In order for the Houston Texans to contend for real in the AFC, there are some things they need to have happen.
They’re going to need Deshaun Watson to keep playing hard. The Texans quarterback has been dealing with a chest injury, and yet still guided them to victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Watson is tough, sure, but he’s more than tough, he’s completed 63 percent of his passes. Houston could do with a tad bit more consistency out of Watson though, at the time of writing he’s thrown seven interceptions to just 10 touchdowns.
They’ll need their playmakers to keep making plays. DeAndre Hopkins is having a great year so far, and the Texans will need him to keep making explosive plays if they want other wide recievers like Will Fuller and Keke Coutee to keep making plays as well. When one wideout draws the coverage, the rest of them benefit. Lamar Miller needs to make more plays in the rushing game as well.
Finally, on the defensive side of the ball, they need to keep rushing the passer well. The Texans front seven is downright nasty, and they’ll need to keep the pressure on opposing gunslingers in order to play for real in the AFC. JJ Watt, Jadaveon Clowney, and Whitney Mercilus can all create nightmares for opposing offensive lines, and need to keep doing what they’re doing.
The Texans are in a very weak division, and might very well win that by virtue of not being the absolute worst. Contending in the AFC is still a bit of a longshot for right now, especially with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs appearing Super Bowl bound. The Texans have the pieces in place, but it may very well just be someone else’s year. Eventually though, they’ll begin to make waves
Texas has, so far, taken the college football world by surprise. The one-loss Longhorns are currently leading the Big 12 and are poised to have their first very successful season in what feels like forever.
These developments have some fans talking about the holy grail: the College Football Playoff. It could happen, they reason, the rest of the college football world outside of Alabama isn’t great, they say. They’re correct, this isn’t a deep roster of teams in 2018. However, a Texas berth in the College Football Playoff is a little bit premature, but not outside of the realm of possibility.
Yes, the Longhorns are ranked No. 6 in the nation. But according to Bill Connelly’s S&P+, a series of stats and rankings intended to be predictive of a team’s success over the whole season, the Longhorns rate just No. 38. Connelly’s number are by and large accurate when it comes to predicting victories, and so far, the data shows that the Longhorns’ rushing offense without Keaontay Ingram just isn’t explosive enough to predict lots of victories in the points-laden Big 12, and that when the Longhorns turn the ball over, they do it in the worst possible scenarios.
Keep in mind as well that Texas still has to play West Virginia, go on the road to play Texas Tech, and take on the crushing defense of Iowa State. At the halfway mark of the season, though, the Longhorns are still sitting pretty.
You might say, so what, these fancy numbers indicate that the Longhorns are going to lose a game or so, but numbers have been wrong before. You’re correct! Unfortunately for the Longhorns’ playoff hopes, their loss was to Maryland. Maryland looked good at the beginning of the season, but is sitting at a very average 4-3 record at the time of writing. Contrast this with the rest of the current AP top four teams, three of which (Alabama, Clemson, and Notre Dame) have no losses and LSU, who only has a loss to a top 10 ranked Florida. Yes, the SEC bias is real and is carrying lots of water for that LSU loss, but Florida is still currently a one-loss team and at least deserves to be ranked. Contrast that with Maryland, who, well, doesn’t.
It’s an uphill climb and the Longhorns are working against some tough forces. Fortunately for Tom Herman and the boys, they’re arriving a year early. If the Longhorns don’t make the playoff, don’t sweat it. They’ll return nearly every impact player next year, and be fully ready to make a playoff push in 2019 should they get left out in 2018. Kick back and enjoy the ride.
Kimi Raikkonen took his Ferrari to victory in the FORMULA 1 PIRELLI 2018
UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX. It was the Finn’s first win since the 2013
Australian Grand Prix. Joining him on the podium in Austin were Max Verstappen and Lewis
Hamilton, second and third respectively for Red Bull Racing and Mercedes. The Englishman thus closes in on a fifth world title, extending his lead over
Sebastian Vettel by a further three points, after the German finished fourth today. Hamilton now leads by 70 points with three races remaining.
It was a really exciting race, with the crowd on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Raikkonen produced an impeccable drive, doing a clever job of
managing his tyres and getting every last drop of performance out of his Ferrari.
Raikkonen was the only front runner to start on the Ultrasoft tyres and he overtook pole sitter Hamilton at the first corner, settling down to a fast pace,
although he never really shook off his pursuers. Behind these two, Valtteri Bottas held onto third place, while Daniel Ricciardo and Vettel locked horns.
