Houston is a Good Name to Carry These Days

Your Team Named Houston? You Are Pretty Good!


Monday will be full of woe from Houston Texans fans after their favorite team lost its second quarterback, Matt Leinert, to injury in Sunday’s 20-13 win at Jacksonville. But before we worry about something in advance of it being a problem, perhaps we should recognize what these Texans have achieved.

They have a record of 8-3 which is one of the best in the NFL. They have essentially a three game edge on second place Tennessee in the AFC South with just five games to play. (They hold the tie-breaker advantage.) So let us wait and see whether Texan coach Gary Kubiak can make rookie T.J. Yates an NFL quarterback in a week. Fortunately the Texans had a lead and a defense perfectly able to protect it on Sunday. Yates didn’t have to do much. And he didn’t.

Still, there are eight wins in the bank and the club certainly should still be able to be a playoff team.

Meanwhile two other schools with “Houston” in their name are doing even better than the Texans.

The Houston Cougars are a division champion in C-USA and still unbeaten after 12 games. They have moved up as high as 6th in one of the national polls (7th in the other) and have a shot at going even higher if they can whip Southern Mississippi next weekend in Houston and finish the season against conference teams at 13-0 and as C-USA champs. Southern Mississippi has only two losses and have been ranked in the top 25. Home field may be huge for the Cougars because Southern Miss will be a potent foe. On the line is the automatic slot in the Liberty Bowl for Southern Miss. Houston will be playing for an even bigger bowl—one of the coveted BCS bowls.
Meanwhile the Sam Houston State University Bearcats are 11-0 and ready to begin play in the NCAA post season on their level. SHSU will take on Stonybrook on December 3rd in Huntsville. A win would make them 12-0 and keep them moving on through the playoffs. Though Stonybrook from New York State is not well known around here they will visit Huntsville with a 9-3 record and the highest scoring team in the division at 39.64 points per game. The Bearcats don’t take a back seat, though. They are the second highest scoring team at 39.58 per outing.

Have you added it all up? Teams with “Houston” in their name are 31-3 this season! Furthermore, all have a lot more in front of them. The Texans are looking to make the playoffs for the first time and while their chances for going deep in the post season have taken a big hit as a result of injuries, their new defensive ferocity will continue to keep them a major threat.
The Cougars have had their opponents upped each of the last two weeks and have had to make adjustments. They have done well as evidenced by their 47-16 win Friday at Tulsa against a team that has only lost to top ten foes. They will be ready for Southern Miss with so much on the line.

Sam Houston State runs under the radar except to their fans due to the lower NCAA division they play in, but take nothing for granted with them. They are very good.
The big question is whether the 31-3 “Houstons” can be 34-3 a week from now. It will be a tough weekend for all three for sure. But don’t count any of them out.