Beat OU, Again!

It always amazes me how fast the college season goes by. The UT Longhorns host their next-to-last home games of the season this weekend: Oklahoma, 7pm Friday night, then No. 18 Oklahoma State, 1pm Sunday ($3 Web coupons here). The Horns split a pair last weekend, losing 1-0 at Colorado, then beating Texas Tech 1-0 in Lubbock; at 9-2-2, but only 2-2-1 in the Big 12, they need to find some scoring spark as the season heads toward tournament time.

St. Edward's women play their last home games of the season this week as well: a grueling stretch of four in nine days, Oct. 16-22: Dallas Baptist this Thursday, 4pm; UT-Permian Basin, Saturday, 1pm; St. Mary's, Wednesday, 4pm; and Newman, Friday, 1pm – all Heartland Conference games, that will go a long way to deciding whether the Hilltoppers earn a postseason bid. They were good last week, thumping TAMU-International, 12-0, and earning a scoreless draw against nationally-ranked Incarnate Word.

St. Edward's men won a pair of conference games this week also, getting a second-half winner from Austin Aztex alum Jorge Vega to move to 4-0 atop the Heartland Conference, and up to No. 12 nationally; they're at St. Mary's on Friday, then host Incarnate Word at 1pm Sunday, Oct. 19.

Below: WC qualifying, Dynamo and Champions League on TV

In World Cup qualifying, the U.S. moved on to the final qualifying round by beating Cuba Saturday, 6-1; two Cuban players defected the day before the game, so I won that bet (pay up, Steve). Elsewhere, England was booed at home despite beating Kazakhstan, 5-1, and other games are under way around the world after this goes to press.

European Champions League play continues Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 21-22. ESPN2's games of the week are Juventus-Real Madrid on Tuesday, 1:30pm, and Atletico Madrid-Liverpool, Wednesday, 1:30pm; that second game will be played at a location still to be determined – at least 200 miles from Madrid – since Atletico was hit with a two-match stadium ban for racist incidents from Madrid fans at their recent match against Marseille.

CONCACAF Champions League play resumes those same days; the Houston Dynamo can take over first place in their group by beating Pumas at home Wednesday, Oct. 22 (9pm, Fox Soccer Channel)… Meanwhile in MLS, the Dynamo seem likely to finish atop the Western Conference, but with just a couple of games to play in the season, three playoff spots remain up for grabs, and no team – even the L.A. Galaxy – is eliminated.