons was called Enron Field, then for the past 23 seasons Minute Maid Park, and now Daikin Park. That’s 25 seasons in the books, at least 26 more to come, with the Astros a few years ago having extended their lease through 2050. In non-specific order, I have twenty easily come-to-mind most spine-tingling moments at the ballpark. If you want 25 for 25 years, I leave five more to you.

Not all spine-tinglers on the home field are generated by the home team. Here are three produced by visiting players. In 2001, Barry Bonds smashed his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s single season Major League record. We know what went into the home run numbers of that era, but it was still jaw-dropping stuff. Bonds would finish the season with 73 homers. Game five of the 2005 National League Championship Series, with the Astros one out from winning their first ever pennant, Albert Pujols launched a Brad Lidge hanging slider that might still be airborne if not for the glass wall above the train tracks. It may be the most instantaneous crowd delirium to utter silence moment ever. It turned a 4-2 Astros’ lead into a crushing 5-4 loss. But, the next game Roy Oswalt pitched the Astros to that pennant in St. Louis. Lastly, the second game of the 2013 season, Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish retired the first 26 Astro batters before Marwin Gonzalez smacked a ball through Darvish’s legs up the middle for a base hit. Soooooo close to a perfect game. Only 22 perfect games have been thrown in MLB’s modern era (1900-today).

Now to Astro achievements. Fudging a bit by including Roger Clemens since it’s not for one specific moment. But the Rocket’s starts with the Astros were events. Speaking of Hall of Famers, Craig Biggio’s 3000th hit is an obvious list-maker. Jeff Kent is not a Hall of Famer but he was better in the batter’s box than any second baseman elected after Joe Morgan. Kent won game five of the 2004 NLCS with a bottom of the ninth three-run bomb to end what had been a scoreless game. Alas, the Astros would lose the next two games and the series in St. Louis. The crowd went much wilder over Kent’s homer than over Chris Burke’s series-winning homer over the Atlanta Braves in a 2005 NL Division Series. Burke’s homer came in the 18th inning, so sheer exhaustion held down the decibel level a little. A sleeper for the list occurred earlier in that same game, when Brad Ausmus of all people hit a two-out game-tying homer to get the game into extra innings.

Four no-hitters have been thrown by Union Station. Working backwards: Ronel Blanco last season, Framber Valdez in 2023, a combined job started by Aaron Sanchez in 2019, and the first in 2015 by Mike....yes, Fiers.

And now to the grandest home park moments of this Platinum Era in Astros’ history. Carlos Correa authored two of them, each in a game two of the American League Championship Series. In 2017 he doubled home Jose Altuve with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. That came off of Aroldis Chapman who shall appear once more in this column. In 2019 Correa tied the series at one win apiece with a walk-off homer. Yordan Alvarez also gets a pair of entries. You know, Yordan hit just .192 in the 2022 postseason. But talk about making your hits count. In game one of those playoffs, ALDS vs. Seattle, it was a two-out three-run walk-off blast off of Robbie Ray to give the Astros an 8-7 win. Then in the final game of those playoffs, it was a sixth inning gargantuan three-run launch to dead center turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.

That leaves four moments that are 100 percent non-negotiable entries. While not dramatic (4-0 final score), the payoff warrants inclusion of the Astros winning Game seven of the 2017 ALCS over the Yankees. Similarly, while the moment of victory lacked drama (4-1 final), how could one exclude the Astros winning the World Series on home turf in 2022. Finally, for my money the two most pulsating, goosebump-inducing, viscerally exciting moments at 501 Crawford Street. In one of the most scintillating games ever played in any sport, Alex Bregman’s bottom of the 10th inning single gave the Astros’ their epic 13-12 win over the Dodgers in game five of the 2017 World Series. Then in 2019, Jose Altuve’s game six homer ended the ALCS (I warned you Aroldis).

Here’s to the new season! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!


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