RANKING THE TEXAS DIVISION 1 SCHOOLS
Texas State moves up and Texas A&M manages to maintain their rank with an ugly win
Oct 3, 2019, 6:45 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!
It just keeps getting worse and worse for Rice. I don't know where the bottom is but honestly it seems like they don't know where it is either. Bad times all around for the Rice program as they travel to UAB and probably collect another beating.
They travel this week to UTEP and honestly, I don't think a change of fortunes is in the cards. UTEP is playing pretty good football and traveling from San Antonio to El Paso is enough of an excuse for these guys to throw in the towel this week.
The losing can stop and finally a chance to get right, UTEP has been playing tough opponents and not playing terrible. This is a game the team has to be looking forward to, an opportunity to turn around this recent slide and start playing some winning football again.
Well they didn't save their season last week after a loss to Houston, so they're off this week and that's about all the good news they get.
Well last week I asked how they would handle success and game planning for a game they should win against Nicholls, they handled it well and got another W. This is the foundation they can use to keep building a successful season. Having the week off after two wins is a good thing and a bad thing, but hopefully Texas State can make the most of it.
Everyone knew a loss was coming against Oklahoma, but how will they bounce back and handle Oklahoma State will be the deciding factor for this team this week. Teams lose, it happens to most teams in a college football season, but good teams find a way to put losses behind them and focus on the next opponent. Quiet the noise and bring the thunder.
Well all the redshirt drama aside, they won against North Texas and have this week off. Sitting around after a loss is always demoralizing, sitting around after a win is always a little easier. Hopefully this week can be a calming week for the program and the team.
I really wanted to move TCU over SMU after this Kansas win but with the games this week, I felt like I could wait one more week and see how everything shakes out but I do like what TCU is doing. I know SMU beat TCU two weeks ago but I like this win over Kansas. They are doing good things and playing good football again.
SMU just keeps on rolling, there doesn't seem to be any team they can't handle right now. They're playing really good football and there's no telling how high they can go this season. But I should mention, that TCU is nipping at their heels and I say how high could they get but I don't know that I could reasonably move them over A&M, right?
Hey they beat Arkansas! But they looked awful doing it. How many heart attack games are these guys going to play this year? I want to buy into A&M and that they are at least the number 2 program in the state but I'm not sure I can right now. They're off this week so lets see if they can get their minds right and make a real push back at Baylor.
They didn't look great against Iowa State but at least it was a win and A&M didn't look good against Arkansas either. Baylor goes to Kansas State and is looking at needing a good, strong win to get some distance from A&M. Can't wait to see how it all turns out.
Coming off a bye, they go to West Virginia who can give people trouble, I think because of the travel. Let's see how Texas comes out of the bye week, are they going to be sluggish or are they going to explode out of gates and establish some dominance? Let's see.
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It would be kind of funny if Christian Walker simply decided he wanted to check out what the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is all about. “Ow, my left oblique feels kind of sore. How about sending me to Houston for the weekend to get an MRI?” That would be quite a bodacious move, and total bull (props to you if you see what I did there). Of course, faking pain is not the case, and the Astros now cross their fingers that their 60-million dollar free agent signee doesn’t start his Houston tenure on the injured list. It certainly isn’t encouraging to know that Walker missed about 20 percent of last season with a left oblique injury. In 2021 he spent two stints on the IL because of right oblique problems. Obviously the Astros want return on their investment as quickly and as substantially as possible, but they would be fools not to treat this conservatively. Walker turns 34 years old the second day of the regular season. No one should be having night sweats just yet over the possibility that Walker is about to become Jose Abreu 2.0. Abreu was 36 when he debuted with the Astros. However, it is accurate to note that Abreu had a significantly higher WAR in his last season before joining the Astros than did Walker.
If Walker turns out to be sidelined for a month, that would mean the Astros need a first baseman for the first week and a half or so of the regular season. Let the drumbeat for Cam Smith begin! The sample size remains laughably small, but Smith continues to speak softly and swing a very, very big stick. If you’ll accept a .636 batting average as pretty good. It’s only 11 at bats. But yowza! If Walker is to be down into the regular season, and Smith keeps rocketing line drives in the Grapefruit League, the plot thickens. Smith only has 19 at bats above single-A. That’s 19 more than Albert Pujols had when the St. Louis Cardinals decided to have him in their lineup to begin the 2001 season. Albert did fairly well. He’s merely the greatest first baseman in National League history.
The much more conservative approach would be a platoon with Jon Singleton in the lineup against most right-handed pitchers and whoever is not catching between Yainer Diaz and Victor Caratini playing against lefties. Zach Dezenzo would be another option. Cam Smith is not an option to play first base, at least not early in 2025. Just in the last few days, he’s started doing some outfield drills because of the possible pathway to the big club in right field that I wrote about last week. Cam Smith is not going to make a huge jump to the big leagues and basically try to learn a new position on the fly there. However, Isaac Paredes owns a first baseman’s glove. Paredes started 13 games at first for the Rays last season. He made 40 starts total at first over the last three seasons, his only big league starts at first, after a grand total of two at first in the minors. Paredes temporarily moving to first would open up third base for Smith. Just sayin’...
What's in a name?
File this more under trivial than trivia, but here goes. When Isaac Paredes takes the field in the season opener, he officially becomes the third Paredes in Astros’ history. Utility man Jimmy Paredes got some run during the franchise deep in the abyss stage from 2010-13. Relief pitcher Enoli Paredes got 32 1/3 innings in over three seasons 2020-22. There have been only six guys named Paredes in MLB history. Come March 27 the Astros will have had half of them.
On the farm
MLB Pipeline this week released its in order ranking of the Astros’ top 30 prospects. Cam Smith is the obvious number one. Brice Matthews is number two. Drafted as a shortstop, Matthews has a better route to the bigs as a second baseman, given the Astros’ weak depth chart there with Jose Altuve becoming primarily a left fielder. Outfielder Jacob Melton is third. Considering the present state of the Astros’ outfield and that Melton turns 25 this September, if worth a darn, he should play his way on to the 26-man roster at some point this year. Catcher Walker Yanek ranks fourth. He was the Astros’ first round pick last July. Dezenzo rounds out the top five.
We’re under three weeks until Opening Day. 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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