As was the case a fortnight ago in Suzuka, the German found himself colliding with a Red Bull and spinning before dropping down the order.
Ricciardo was able to continue and seemed to be heading for a good result, given his pace, but on lap 9, his Red Bull stopped because of an engine energy
store failure. The Australian thus posted yet another retirement in what has been a troubled season. As for Verstappen, having started 18th, he charged
up the order, just as he had done in Russia, to come up behind his team-mate.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed while Ricciardo’s car was removed and Hamilton made the most of it to minimise the time lost compared to his rivals,
by coming in for Soft tyres on lap 11. At the time, Mercedes’ strategy seemed to be the right one, in that Hamilton had rejoined in third place and easily
closed on Raikkonen, who was running a longer stint. The Ferrari man stayed out until lap 21 before making his only pit stop, he too now running the Softs.
Behind the top two, drivers went for different strategies: having started on Softs, Verstappen tried the undercut on Bottas, stopping on lap 23 to take on
the Supersofts. Bottas responded next time round, fitting Softs. The Red Bull gamble paid off, because the Dutchman was able to get ahead of Bottas asthe
Finn rejoined the track and also because the Supersoft was clearly able to go all the way to the end without suffering much degradation.
The same could not be said of the Soft compound, especially on the two Mercedes. Hamilton started to suffer with a bit of degradation at the start of
lap 30, which saw his lead over Raikkonen drop from 17 to 9 seconds in just six laps. Inevitably, the championship leader had to make a second stop for a
set of new Softs, after which, he rejoined in fourth place.
On lap 38, Raikkonen led the race, with a 2.5 second advantage over Verstappen. Bottas was 9.1s back, Hamilton at 12s and Vettel trailed his team-
mate by 16.2 seconds. Quite rightly, Mercedes asked Bottas to move over for Hamilton after which the Englishman charged after the two cars in front. If he
had managed to take second place and his team-mate could have held off Vettel, then a fifth title was in the bag, here in the United States.
But the race ended with a different script. Hamilton tried all he could to pass Verstappen, but the Dutchman fought him in a hard but fair manner,
especially on lap 54, when Hamilton seemed to have got the upper hand, before running wide in the final sector, which meant Verstappen could make
good his escape. This scrap played into Raikkonen’s hands, as he managed to eke out a small lead. But it was all he needed to return to the top step of the
podium after a very long absence.
On that 54th lap, Bottas was clearly struggling even more with his tyres and had to give best to Vettel, who thus managed to limit the damage, keeping
the title fight alive for at least one more round.
The fight for the top places was fascinating all the way to the end, but the other points places were not completely decided until well after the
chequered flag had been waved. Nico Hulkenberg crossed the line in sixth spot, followed by Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio
Perez. However, post-race scrutineering led to the disqualification of Force India’s French driver, because his “fuel mass flow exceeded 100 kg/hr during
Lap 1 of the race.” A similar fate befell Haas’ Danish driver, because the “amount of fuel consumed exceeded 105 kg during the race.” This promoted
Brendon Hartley to ninth and Marcus Ericsson to tenth.
After this trip to the States, which featured an F1 show on the streets of Miami as well as the Formula 1 race, the pinnacle of motorsport stays in the
Americas, moving on to Mexico City where the FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE MEXICO 2018 takes place at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez next weekend.
Stars Tame Wild with Second Straight Four-Goal Third Period
CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, and the Iowa Wild were scoreless in the first half of tonight’s game at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, but combined for nine goals in route to a 5-4 Stars win. Texas scored four goals in the third period for the second straight game to earn the win and put Iowa in the loss column for the first time this season.
Ben Gleason opened the scoring for the Stars to tie the Wild in the second period with his first goal of the season. The power play tally was the first of three goals on the man advantage for the Stars in the game as the rookie defenseman danced his way to an unassisted goal.
With the tie score holding until the third period, the flood gates opened. Mike Liambas scored his third of the season on a rebound for the Wild to advance the score to Iowa’s favor. The Stars turned a power play into the tying goal four minutes later. Michael Mersch connected for his second goal in as many games, battling in front of the crease at 5:28 of the third period. Less than thirty seconds later, Nicholas Caamano cashed in his second goal of the season, deflecting the puck off an Iowa defender and into the net.
The Stars seemed to control the pace but Iowa answered as Cal O’Reilly scored his first of the year to tie the game at 3-3. Penalty time continued to hurt the Wild who put the Stars on eight power plays in the game. At 9:01, Gleason continued his successful night, launching a pass to Joel L’Esperance for a redirection. The goal pushed the Stars to a lead that they never relinquished.
