Coming Home

One of the best things about living in New York, is coming home to New York. Nothing beats flying into LaGuardia airport and flying right by Manhattan. I think this is because the best way to view Manhattan is from a distance. It looks majestic, and you pinch yourself and think, "Do I really live there?" You get the same effect coming around the ramp in New Jersey on your approach to the Lincoln Tunnel. I had to take a car service to NJ for work and was coming back and the driver was chatting me up. I wanted to say, "Shhh, look."

Katie's cousin came to visit when we first moved here and was staying in Times Square on a high floor. Katie and I went up to their room and then glued ourselves to the windows looking out. They thought it was funny, "Don't you live here?" they asked. We should have answered, "No, we live underground in the subway tunnels, we live in a cube in the middle of a room, we live in the back apartment, we live in the booth in the back of the bar, we don't live HERE."

New York at street level is hard, a fight everyday, and often you catch yourself with your head down, trudging along. But from afar, up high in an airplane, New York is magic.

SWC Game of the Week: East Carolina at Rice

This week’s SWC Game of the week features the Rice Owls playing host to the East Carolina Pirates. This correspondent knows where South Carolina is located, and knows where North Carolina is located, but not sure about East Carolina. Anyway, this game’s focus will be the Rice Owls, winners of 4 in a row. This is the first time they have won 4 in a row in one season since 1999. They have improved their 2005 record by 4 games, with only SWC foe Arkansas improving their record by more games (5). This season they have won their first two road games as a member of Conference USA, over UCF and last week’s win over Tulsa, a preseason favorite in C-USA. Wide Receiver Jarrett Dillard has been named one of the 14 semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the best receiver in the country. The architect of this Rice Owl explosion, first year head coach Todd Graham. Todd Graham has the best first year turn around of any Rice coach since Jess Neely, back in the days when teams like Alabama had to have subs jump off their bench to tackle streaking Rice ball carriers. Graham comes to Rice from Tulsa, where he coached under Steve Kragthrope and they turned a 1-10 program around to C-USA champions in year 4. This game will be played at Rice Stadium on the Rice campus in Houston. Now, for this writer, no stadium is better than Rice Stadium. Built for the 1950 season to house the large crowds the SWC champion Rice Owls were drawing, it has hosted many memorable events, including Super Bowl VIII. This year Rice Stadium underwent a 6 million dollar renovation, replacing the athletic surface with field turf, installing new bleachers and a new scoreboard. If you have never been to a game at Rice Stadium, you don’t know what you are missing. It is a true masterpiece. The end zone seats have been covered this year to reduce capacity to 47,000, but they can regain the original 70,000 seats.

Other games this week:

Arkansas at Mississippi State

Baylor vs. Oklahoma

Houston at Memphis (To clinch hosting C-USA championship)

SMU vs. Tulsa

TCU vs. San Diego State

Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State

Last week’s game:

U of H came back to beat SMU 37-27 and take one step closer to hosting the C-USA Championship game.

Other games:
Arkansas 31 Tennessee 14

OSU 66 Baylor 24

Houston 37 SMU 27

Rice 41 Tulsa 38

Kansas State 45 Texas 42 (UPSET ALERT)

Nebraska 28 Texas A&M 27 (Nov. woes continue)

TCU 27 New Mexico 21

Oklahoma 34 Texas Tech 24

SWC Game of the Week: Houston at SMU

This week’s SWC Game of the Week is the Houston Cougars traveling to the Hilltop in Dallas to take on the Southern Methodist Mustangs. SMU is one win away from becoming bowl eligible. It would be the first bowl game for the Mustangs since 1984. The road gets tough for SMU starting with this game against Houston, followed by Tulsa and a visit to Rice. Houston on the other hand is setting its self up nicely to host the Conference USA Championship Game. The trip to SMU appears to be the last hurdle, as they finish the season on the road against last place Memphis. U of H is bowl eligible for the 3^rd time in 4 years, the first time that has happened since 1978-1981. If the Coogs win this one, it will be their 8^th victory, the first time that has happened since 1990. Think, the Coogs are winning all these games without splicing porno clips into the game film. The U oh H QB, Kevin Kolb, has been nominated as a finalist for the O’Brien National QB Award. (Of course we all know that Davy O’Brien played QB at TCU (Dallas Woodrow Wilson High School Grad) in the Southwest Conference. Ahh, the glory days. He won the national championship at TCU in 1938 but he might not be the best QB in Horn Frog history. Some could argue those honors should be saved for one Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.) This should be a good match of old SWC foes, and has championship implications.

