RANKING THE STATE
Texas Div I Football Rankings: Texas falls as we have a new No.1
Oct 31, 2019, 8:30 am
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!
12. RICE
They lost again, they keep losing, they keep losing by serious margins. At some point there have to be questions about how are the coaches preparing the players? How are the players feeling about this program? Are players going to want to come here? Is Rice now just a place poor but smart student-athletes go if they want a free but good education and can handle a little body trauma while they do it? The Thundering Herd come to town and probably leave town with an easy victory.
11. UTEP
More losing, and losing and losing. I know the expectations coming into the year were low but they couldn't have been this low. No one could have been looking at a schedule like this one and saying "wow, will we even win three games?" This is not a good campaign from this program. This week they travel to North Texas and I suppose are most excited about the travel back so they can get this season over with.
10. UTSA
I really labored with moving UTSA up on their off week because of how bad North Texas played, but honestly these guys are going to Kyle Field and will likely be right back in this spot next week. Now a win or even a close loss could do wonders for this program but it's likely going to be very much the other way with this and they lose big to the Aggies.
9. NORTH TEXAS
The 49ers beat them. North Texas was the first in conference win for Charlotte which I specifically said the Mean Green should avoid being (are they not reading this column?!). They do get to welcome UTEP to town so if ever there was a chance to bounce back from embarrassment, this is it. However, things could quickly get out of hand with another loss to what is considered an inferior opponent.
8. TEXAS STATE
After another loss, this time to Arkansas State, Texas State now gets to take on the role of spoiler for the rest of the season. They travel to Louisiana and face the Ragin' Cajuns who are still in first place in the West Division of the Sunbelt Conference. While in conference these teams are only one win apart in reality the Cajuns are 5-2 and looked good against Arkansas State two weeks ago and have a long time to sit and watch Texas State play a common opponent; not good news for the Bobcats.
7. TEXAS TECH
It turns out it was the good version of the Jayhawks last week and the Red Raiders didn't have enough to pull it out. Every loss makes the Baylor game matter less and less because it starts to become "well if you couldn't beat Iowa State and Kansas then it doesn't matter if you upset Baylor." This starts to become a doomed season no matter what which is a hard pill to swallow for a team that felt pretty good I bet earlier this year. This week they get to lick their wounds and make a list of reasons the season isn't over and try and finish strong.
6. HOUSTON
They lost but stayed competitive against SMU and it's more of a testament of what could have been than what is happening. Think about it, if they still had their star players, would they have lost the close games they dropped? Where could this season have taken them? But then again they were 1-3 when they did it, so maybe the season was lost for other reasons. They travel to Central Florida where I think the losses continue to add up for this program.
5. TEXAS A&M
So I broke a rule of mine this week and moved A&M down after winning because of who they beat, Mississippi State in comparison to who TCU beat, Texas. I think A&M is finally feeling good and playing great and will likely win again this week as UTSA comes to town. When they do, I'll come back to this, it's a lot more about what else happened this week than it is about how these guys performed. This will be revisited and I want to give full honesty about this, I feel bad, if it makes Aggies feel better of all these schools in Texas the ESPN Football Power Index has A&M the highest over TCU, Texas, SMU and Baylor tied with Washington at 15th in the country.
4. TCU
I was wrong about the Horned Frogs and I apologize. I said they might not win the rest of the year and then they pull away from Texas with 2 minutes left in the game and win by 10. It's a great win and they should feel awesome about it and it puts TCU back in the driver's seat for their season because just as much as I said they face a hard schedule, it means if they keep winning they can really make a year out of it. They travel to Oklahoma State where another win would be another awesome accomplishment.
3. TEXAS
Well last week was my last week making assumptions about this Texas team. It's time to face facts and admit they lost when they shouldn't have including this loss to TCU, bump them down and just move on. They have a month of football left starting next weekend and we'll see what they can make of what's left of their season. This is a big drop but look, SMU and Baylor have been winning and at some point they need to be rewarded for their record and Texas needs to take the hit for their losses.
2. SMU
They tried to screw it up but they managed to save the game and therefore their season and beat Houston. They enjoy the bump up to number 2 this week as much for Texas' failures as for their own successes. It honestly wasn't a great win over Houston and now they travel to Memphis where the oddsmakers are picking Memphis but it's close. That's odd to me because they have Temple in common and while SMU beat Temple soundly, Memphis actually lost close to Temple, making me think this is an SMU win but close.
1. BAYLOR
Baylor hosts West Virginia tonight and are hoping that all the Halloween scares happen off the field. This team is undefeated and playing good football but aren't getting a ton of love in the rankings being outside the Top Ten even though they are undefeated in a power five conference and behind six teams with at least one loss. Baylor does get the love here though, with all that winning putting them in the number spot in this week's rankings.
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Astros take series as Peña homers and Alvarez delivers clutch double
Mar 29, 2025, 10:03 pm
Houston spent time this week practicing an inbound play that coach Kelvin Sampson thought his team might need against Purdue.
Milos Uzan, the third option, ran it to perfection.
He tossed the ball to Joseph Tugler, who threw a bounce pass right back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 guard soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds left, giving the top-seeded Cougars a 62-60 victory — and a matchup with second-seeded Tennessee in Sunday's Elite Eight.
“Great execution at a time we needed that,” said Sampson, who is a win away from making his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
The Cougars (33-4) made only one other basket over the final eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead and then missed two more shots in the final 5 seconds. A replay review with 2.2 seconds left confirmed Houston would keep the ball when it rolled out of bounds after the second miss.
Uzan took over from there.
“I was trying to hit (L.J. Cryer) and then JoJo just made a great read,” Uzan said. “He was able to draw two (defenders) and he just made a great play to hit me back.”
Houston advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years after falling in the Sweet 16 as a top seed in the previous two editions of March Madness. It will take the nation's longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s Midwest Region final.
The Cougars joined the other three No. 1 seeds in this year's Elite Eight and did it at Lucas Oil Stadium, where their 2021 tourney run ended with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion Baylor.
They haven't lost since Feb. 1.
Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Houston still had to sweat out a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Braden Smith's shot was well off the mark.
Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the Big Ten player of the year, added seven points and 15 assists for fourth-seeded Purdue (24-12). Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.
“I thought we fought really hard and we dug down defensively to get those stops to come back,” Smith said. “We did everything we could and we just had a little miscommunication at the end and they converted. Props to them.”
Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.
Sampson called timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper and Tugler’s tip-in rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after the replay review.
Sharp's scoring flurry early in the second half finally gave Houston some separation after a back-and-forth first half. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead in a tough, physical game that set up a rare dramatic finish in this year's tourney.
“Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo,” Sampson said. “That means there was no one there to take Milos. That's why you work on that stuff day after day.”
Takeaways
Purdue: Coach Matt Painter's Boilermakers stumbled into March Madness with six losses in their final nine games but proved themselves a worthy competitor by fighting their way into the Sweet 16 and nearly taking down a No. 1 seed.
Houston: The Cougars lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.
Scary fall
Houston guard Mylik Wilson gave the Cougars a brief scare with 13:23 left in the game. He leapt high into the air to grab a rebound and drew a foul on Kaufman-Renn.
As the play continued, Wilson was undercut and his body twisted around before he landed on his head. Wilson stayed down momentarily, rubbing his head, but eventually got up and remained in the game.