Third year forward Denis Gurianov helped the Stars solidify the win with insurance in the final six minutes. The winger notched his fourth goal in four games and held the game winning goal in the decision due to a final tally by Luke Kunin. The Wild netminder Andrew Hammond was pulled in the remaining 30 seconds to help pull his team within one goal but he suffered the loss with 21 saves as the comeback fell short.
LandonBow earned his third win with the Stars, making 26 saves in the team’s victory.
The two teams meet again tomorrow night for a rematch at the H-E-B Center at 7 p.m.
Cedar Park’s 28-game district winning streak came to a resounding end Friday as it became the latest victim of Hutto’s deadly offense in a 65-21 thrashing at Hippo Stadium in Hutto.
Hutto senior quarterback Chase Griffin threw for 480 yards with six touchdowns and no turnovers on 23-of-29 passing in a game that was basically over at halftime.
“This isn’t just your average ballclub over there,” said Hutto coach Brad LaPlante. “This is Cedar Park. You’re talking 2012, 2015 state champs.”
Small but dynamic senior running back Chux Nwabuko scored four touchdowns (two rushing, two receiving) and had 131 total yards (70 on the ground, 61 through the air) on 19 touches (14 runs, five receptions).
Senior wide receiver D.J. Baptist had his best game of the year with 227 yards and three touchdowns on five grabs. Fellow senior receiver Caleb Forrest added seven catches for 70 yards.
“For Coach Kirklan, our offensive coordinator, it’s just a matter of time. We can dink and dunk and then finally we can get a matchup that we like, and then we can go for the home run ball,” LaPlante said. “Who are you going to defend? If you’re man-to-man over here, you might be zone over there. Fortunately, we’re good enough that we’re going to find that matchup.”
As good as the skill guys played, LaPlante made sure it was known none of it would’ve happened without some stout play from the offensive line.
“It starts with all that protection. There were a lot of passes over 50 yards tonight. You don’t do that without time,” LaPlante said. “At times they did a good job of catching us on a protection where they sent too many to one side, but we didn’t miss a lot of blocks up front.”
After trading touchdowns on their opening possessions, the Hippos went on a38-7 run to finish the first half that sent most of the Timberwolves fans scrambling to their cars to get out of the rain and avert their eyes from the carnage.
Jacob Berry scored Hutto’s first defensive touchdown of the season with an interception return in the opening stanza off Cedar Park sophomore quarterback Ryder Hernandez. The Hippos held Hernandez to just 12 completions on 38 attempts as Cedar Park failed to reach five yards per play.
“I know the potential of this defense because I play against them every day,” Griffin said. “Going up against an offense, we’re sharp in practice, I feel betters them, and going up against a defense with a great front seven and defensive backs who have speed is a great test for us each week. So we get better. Iron sharpens iron, and it great walking out with that defense.”
It was a far cry from last year’s matchup, where Cedar Park sacked Griffin six times in a 35-25 win.
“We spent a whole another year working and that showed,” Griffin said. “We had confidence out training. As long as we rely on that each game and got out and execute a good gameplan, which we’ve been doing each week, we’ll come out victorious.”
(AUSTIN, TX) The Fight for Equality in American Sports examines the intersection of social justice and sports in the United States. The exhibition celebrates athletes who have broken barriers and spoken out for equality, both on and off the playing field.
Get in the Game begins at the turn of the nineteenth century by exploring the experiences of athletes of color in the early days of organized American sports and how those athletes contributed to the development of modern day athletics. “From Jack Johnson (recently pardoned by President Donald J. Trump) to Jackie Robinson and Billie Jean King to Jason Collins and Ibtihaj Muhammad, Get in the Game reflects sports as an indelible platform toward our ongoing quest for civil rights and social justice for all Americans,” said Mark K. Updegrove, President and CEO, LBJ Foundation.
The exhibition continues through to current day, stopping along the way to spotlight athletes and events that have contributed to or changed conversations around issues of race, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and religion in the United States.
