Houston-SMU, Italy-Bosqueville 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. Houston (6-1) at SMU (2-4)6 p.m. Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas While Houston’s stunning loss to Navy may well have ended the Cougars’ chances to make the College Football Playoff, their goals of winning a second consecutive AAC championship and returning to a New Year’s Six bowl game are still intact. As they head north to invade Ford Stadium on the SMU campus, their defense has his a major crossroads. After the 46-40 setback against the Midshipmen, the Cougar defense responded by surrendering 459 yards to Tulsa in a 38-31 game that was decided on the very last play. SMU is coming off a bye week, so look for Coach Chad Morris to come up with some offensive wrinkles to make quarterback Ben Hicks more effective. Hicks, a freshman from Waco, has thrown for 1,284 yards in six games – but with a completion percentage just over 50 and a touchdown-interception ratio of 6:9. A more efficient Hicks will accentuate the potency of SMU’s other offensive weapons, like tailback Braeden West and future NFL receiver Courtland Sutton. West has averaged 5.4 yards per carry so far, and Sutton nearly 20 yards per catch despite being a focal point of nearly every opposing defensive game plan. Of course, the SMU defense will have their hands plenty full with the Houston offense as well. Quarterback Greg Ward has been nothing short of fantastic, completing 70% of his passes for nearly 2,000 yards while running for another 414 and accounting for 17 total touchdowns. The Cougars’ low point output for the season was the 33 they put up in the season-opening win over Oklahoma. Italy (5-2) at Bosqueville (6-1)7:30 p.m. Friday at Bulldog Stadium in Bosqueville One of the biggest regular season games of the year looms in the Week 11 schedule, as two teams ranked in DCTF’s Top 10 poll are on a collision course to decide the title in District 8-2A Division I. If that sounds like a great plan, David Weaver and his Italy Gladiators would love to rain on your parade. A week ago, Gladiator quarterback Tylan Wallace threw for two touchdowns and tailback Kendrick Norwood ran for 126 yards in a 57-12 home victory over Itasca. They’ll need a strong offensive performance again if they want to keep up with Bosqueville, who is coming off their own big victory following a 48-13 win over Riesel a week ago. The pass-catch duo of quarterback Tanner Moncus and receiver Grahm Gonzalez led the way, hooking up for 210 of Moncus’ 354 total passing yards. At stake in this game is very likely the ability to keep up with district favorite Mart, who is currently 7-0 and ranked 2nd in the state. The Panthers face Riesel this week, will pay visit to Italy on October 28th before hosting Bosqueville in the regular season finale.