Other notable games this week:

Arkansas vs. Tennessee

Rice at Tulsa

Texas at K-State (Could wrap up Big 12 South Title)

Texas A&M vs. Nebraska (Fran: Touchdowns = 7 points, Field Goals = 3 points)

TCU at New Mexico

Texas Tech at OU

Last week’s Game of the Week:

Oklahoma defeated Texas A&M before a rowdy crowd at Kyle Field 17-16. OU jumped out to an early 14-3 lead in the first quarter, but would only score a field goal the rest of the way off an A&M turnover. The Aggies tried to catch up in 3’s. After a failed 3^rd and goal pass from the 2, A&M settled for a field goal with 7 minutes to go to cut the lead to 17-13. With 3 minutes to go, A&M again elected to kick a field goal. They would never get the ball back, with OU converting a 4^th and inches on the 29 yard line and sealing the win. After the game the media informed Fran that field goals are worth 3 points, not 4, and touchdowns are worth 6 points with a chance for 1 or 2 more. He’s going to put that in the game plan for Nebraska.

Other scores;

Arkansas 26 S. Carolina 20 (Look out for the Hogs…, how great would an Arkansas vs. Texas game be this year?)

Texas Tech 55 Baylor 21 (Baylor is missing starting QB Bell.)

Houston 27 Tulsa 10

Rice 37 UTEP 31 (Rice has won 3 in a row!)

Texas 36 OSU 10

TCU 25 UNLV 10

One final note:

After Saturday, if you are an Aggie and happen to be married to a longhorn, then you have permission to make fun of the longhorns until THE GAME. This is in the pre-nup, so no back talk.

Texans

The last 6 months I've had the pleasure of sitting next to our exchange engineer from Denmark at work. She worked on our project, and we became friends. (A friend at work I've needed lately.) Anyway, she had to write a report as she is going back to her Denmark firm. In her report she put the following, "I've learned that Texans are Texans before they are Americans." I felt so proud, I did my job!

Overheard on Subway

Little Kid to Dad: What is your job?

Dad: I'm a lawyer.

Little Kid: Gibberish, something like what do you do...

Dad: I'm a partner, I'm a head lawyer.

Little Kid: Why is your head so big?

Little kids sometimes are more aware of things than their parents.

What do you want to be when you grow up.

O.K. thanks for b-day wishes, and part II of turning 30, career. When I was little I really thought I'd be a professional baseball player. I think I knew the odds were slim, but I'd overcome them. Then when that dream kinda ended (I still may be discovered on the Central Park softball fields) I wanted to be an architect. Then I figured I was too good at math, so I chose civil engineering.

Now, back track a bit. I loved Legos growing up and built stadiums out of them. Now I'm a structural engineering working on a baseball stadium. Not bad, huh? But what do I want to be when I grow up?

I like my job o.k. but not the industry, which tends to over work people until they jump off a building. But at 30, and after working for a few years, I feel like I know what I want out of a job more than ever, so I feel good about it. I want to be challenged at work. I want to do meanful work. I'm proud of civil engineering and feel like in a certain way we serve the public. I like to say civil engineers have added more years to your life than doctors have. I don't want to just push money around. It'd pay better, but I don't think I'd have as high of a satisfaction. I'm not putting anyone down, just telling you how I feel. I also want to go home at 5:30 or 6:00 and have the weekends off. I think I'm a motivated and hard worker, but there is a long list of things I like to do outside of work. I enjoy my softball leagues, I like to have time to read books, I like to jog, I like to go to events (performances, sports, etc.), I enjoy teaching Sunday School at Church, and I like to spend time with my wife and soon to be baby. I think this makes me better at my job as well.

So, at 30 I feel like I know what I want out of a career more than I did when I started. And I'm looking for it, and have some nice leads.

Coming up...

Family, Where to Live, Friends ...