By connecting beloved sports figures and defining athletic moments within the greater context of American history, visitors of all ages will learn about the courage of these leaders and view current sports issues in a discerning light. An interactive social media wall encourages an ongoing conversation about equality in sports. #LBJGetInTheGame
Exhibition highlights
Stephen Curry, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron James autographed jerseys
Olympic Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad’s hijab, mask, and jacket
Michael Jordan’s first Nike Air Jordan Sneakers and others from 1985-2000
Venus and Serena Williams’ 2008 Olympic uniforms
Muhammad Ali’s autographed boxing gloves
Billie Jean King’s tennis dress
Jackie Robinson’s game-worn pants and autographed baseball
Jim Brown’s shoulder pads and autographed football
Jesse Owens’ diary from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
Lee Trevino’s glove and hat
Negro League baseball jerseys and cleats
Black Fives Era basketball artifacts
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League artifacts
Colin Kaepernick and Colt McCoy autographed football
And lots more!
Generous support of the exhibition is provided by The University of Texas at Austin.
Not many thought Westlake would beat six-time state champion Lake Travis for the second straight year. Not even the most fervent Westlake supporter would’ve predicted it to happen in a route. But that’s exactly what went down as the Chaps’ superior defense shut down the Cavaliers’ potent offense in a 44-14 win Friday at Chaparral Stadium in Austin.
Lake Travis turned the ball over three times, failed on three fourth-down attempts, mustered only 227 yards on 51 plays for 4.45 yards per play and scored on just one of 10 legitimate drives as Westlake proved last year was no fluke.
“Defensively, there was a belief. This time last year, we won 21-14, held this bunch scoreless in the second half and we believed that we could hold them to that kind of score,” said Westlake coach Todd Dodge. “I’ve got a defensive coordinator (Tony Salazar) who I wouldn’t trade for anyone in the state of Texas. Him and our defensive staff are great teachers of the game of football (on the) defensive side of the ball, and we’ve got a lot of veterans back from last year… and they’re all playing like they’ve played a lot of high school football.”
Westlake controlled the clock and used a couple trick plays to build a 20-7 halftime lead. The Chaps converted a fake punt on the opening drive that led to a 31-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Taylor Anderson to senior wide receiver Penny Baker (five catches, 52 yards) on a run-pass option they just installed that week.
They found the end zone in the second quarter on a clever call where Anderson rolled right, threw it backwards to the opposite side of the field for senior wide receiver Rhett Kelley, who then winded up and tossed a 36-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Jackson Coker (four catches 74 yards).
They also got a pair of field goals from senior kicker Gabe Lozano – one from 40 yards, the other from 38 at the halftime buzzer – and kept Lake Travis’s offense off the field by doubling them in time of possession and total plays.
Lake Travis still came out of halftime believing it could comeback and win, but those hopes took a serious hit when a miscommunication led to Lake Travis junior quarterback Hudson Card throwing to an area with no Cavalier receivers. Westlake senior safety Drew Webster, however, was in the area and turned it into a 61-yard interception return for touchdown that sent shockwaves throughout the stadium.
Card was intercepted again in the third quarter, this time by junior cornerback Leo Lowin, and Anderson dashed for a 64-yard touchdown three plays later to make it 34-7. Anderson added a 29-yard touchdown run in the final period to put the final nail in the coffin. While Card struggled most the night, the less heralded Anderson delighted his coaches with 321 total yards (158 passing, 163 rushing) and three total touchdowns.
“Taylor just continues to be the guy we’ve all known him to be,” Dodge said. “He is a fabulous, fabulous young football player.”
But the key to Westlake’s offense is that it’s a lot more than just Anderson. Senior running back Tripp Graham grinded for 74 yards on 28 carries behind an offensive line that played in complete unison, and the wide receivers repeatedly got open for Anderson downfield.
“Our offensive line continues to right before our eyes get better and better and better. Our wide receiver core is stepping up to make plays,” Dodge said. “We are starting to be an offense that is more difficult to defend by personnel. It’s just not just the Nakia Watson or Tripp Graham show. It’s not just the Taylor Anderson show. We’ve got about four or five skill guys that you’ve got to defend, and if you don’t they’ll make plays, and that’s what we did tonight.”
When Dodge first got to Westlake, his defensive game plans against Lake Travis centered around a heavy blitz package. Last year they decided to rush just three or four and focus more on coverage, which worked. They went with a similar plan again because he was afraid of the more mobile Card shaking off tacklers and creating problems. The secondary rotation of junior Sage Luther, senior Doak Wilson, Webster, Lowin, senior Peyton McDonnel and sophomore Lucas Mireur stepped up the plate and held Card to 4.3 yards per attempt.
They even found a way to quiet superstar senior wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who got behind the defense for an early 42-yard score on a flea flicker, but was held to just six grabs for 31 yards the rest of the night. He did have a 101-yard kickoff return for touchdown, though.
