Okay folks. Here’s the deal. When I say there’s going to be an upset in college football, get on the phone to your bookie and make the bet. For instance, on Friday here is what I wrote about the Georgia/Alabama game coming on Saturday night: “This game will be a big clue as to just how good Georgia really is. And personally, I'm looking for the upset.”

And what happened? Well, the Alabama Crimson Tide went to the heart of Georgia and pulled off the 41-30 upset of the Georgia Bulldogs. Alabama got off to the 31-0 halftime lead, then cruised through the second half, never letting Georgia get within striking range. Perhaps Georgia should have been more concerned about game planning against Alabama and less concerned about the color of their jerseys. And ‘Bama fan, if I were you, I’d be preparing for a new coach, as I’m sure Nick Saban’s cell phone is lighting up with offers from throughout the country.

I’m not a huge believer in moral victories. Either you win, or you lose. But though the Texans lost 30-27 to the Jaguars in overtime this weekend to go 0-3 on the season, if there’s such a thing as a moral victory, I guess this loss would be that.

Things didn’t start well for the Texans as the offense got a five-yard penalty on their very first play of the game. The Jaguars stuffed the running game at the start, and Schaub’s passing game wasn’t impressive. Neither were the special teams, as the punt unit often allowed the Jaguars get good field position in the first half.

As some of you out there might know, the New York Yankees played the last game ever at Yankee Stadium last week. They had a big ceremony with lots and lots of ex players making an appearance. But there was one man who was not invited to be a part of the festivities, and according to the New York Post, that man, one Roger Clemens, sat in his flooded house, with no power, watching the game on a battery-operated television with his wife and mother-in-law, and he was very, very upset that he was not asked to participate.

But I did a little checking, and I think I have found the top ten reasons that the New York Yankees didn’t ask Roger Clemens to participate.

10. They didn’t want to deal with radio analyst Suzyn Waldman breaking down on air again.

9. Roger demanded that the Yankees give his son Koby a major league contract since the Astros aren’t treating him properly.

The Houston Astros season officially ended on Friday night at just about the time Darin Erstad was hitting the first pitch of the ninth inning to win the game on his first walk-off home run since 2000. And the season ended at about this time because it was then that the game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs was coming to an end. A game which the Brewers won 5-1, meaning that there was no way the Astros would be able to catch up with the Brewers and get the wild card.

The Astros mailed it on Saturday, with Brandon Backe surrendering eight runs in 1.1 innings as the Astros lost to the Braves 11-5. The only thing notable about Sunday’s game, besides the Astros winning 3-1, was that it was Brad Ausmus’ final game as the Astros catcher and that he homered in the game.

Fred Trask

Hey kids, I’m here with a reminder that hockey season is just around the corner. That means training camp for the Houston Aeros will be starting this week, probably on Wednesday. And their training facility, once again, will be in Sugar Land.

Kevin Constantine will be returning for his second season as the head coach of the Aeros. The former head coach of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, Pittsburgh Pirates and New Jersey Devils led a team lacking in offensive talent into the playoffs last season. And his assistants, Troy Ward and Luke Strand, will also be returning behind the bench.

Let's say that you're among the 80 percent of the city that has power. And let's say that you're cable has just come back. I'm thinking that you're probably going to want to stay inside and enjoy the A/C and the television for a bit. So in honor of the power and cable being back and former Playboy model and ABC Sports sideline reporter Lisa Guerrero returning to the world of sports, I bring you this quick guide to this week's televised college football.

Let's start with the televised games involving our Texas schools. The fun gets started on Versus at 11:30 when Army (0-3) travels to College Station to take on the army wannabes at Texas A&M; (1-2). The Aggies were embarrassed by Miami last week, and by Arkansas State in week one. Army's a bad team, so the Aggies should easily win this thing. If not, Mike Sherman might want to call Gary Kubiak to see if he can have his job back.

It doesn’t matter what the Houston Astros do if the teams in front of them win. And as the Astros were jumping off to a 6-1 lead in the seventh inning over the Cincinnati Reds, the drama was unfolding elsewhere.

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers were tied 1-1 in the ninth inning in Milwaukee, and the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets were tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth inning in New York. And while the Brewers were struggling to get the Pirates to three outs so that the Brewers could try for the win, the Mets were in the midst of finishing a comeback from 6-3. A comeback which gave them the 7-6 victory when Carlos Beltran singled to right field with two outs to score Jose Reyes from second base.

It’s time for Week Four of my College Football Top 25 Rankings. You can find last week’s here, and you can find the major rankings here. So, let’s get on with it.

1. USC (1) (3-0): The Trojans had the bye last week, and tonight they’ll be thrusting deep into some Beavers. They’re playing the Oregon State Beavers, get it?

