Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Texas 45 - ou 12, and other scores
I’ve been completely remiss in discussing the fantastic couple of games that my teams put together this weekend. The Longhorns finally manned up against oklahoma and executed a convincing beat-down of the sooners, the Astros hung on through 18 innings to stick it to the Braves (2 in a row, after all those losses in the 90’s!), and the Texans blew another game and are one step closer to firing Dom Capers and hiring a real coach.
Let’s discuss the Longhorns first. They held ou under 100 yards of offense through 3 quarters, scored on some beautiful big plays, and didn’t even come close to playing to their potential. On the one hand, it’s a little nerve wracking to watch your team continue to play sloppy, on the other it’s pretty exciting to imagine them putting together four quarters of their best football. Plus, when you can hang 96 points on two decent opponents without playing particularly well you know you’ve got something special. Now we just have to execute and stay focused and there’s really nothing standing in the way of a big game in Pasadena this January.
As for the Astros, it’s impossible to look at what Roger Clemens has done in Houston and not be in awe, and doubly so when you consider the guy’s age. Those three innings of relief were incredibly clutch, though probably not as much as Brad Ausmus (yes, Brad Ausmus!) stepping up to deliver the series-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the 18th inning in the longest playoff game in MLB history. Ausmus has made a career as a good catcher who doesn’t completely suck at the plate (career .255 average, has never hit 10 home runs in a season), so for him to step up and win the game like that is really amazing.
And finally, the poor Texans. I’ve got confidence in Charlie Casserly, though many people are beginning to question him. I’ve never liked Dom Capers, for what my opinion is worth, and I’m glad this season is going so badly that they’ll have to fire him. I heard today that they might bring in Gary Kubiak, the OC at Denver, and I’d be ok with that. We’ll have to see how this develops.
Someone asked me last night if I would trade David Carr straight up for Joey Harrington. I wasn’t really sure, but as I think more about it I bet both QB’s would like a change of scenery. Things couldn’t get much worse for either one…
Let’s discuss the Longhorns first. They held ou under 100 yards of offense through 3 quarters, scored on some beautiful big plays, and didn’t even come close to playing to their potential. On the one hand, it’s a little nerve wracking to watch your team continue to play sloppy, on the other it’s pretty exciting to imagine them putting together four quarters of their best football. Plus, when you can hang 96 points on two decent opponents without playing particularly well you know you’ve got something special. Now we just have to execute and stay focused and there’s really nothing standing in the way of a big game in Pasadena this January.
As for the Astros, it’s impossible to look at what Roger Clemens has done in Houston and not be in awe, and doubly so when you consider the guy’s age. Those three innings of relief were incredibly clutch, though probably not as much as Brad Ausmus (yes, Brad Ausmus!) stepping up to deliver the series-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the 18th inning in the longest playoff game in MLB history. Ausmus has made a career as a good catcher who doesn’t completely suck at the plate (career .255 average, has never hit 10 home runs in a season), so for him to step up and win the game like that is really amazing.
And finally, the poor Texans. I’ve got confidence in Charlie Casserly, though many people are beginning to question him. I’ve never liked Dom Capers, for what my opinion is worth, and I’m glad this season is going so badly that they’ll have to fire him. I heard today that they might bring in Gary Kubiak, the OC at Denver, and I’d be ok with that. We’ll have to see how this develops.
Someone asked me last night if I would trade David Carr straight up for Joey Harrington. I wasn’t really sure, but as I think more about it I bet both QB’s would like a change of scenery. Things couldn’t get much worse for either one…