SWC Game of the Week; OU at Texas A&M

This week’s game of the week is the OU Sooners traveling down to College Station to play the Texas A&M Aggies on prime time ABC. Kickoff will be at 7 PM Eastern, or 8 PM for the East Coast Media outlets, like this one. OU is ranked #18 but is without their star running back, Adrian Peterson. Not to mention they are playing without projected starting QB Rhett Bomar who cheated this summer so they didn’t let him play. But the Sooners only lost is to the Texas Longhorns, who have not had the privilege of beating A&M yet. A&M, ranked 21^st, is a bit of a surprise this year at 8-1, only losing to Texas Tech at the last minute. The Aggies seem to be hanging on by the “skin of their teeth” but come up winners each week. They will be tested this November though, as the schedule gets a big tougher with OU, Nebraska at home, then the annual showdown with texas in Austin. Now, are the Aggies all hat and no cattle, or are they ready to play with the big boys? This game will go a long way to determining that. OU’s defense is coming together and will be the test for QB Steven McGee who has led A&M on several drives late to win games.

Bit of series information, OU leads all time14-10 with the first meeting in 1908. OU was a charter member of the SWC before leaving a few years later. OU has won the last 3 games, but the A&M victory was over a #1 ranked OU squad at Kyle Field. Of course that got a man fired. OU then won the next game 77-0, and it was worse than the score indicated.

Other games this week:

Arkansas at South Carolina

Baylor at Texas Tech (Old SWC foes)

Houston vs. Tulsa (Cue Coog fans, go to a game.)

Rice at UTEP

Texas vs. OK State

TCU at UNLV (see editorial comment about TCU below.)

SMU has a bye after playing on Tuesday, Tuesday?

Last week’s game of week:

A&M defeated Baylor 31-21 and won the Battle of the Brazos for another year. A late 65 yard TD run by Michael Goodson sealed the win for the Aggies.

Texas beat Texas Tech 35-31 at Jones Stadium in Lubboch. Tech lead most of the game. QB Colt McCoy had another solid game and Texas won a game that good teams do.

Other games last week:

Arkansas 44 La Monroe 10

Houston 51 UCF 31 (Where are the Cougar fans? Not at the games.)

SMU 22 UAB 9 (on Halloween, on ESPN2, with the worse commentating ever.)

TCU 26 Wyoming 3

Who else thinks TCU isolated themselves from the rest of the state by joining the Mountain West? 4 of the Texas teams are in the Big 12, the other 3 in CUSA, then TCU. They play no in state rivals for conference play. Not smart in this writer’s opinion.

Lyrics

One of my favorite songs is Guy Clark's Dublin Blues. I like this line, "I'd loved you from the git go, and I'll love you when I die. I loved you on the Spainish Steps the day you said goodbye."

I think that's how Katie and I are, I loved her from the git go, and I'll love her when I die. She did not however say goodbye to me last fall when we were on the Spainish Steps in Rome.

I like the first line too, "I wish I was in Austin, In the Chili Parlour Bar, Drinkin' Mad Dog Margaritas, And not carin' where you are." That's what I want to say to my boss some days.

You know, I turn 30 on Monday. So I thought I should blog on turning 30. This is the first installment. Number one in my life is my love, Katielady. And I loved her from the git go.

Golden Arches

So, there is a new McDonald's in my neighborhood. Now, our neighborhood is rich yuppies with kids in the Upper West Side, so politically they hate big stories like McDonald's and Walmart. After all, those are for the ignorant bunch in "middle America." But, one blog east is a lower income neighborhood, including public housing. These folks eat at McDonald's.

So, today, they had the clown, Ronald, out there talking to the kids. It must have been a nightmare for the yuppie parents with their kids.

Now, we don't eat at McDonald's. It is more because we really don't eat fast food unless we are on a road trip, then you don't really have choices. And we watched "Super Size Me," so now we don't want eat there for health reasons. But, if they want to put a McDonald's on your street, I don't see how it is worth getting upset about. Just don't eat there. And if it's 11 PM and you want tasty fries, you have that option.

Another thing about this that is interesting is to me it relates the growing trend in Manhattan of the dreaded chains moving in. It is ironic, that normal people can't hardly afford to live here, and those that are rich don't like chains, but chains are the only ones that can afford to put a store in. So, Manhattan is turning into a big outdoor mall.