“(Card) is a really, really good quarterback, and he’s going to be a really great quarterback but this was his first time that he played against us and Tony (Salazar) did a great job mixing things up and giving different looks and we were able to capitalize on some errant throws,” Dodge said. “(Limiting Wison was) a huge deal because people had been double-teaming, triple-teaming him all year and he’s still been making plays.”
The Cedar Park Timberwolves beat the Georgetown Eagles 27-24 at home Friday. Coming off the previous week’s tough 38-14 loss to undefeated Hutto High School, Georgetown’s record comes to 3-3 – and 0-2 in district play. The team has now lost its last three games. Cedar Park’s record comes to 5-2, 3-0 in the district. The Timberwolves next Friday play the undefeated Hutto Hippos.
Cedar Park head coach Carl Abseck spoke after the game. “They’re a good football team,” he said about Georgetown. “ … So we knew it was going to be a good game, and we had to play our tails off. We’re a pretty good team, too, so I was proud of our kids and how they played and performed when it was crunch time.”
Cedar Park’s offense dominated early on, the team scoring a touchdown and a field goal in the first quarter; then the team went into halftime with 17-10 lead.
But the Eagles broke out early in the third quarter with a 67-yard run by quarterback Jackson Sioson, who managed to score after escaping a series of tackles.
With the game tied at 17 going into the fourth quarter, Cedar Park took the lead with a field goal, bringing the score to 20-17.
And though Cedar Park scored one more touchdown in the fourth quarter, missing the extra point, it was Georgetown who added some drama to the night by scoring one more touchdown with minutes left in the game – bringing the score to 27-24. But Cedar Park quarterback Ryder Hernandez then kneeled the ball to kill the clock, sealing the team’s victory of Georgetown.
In what would ultimately be the highest total scoring game in the history of the Red River Showdown, the game lived up to its name in historic fashion. Dicker the Kicker of Austin Lake Travis nailed a 40-yard go-ahead field goal with seconds left in the game Saturday a the Cotton Bowl.
No. 19 Longhorns get a huge victory for Tom Herman’s young team with a 48-45 win on Saturday over No. 7 Oklahoma after a heart racing 4th quarter push by the Sooners late at the Red River Showdown. The Longhorns had a lead 45-24 into the fourth quarter but offensively looked rattled through a series of conservative calls. For a the top half of the 4th quarter it looked like Texas was self destructing. However, Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger, looked good all day, put a final game winning drive with about 2:38 left to get the Horns into field goal range. Texas has won five straight on the season and the first over Oklahoma since 2015.
Is Texas Back in the race for a Big 12 Title?
The season is a third of the way into its games and the Horns are looking good at this point with big wins this season over top ranked USC, TCU and now Oklahoma.
Herman has a history for being an underdog. He’s now 10-4 overall and 13-1 versus the spread in similar games. Texas will likely be the favorite for its remaining match ups .
The Horns will host Baylor at DKR next week on Oct 13th where they are so far undefeated at home in 2018.
Outside it was a balmy 80-plus degrees, but inside the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park Friday night, Oct. 5, the ice was cold – marking the beginning of hockey season for the Texas Stars.
The Stars, who are the American Hockey League’s affiliate for the NHL’s Dallas Stars, opened their 10th season with a 3-1 home win over the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Coming off a strong season in which they won the Western Conference Championship with 38-24-0-14 record, the team picked up right where it left off.
Stars left winger Colton Hargrove scored an unassisted goal early in the first period before the Griffins tied the game going into the second period.
In the second period, center Joel L’Esperance scored on assists from Hargrove and right winger Erik Condra, sending the Stars into the third period with a 2-1 lead.
Lastly, Stars center Justin Dowling, in the last remaining minutes of the game, scored in an empty net after Grand Rapids had pulled their goalie.
Ultimately, the Stars took 21 shots on the night; the Griffins took 25, but Stars goalie Landon Bow was a defensive force with 24 saves on the night.
“I thought we were really resilient – kind of the trademark of our organization. I like the way we handled that, especially with 11 new guys in the lineup,” said Stars head coach Derek Laxdal after the game. His contract was extended earlier this year, tonight marking his fifth season leading the team.
“… It’s always tough to get that first win,” he added, “so now we can move forward and focus on the second one.”
The Stars play the Milwaukee Admirals Saturday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m., at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, the Admirals’ first game of the season. Last season, the Stars beat the Admirals three out of four times.
