La Vega-China Spring, Baylor-Texas highlight Slovacek's I-35 Showdowns

Slovacek's logoTo honor the loyal football fans that travel great distances to support their favorite team, DCTF and our friends from Slovacek’s in West, Texas are proud to present The Slovacek’s I-35 Showdowns of the Week. Baylor (9-2) vs. Texas (4-7) 11 a.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium in Waco While we normally evaluate football teams on their successes, we can often find out far more about the character of a team in how they rebound from defeat. After both suffering last-minute, heart-breaking losses on Thanksgiving weekend, Baylor and Texas will look to end the regular season on a high note when they meet in Waco on Saturday. One might think that with their Big 12 championship and playoff hopes washed away last week in Fort Worth, Baylor has little to play for and may be ripe for an upset. But potentially beating Texas for a fifth time in six seasons would be especially sweet for the Bears, as it would likely secure them a New Year’s date with Bourbon Street and the school’s first trip to the Sugar Bowl since 1957. For Texas, the goal of gaining some traction heading into 2016 has been a start and stop proposition. Quarterback Jerrod Heard’s heroic performance in the nearly miraculous comeback bid against California and the Longhorn’s magical victory over Oklahoma provided hope, but hopelessly futile efforts in lopsided losses to TCU and Iowa State quickly doused it. The silver lining the Thanksgiving night loss to Texas Tech was the performance of true freshman tailback Chris Warren, who ran wild on the Red Raider defense to the tune of 276 yards and four touchdowns. Baylor’s touted defensive front will present a more formidable resistance to a potential encore from Warren, do expect to see him get plenty of touches as Charlie Strong tries one last time to gain momentum going into the most important offseason of his career. Waco La Vega (13-0) vs. China Spring (12-1) 7 p.m. Thursday at McLane Stadium in Waco The old adage is that it’s hard to beat the same team twice. Coach Willie Williams and the La Vega Pirates will seek to overcome this Thursday night when they face off with the Cougars from China Spring at McLane Stadium. Much like Baylor and TCU’s Black Friday showdown in Fort Worth, the first match up between La Vega and China Spring had the expectation of an offensive shootout before turning into a defensive slugfest. The Pirates emerged victorious back in mid-October, 16-14, by limiting the Cougar offense to just 178 total yards and repelling a last-minute threat. China Spring has bounced back from that defeat with renewed vigor, however, averaging 47 points per contest in the six consecutive wins that have followed. Junior running back Keaton Dudik led the way in their victory over Gatesville last week, with 137 yards and two scores to set up the rematch. The La Vega defense looks to be up to the challenge once again, though, having tuned up for this match up by pitching a shut out in their rain-soaked win over Liberty Hill last week. The game was stilled knotted in a scoreless tie at the end of regulation, before the Pirates scored a touchdown in overtime and held strong one last time to preserve victory.