SWC Game of the Week: Texas vs. Texas Tech: A&M vs. Baylor

This week we have a double header featuring the Texas Longhorns traveling to West Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Battle of the Brazos as the Texas Aggies go to Waco to play the Baylor Bears.

First Texas vs. Texas Tech. Texas leads the all time series 40-14 with 3 wins in a row. They first played in 1928 and played 9 times before Texas Tech joined the SWC in 1960. Texas is coming off a big win in Nebraska, but has questions in the secondary. Those questions will be tested against Texas Tech and their circus offense. Texas Tech is not very good this year, remember, I keep saying that. But, never underestimate the power of a drunken rowdy crowd for this night game. Texas is lead by red-shirt freshman Colt McCoy, who proves you don’t have to be outstanding to play QB, just don’t make mistakes.

The Aggies and the Bears will meet for the 103^rd time, the 2^nd longest rivalry in Baylor history. A&M leads the series 63-30-9, but the last two games have gone to overtime, with each side taking home a victory. The first game was in 1899 (WHOOP!), and A&M won 33-0. Now, there was a time when certain folks were in school that a game against Baylor was a time to get out of the big city of BCS, go to the Dr. Pepper Museum, eat at Health Camp, enjoy the Baylor girls (“if you can’t get a wife at Baylor, you can’t get a wife”) and watch a football game. No more, these Bears are getting better under Guy Morris and A&M won last week on two missed extra points to a team that U of H destroyed. Of course I think I remember Baylor being ranked when A&M played them in 1995. Anyway, Baylor is not the doormat of the league anymore and A&M isn’t the power it used to be. Should be a good game.

Other notable games:

Arkansas vs. La Monroe

Houston vs. UCF (18,000 at the last UH home game, come on Houston)

SMU vs. UAB on ESPN on Halloween. Go Ponies!

TCU vs. Wyoming

Rice has a bye, but no “I think they can win this one” jokes, they are on a 2 game win streak

Last Week:

Arkansas 38 Ole Miss 3

Baylor 36 Kansas 35

Houston 34 UTEP 17

Rice 40 UCF 29

East Carolina 38 SMU 21

Texas 22 Nebraska 20

Texas A&M 34 OK State 33

TCU 31 Army 17

Texas Tech 42 Iowa State 27

College Football Fans

This is from Richard Justice's Blog on the Houston Chronicle web site. I couldn't agree more. As I've stepped back now these past few years. What I like to say is how many millions are spent on stadiums, locker rooms, whatever they think of next so I can brag at work on Monday morning that my college team beat your college team.

Don't tell anyone this, but I love poking college football fans. They take themselves so seriously. I just don't get this dressing up in the school colors and going to a college football game 30 years after leaving school. I don't get the whole "Longhorn Bob" and "Cougar Scott" thing. As Russ Springer said last year when Chris Burke was cheering loudly for the University of Tennessee, "Cut the cord.'' I love the University of Texas more than you can imagine. I love Garrison Hall and, uh, Scholz Garten. But writing about the football team is my job. I like to see them do well. I think it would be kind of sick to root for someone to fail. I root for Stoops and Fran and Mike Leach, too. I also occasionally take a few shots because when you criticize a college team, people act as if you've offended a member of the family. It's actually pretty funny if you stop and think how ridiculous it all is. And here's the thing: you're all alike. You'll never admit this, but all of you are alike. Tech fans curse a little more. UH fans have more of a chip on their shoulders. Texas fans are a little more arrogant. Aggie fans are a little more goofy. Before you write in and tell me, I acknowledge that University of Texas fans dress nicer and are better educated (Editor's note: this is a shot at UT; in some of the early posts, many of you have taken it as praise). So cool it. But at the end of the day, there are far more similarities than differences. They all run around screaming like this stuff is important and getting all worked up when they think they've been offended. It's fun.

Now, I like to go to the games, but I think we all need some perspective.

Baby

I felt the baby kick last night. It was cool.

Baseball live blogging:
Do you see how much gum that Detroit player on the bench has in his mouth? Must be like 8 pieces.

