The 411 on the college football weekend (with one big H.S. prediction at the end)

[caption id="attachment_25796" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by John Hamilton Photo by John Hamilton[/caption] A few in-state clashes, conference losses and emphatic wins highlight this week’s 4-1-1 Four ObservationsAggie hype is growing Texas A&M staked claim as the second best team in the SEC with a definitive victory over Arkansas at Jerry World. Trevor Knight took a step forward in Kevin Sumlin’s offense, proving to SEC defense his legs can be a weapon. Knight struggled with accuracy as a passer, especially early, before settling after two touchdown runs. Knight finished with only 12 completions, but two of those were touchdowns and none were interceptions. He added 157 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground. Alabama remains king, but the Aggies are the currently the second best team in the conference. Schedule remains a problem for the Coogs Houston’s road to a title requires help. Oklahoma’s loss to Ohio State diminished that season-opening victory. At 4-0, the Cougars are rolling. The nation is aware of what is happening under head coach Tom Herman, and while his name floating around for jobs like LSU might be annoying, it’ll keep his program in the spotlight for the rest of the season. The issue becomes scheduling and perception. There are only four spots available and two are spoken for considering an SEC and Big 10 champion likely gets in even with one loss. That leaves two spots for three power five conference champions and Houston. The Big 12 is down and likely out of the race by October. The Pac 12’s best bet is Stanford, but the choices become slim after the Cardinal with Oregon, USC and UCLA suffering losses. Houston plays Louisville late in the season and the Cougars will hope Bobby Petrino’s team will win that conference, bolstering the Cougars’ resume. At that point, Houston can only hope for chaos. Of course, none of this matters if Houston drops one game. Smaller programs are struggling The G5 teams not named Houston continue to struggle. SMU played well in the first half before ultimately falling by 30 points to TCU in a non-conference game. Three of the four Conference USA programs lost this weekend with the lone winner – North Texas – knocking off fellow in-state foe Rice. UTSA lost by two touchdowns against Old Dominion a week after nearly pulling an upset against Arizona State and UTEP was beaten by 27 points at home. Texas State lost to Houston, 64-3. Take away Houston and the other five G5 Texas schools are a combined 7-16. Baylor takes a step forward in Big 12 race Baylor ended the weekend as the favorite to win the Big 12 after beating Oklahoma State. The Bears moved to 4-0 with the 11-point win. Oklahoma is down. Texas lost to an average Cal team. Texas Tech’s defense still hasn’t stopped Arizona State and TCU doesn’t look right. That leaves Baylor as the front-runner with the Cowboys out of the way. It is unlikely any team runs the table with no clear-cut favorite and the Bears are still talented despite everything else surrounding the program. Seth Russell looked like himself in the win and that’s a great sign moving forward. One Question Did Texas fix the defense in the open week? Charlie Strong vowed to become more involved on his preferred side of the football following the loss to Cal. Texas looked abysmal against the pass in Berkley and must improve to win against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma over the next two weeks. Expect some of the younger, blue-chip recruits to get more playing time following an extra week of practice. Continued struggles on the defensive side of the ball over the next two weeks could force Strong to make some changes on his staff. One Prediction Cibolo Steele will win the Class 6A Division II state championship.

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