Football Watch

As predicted, UT fell to Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl last weekend 28-20, despite the Sooners' insistence on keeping the Horns in the game. Adding insult to injury, Texas dropped out of both the Associated Press and USA Today coaches' Top 25 polls. UT had been in AP's Top 25 since Oct. 15, 2000, and the coaches' poll since Nov. 30, 1998. Despite being outplayed the entire game, the Horns had a chance to pull out a win. OU QB Landry Jones made a horrible decision by not laying down for a loss and fumbled the ball toward the end of the fourth quarter that unfortunately for the Burnt Orange Nation rolled out of bounds before UT's Jared Norton could scoop it up. Texas had one more chance to get the ball back and tie the game when Aaron Williams muffed an OU punt with about a minute remaining on the clock. No game for the Horns this weekend, but the schedule does not lighten up in the least as they travel to Lincoln, Neb., Sat., Oct. 16, 2:30pm, to face the (current No. 7) Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Huskers are looking tough this year and should easily defeat a not-so-great soon-to-be 3-3 Texas team at home.

Despite being benched for the first quarter and a good bit of the second for disciplinary reasons, the Texans rising star Arian Foster had another impressive outing picking up two TDs with 131 yards on the ground and 56 yards receiving with Houston defeating Oakland 31-24 on the road in front of a meager (announced) crowd of 32,218. Foster leads the league with 537 rushing yards and is averaging an impressive 6.3 yards per rush. Mario Williams picked up another sack and forced a fumble, Troy Nolan snagged two INTs, and Bernard Pollard led the team with 11 tackles including a couple big hits on Oakland QB Bruce Gradkowski. Fosters 74-yard TD scamper in the longest in franchise history, Matt Schaub tied the franchise record with his 60th TD pass, and this is the first time the Texans have ever started 3-1, and they are in first place in their division. All this with Andre Johnson sitting out with an ankle injury. The Texans host the Giants this Sunday, noon, on Fox.

The Cowboys also host a home game this weekend (Sunday, 3:15pm, CBS) as Vince Young and the Titans pay a visit to the House That Jerry Built. their first win of the season (over the Texans) and a bye week should have Dallas primed for another win against the inconsistent Titans. But don't count VY and Chris Johnson out, this should be a good game. I'll take the Cowboys winning but not covering the seven-point spread.

My picks for the week: The Saints minus seven against the reeling Cards; Carolina plus three at home versus the offensively struggling Bears; the Falcons minus three at Cleveland; and the Jags minus 1.5 at the Bills.