Is that a #11 bar Frank Thomas is swinging in the on deck circle?

That's all, going to bed while I can still fall asleep listening to the rain against the windows. Quite a day in NY, what with a plane crashing into a building and it turning out to be the Yankees, again dominating the news despite the fact the Mets are in the NLCS. And the Mets got rained out. I'd feel sorry for them, but the Mets are evil.

What age are you too old to dress up for Halloween? I say 12.

SWC Game of the Week: Baylor at Texas

This week’s game is the Baylor at Texas. Baylor is 2-0 in Big 12 play, coming off an overtime win at Colorado. Texas, of course, beat OU last week in last week’s SWC Game of the Week. This is the 96th meeting between the two schools with Texas leading the all time series 69-22-4. The first game was won by Texas 29-0 on October 29, 1901 in Austin. Anyone remember that one? Last year Texas won 62-0. This is the first time since 1963 that the two have met when both were undefeated in conference play. Texas has won 8 in a row against the Bears, the last win by Baylor was 23-21 in 1997. (That was fun, I remember we got a kick out of that in College Station.) The 8 in a row is the second longest win streak by Texas in the series. Texas won 13 in a row before Baylor beat them 34-24 in 1974 in the game dubbed “The Miracle on the Brazos.” The Bears went on to win the SWC that year and play in the Cotton Bowl. Their only conference loss that year was to A&M. (Ahh, the glory days…) Bad news for the Bears, the Longhorns hold a 41-8-2 advantage in Austin. Well, those are the numbers, maybe Baylor can hang in there. The game will be broadcast nationally on TBS, kicking off at 6 PM CST.

Other games this week:
A&M hosts Missouri
Texas Tech travels to Colorado
SMU vs. Marshal
Rice vs. UAB
Houston at Southern Miss.

Last week:Texas defeated the OU Sooners in Dallas 28-10. The Longhorns trailed at the half 10-7 at the half before dominating the second half and sending the Sooner faithful to an early exit. Did everyone see that OU kid crying at the end? Reminds me of Game 6, 1986.

Arkansas 27 Auburn 10 (BIG WIN FOR SWC)
Baylor 34 Colorado 31 (Sic ‘Em Bears!)
La – Laf 31 Houston 28 (Bad loss for Cougs, Miami hangover?)
Tulane 38 Rice 24
UTEP 24 SMU 21 (Mustang rally falls short)
Texas A&M 21 Kansas 18 (Fran escapes, lives to fight another day)
Utah 20 TCU 7 (How fast are folks falling off this bandwagon?)
Missouri 38 Texas Tech 21 (Tech is not very good this year.)

Southwest Conference Game of the Week: Texas vs. OU

This week’s SWC Game of the Week features the Texas Longhorns vs. the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma was a charter member of the SWC before leaving after one year, but this game has been a fixture for the entire history of the conference. Texas leads the all time series 56-39-5 and won last year 45-12. The previous 5 years found OU victorious. This year marks the 101st meeting of the two schools who have met in Dallas since 1912 and have met annually at the Cotton Bowl since 1929. Only the Texas vs. Texas A&M game has a longer tenure on the longhorn schedule. This year the Longhorns enter the game ranked #7 with a 4-1 record, the only loss to #1 Ohio State at home. Oklahoma is ranked #14 with a 3-1 record, with a controversial lose to Oregon. Oklahoma will be without Rhett Bomar, who was expected to lead the Sooners this year, but instead got himself suspended after having a summer job we’d all like to have. Texas will be lead by redshirt freshman Colt McCoy. Adrian Peterson, the OU running back, will be the focus of the OU offense on his way to being passed up by the Houston Texans in the NFL draft. Of course the best thing about this game is the corn dogs and Big Tex. Of course this year at the State Fair, FRIED COKE!!!

Last Week’s Game:
The Texas Tech Red Raiders beat the Texas A&M Aggies with a last minute touchdown. The final score, 31-27. A&M went up 27-24 with 2 minutes to go with a field goal. Tech came back down the field and with a 37 yard touchdown pass went ahead for good with 20 seconds ago. The good news, Fran may be on his way out. The bad news, A&M keeps losing to Tech, 9 out of the last 11 years. It was a great game though.