2. Oklahoma Sooners (2) (3-0): The Sooners had a bye week last week, but they take on the ranked TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday. The Frogs are one of only four teams to defeat a Bob Stoops-coached team in September.

3. Missouri Tigers (3) (4-0): The Tigers dismantled Buffalo last week, and they’re taking this week off.

The Astros have five games left this season, and still, somehow, they’re in the playoff hunt. Lance Berkman emerged from his September slump to hit a two-run homer into the left field façade in the first inning – his first homer in 37 at bats. And behind Randy Wolf’s 6.2 innings of stellar pitching – I never thought I would write that phrase – the Astros shut out the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 for the win last night.

I’ve decided on my real problem with the Houston Texans. It’s not that they’re bad. It’s that they’re not fun bad. Fun bad like the Oakland Raiders. Or the Detroit Lions.

Take the Detroit Lions. They haven't had a winning season since 2000. They haven't been to the playoffs since Barry Sanders retired. Matt Millen was hired to be the general manager in 2001. In his tenure, they went through four head coaches and at least six starting quarterbacks. The team was so bad that their record was 31-84 while run by Millen. Lions fans were manhandled by Ford Field security for holding up "Fire Millen" sings. It got so bad in Detroit that, as the Lions were getting off to a 0-3 start this season -- in games in which they were never competitive -- the son of the owner started calling out his dad and demanding that Millen be fired. Well, guess what, dad finally listened and today Millen finally lost his job.

I’ve tried to defend Michael Bourn this season. Sure he didn’t hit. But I thought his speed and fielding skills made up for everything else. After last night, however, I’m not sure I can continue to defend him.

The Astros were locked in a tight, 2-1 pitcher’s battle when Kaz Matsui led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. He was erased at second when Bourn’s bunt wasn’t good enough. Bourn was safe at first, then stole second. Miguel Tejada then singled to left field. Bourn rounded third. Then stopped. Tejada, seeing Bourn round third, tried to head to second, then made sure to get himself trapped in a rundown so that Bourn could score. Only Bourn remained planted on third base. Berkman was then walked, and Geoff Blum lined out to end the inning.

As those of you who read Ballz know, the meme that Bud Selig is an evil, evil man – who forced the Astros to play two games against the Chicago Cubs in Milwaukee despite Hurricane Ike ravaging Houston and making the players abandon their families – is a lie. I’ve debunked this crap several times in the past week, and I’ve pointed out the facts indicating that the person responsible for this is actually Astros owner Drayton McLane.

Our spies have been playing around the Minute Maid Park offices of Drayton McLane, and they found a list of the reasons that Drayton McLane used to reject Bud Selig’s pleas to get the Astros and their families to safety before Ike hit.

10. I didn’t build a hurricane-proof ballpark for it to not be used to play baseball during a hurricane.

If you’re like me or CBS announcers Kevin Harlin and Rich Gannon, you watched the Texans/Titans game on Sunday and found yourself wondering why Gary Kubiak didn’t throw the replay flag on Titans receiver Justin McCareins’ sideline catch that appeared to be out-of-bounds in the second quarter. Well, don’t worry. Gary Kubiak has an answer.

“We didn’t see that one on the replay for some reason. Upstairs we never got that replay,” he said. “But it’s my understanding that it was very close.”

But why didn’t upstairs get that replay? Our sources did a little spying around the Texans offices, and we found a list of reasons offered up by the assistant coaches for missing that replay.

10. Out of sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of Houstonians who were still without power and cable, the coaches up in the boxes refused to watch the television.

It’s time for a little Tuesday review of the past weekend’s NFL games. As usual, we’ll start with the Texans.

The Texans appeared to make more of an effort against the Tennessee Titans than they did against the Steelers just weeks earlier. But they still got their asses kicked. One might think this might mean it was some time for changes in Texans Land, especially in the area of quarterback, where starter Matt Schaub had his second straight awful game, going 17 for 37 for 188 yards and three interceptions.

As hard as it is to believe, it’s now been 35 years since the classic Billy Jean King/Bobby Riggs matchup in the Astrodome. So, in honor of that, I thought I would take a look at ten other great sporting events that also took place inside the Eighth Wonder of the World.

10. September 26, 1981: With the Houston Astros battling for a playoff spot, Nolan Ryan made major league baseball history by pitching his fifth no-hitter, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 on national television. Ryan, with a career seven no-hitters, is still the only man in baseball history to throw more than four.

9. March 27, 1971: The Astrodome hosted the Final Four, which saw UCLA defeat Villanova. This was the first NCAA Final Four played under a dome, and playing under a dome has now become a rather common occurrence.