Around the league:
Baylor 17 KSU 3
Miami 14 Houston 13
Rice 48 Army 14
SMU 33 Tulane 28
Texas 56 Sam Houston 3

This week’s games:
Arkansas at Auburn
Baylor at Colorado (Could the Bears go 2-0 on the Big 12 year?)
Houston vs. UL LA
Rice at Tulane
SMU at UTEP
Texas A&M at Kansas (Will Fran stay in Kansas after the game, for good?)
TCU at Utah State
Texas Tech vs. Missouri

Jesse

Forgot to mention:

We saw Jesse Jackson last Tuesday when we went for the ultrasound. He was outside the fancy hotel at Time Warner Center. Katie was asking, "Don't these people have jobs," as we fought our way through the crowd. Then we saw him and I said, "Jesse Jackson doesn't have a job."

For a man that represents repressed African Americans, he sure stays in nice hotels.

SWC Game of the Week: Texas Tech at Texas A&M

This week’s SWC Game of the week features the Texas Tech Red Raiders traveling to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies. A&M leads the all time series 34-29-1, dating to 1923, but Texas Tech has won 8 of the last 11. Texas A&M has won 8 of the last 10 at Kyle Field though. A&M takes it’s unproven 4-0 record into the contest. Texas Tech’s only loss was at TCU, where they failed to score a touchdown. A&M’s 4-2-5 defense (nickel) will get it’s first real test against Mike Leach’s offense. A&M always seems to bring out the best in Texas Tech, the last 2 games at Kyle Field have gone to overtime. Aggie head coach Dennis Franchione tenure at A&M could also be at stake.

This series has been surrounded by talk lately of moving to a neutral site, Dallas’ Cotton Bowl. This move, if completed, would be a terrible move for the spirit behind the games at both Kyle Field and Jones Stadium. Let’s all voice our displeasure to the respected AD’s.

Other notable games this week:
Houston at Miami (remember 1990? 4-0 Cougs go to Miami…)
Rice at Army

Last week’s results:
Arkansas 24 Alabama 23 (Game of the week delivers an OT classic)
Army 27 Baylor 20 (Another OT game)
Houston 34 OK State 25
FSU 55 Rice 7 (Rice was tied 7-7 at one point)
SMU 55 Arkansas St. 9
Texas 37 Iowa State 14
Texas A&M 45 La Tech 14
Texas Tech 62 SE La 0

Ramblings

So, everyone should know by now if you read Katie's blog, we're having a boy! I'm excited. Lots of ball games in my future! We bought the crib today! The one we had picked out was discontinued, so we had to debate in the store, but we went up in price instead of down. I had the "gun" while we finished our registry, so there's lots of different sports stuff.

I finally found a "Texas Aggies" t-shirt online. I want one that says "Texas Aggies" as our Yankee AD (he's from Idaho, or some yankee state up there) has decided that people in Ohio get Texas Aggies mixed up with texas longhorns, so we must brand Texas A&M. I say, screw people in Ohio. The one problem with my "Texas Aggies" shirt, .... IT'S GREEN! WHY?

Finally, I had to work this morning, after my boss emailed FRIDAY MORNING from CHICAGO, that he wanted everyone to work one day this weekend, then we had to tell him which day. I deleted email, went in Sat. morning for a half day. I could write a book about things I think are wrong with my industry, my boss, and my office atmosphere. I told them all about the baby this week, I'm sure they will soon forget. My boss can't remember where I went to college, even though I've told him 5 times at least. So, that tells me my boss doesn't give a damn about me, just makes small talk when he thinks it's appropriate. Let's just say, there is not a family atmosphere there. But I have prospects elsewhere, as NY with baby is very expensive. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not the Dallas office of my company.

SWC Game of the Week: Alabama at Arkansas

I know, I know, but remember Arkansas was a member of the SWC. Arkansas was a charter member of the SWC before jumping ship and ruining forever what was once great. Arkansas left the SWC in 1992 to join the SEC. It was fun rooting against them that last year though. Arkansas won 7 SWC football titles, including 1988 and 1989. They won one national championship as a SWC member in 1964. Of course the most famous game that Arkansas played was against Texas in Arkansas in 1969. Even Nixon went to the game! Texas won the matchup 15-14 (Don’t they always win?) The game featured two legendary coaches matching up, Texas’ Darrell Royal and Arkansas Frank Broyles. Arkansas has started this year 2-1, losing to USC. Alabama is 3-0 and ranked #22. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

Other notable games this week:
Baylor vs. Army (Army plays A&M, Baylor, TCU, and SMU this year, making them an honorary member of the SWC)
Houston vs. OK State (C-USA vs. Big 12)

Last week:
Arkansas 21 Vanderbilt 19
Baylor 15 Washington State 17
Houston 42 Grambling 22
Texas 52 Rice 7
SMU 45 Sam Houston 14
Texas A&M 28 Army 24
TCU 12 Texas Tech 3

SWC Game of the Week: Texas Tech at TCU

This week’s game of the week is Texas Tech at TCU. TCU is ranked #20 and Texas Tech in #24 in the AP poll. Both teams enter the contest 2-0. Tech leads the all time series 28-22-3. The first meeting was in 1926 and the last time they played was in 2004. Texas Tech joined the conference in 1960 and has never won an outright title. TCU was a charter member of the SWC.

Tech’s high flying offense this year is led by sophomore Graham Harrell. Yet again Tech has a new quarterback, but this year he is not a senior. TCU finished last season ranked 9 in the USA Today Coaches Bowl and hopes to crash the BCS party. Since 2000 they have had 4 10 win seasons and 3 conference championships.

This matchup of ranked opponents promises to be a great one, so if you’re in the Fort Worth area, you should try to make it out to the game.

In other SWC action, Texas looks to continue it’s domination of Rice.

In last week’s SWC game of the week, Texas lost to Ohio State 24-17. Other games: Arkansas beat Utah State 20-0, Baylor won over NW State 47-10, The U of H Cougars beat Tulane 45-7, Rice gave UCLA a run for their money before losing 26-16, SMU lost a disappointing game to North Texas 24-6, Texas A&M dominated UL at Laf. 51-7, TCU beat UC Davis 46-13, and Texas Tech outlasted UTEP 38-35 in overtime in El Paso.

SWC Game of the Week: Texas vs. Ohio State

This week’s game is the big game in the nation, #1 Ohio State vs. #2 Texas. This game will be the ABC Saturday night game, broadcast nation wide from Austin, TX. Ohio State looks for revenge for last year’s 25-22 loss at the horseshoe in Ohio. Texas will of course be without QB Vince Young, who led the longhorns to victory last year, but redshirt freshman Colt McCoy looked impressive in last weeks blowout win over North Texas. The real question for McCoy will be how he will respond to the pressure against a quality program. The supporting cast around McCoy is as good as ever and the stingy longhorn defense should make it difficult for the Buckeyes to score.

Ohio State is coming off a 35-12 win over Northern Illinois. QB Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr lead OSU on offense, with Ginn a Heisman hopeful. With the arrest of Texas’ Tarell Brown, who was to cover Ginn, it will be interesting if that changes anyone’s game plan. This game, of course, has national championship implications. I hope Brent Mustburger is up for it.

This matchup will of course bring up the rivalry between Ohio HS football vs. Texas HS football. Of course, the Texas talent is spread out a bit more than the Ohio Talent. Consider this fact: 375 Texas high school players signed national letters of intent for D-I schools compared with 131 in Ohio. The 375 Texans is more than any other state. 31 Texans were taken in the NFL draft this year. This total is second only to California (36).

Now let’s look at last week’s scores:

@ Arkansas 14 USC 50
@ Baylor 7 TCU 17 (104th meeting)
Houston 31 @ Rice 30 (Last Week’s Game of the Week, UH scored the last 17 points of the game to pull out victory.)
SMU 3 @ Texas Tech 35
@ Texas 56 North Texas 7
@ Texas A&M 35 Citadel 3

Standings: Overall: Conference:
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Houston 1 0 1 0
TCU 1 0 1 0
Texas Tech 1 0 1 0
Texas 0 0 1 0
Texas A&M 0 0 1 0
Arkansas 0 0 1 0
Baylor 0 1 0 1
Rice 0 1 0 1
SMU 0 1 0 1