Fred Faour: The five most memorable moments from a great weekend in sports

As football season winds down, we slowly lose some of these great weekends. But it’s fun to appreciate just how awesome this past one was with a big UH basketball game, two thrilling College Football Playoff semifinals, and a stellar performance from the young man who should be the next Texans quarterback. The five best moments from the weekend:

5) Bryce Young plays in the Sugar Bowl and shows the Texans what they are missing if they pass on him. Young threw five touchdown passes, all to different receivers, and completed 15-of-21 passes for 321 yards in his final college start. The Alabama quarterback will be one of the top picks in the NFL draft and could bring the fan base back for the Texans if they draft him. Of course, it is the Texans, so who knows what the move will be, but they would be silly to look elsewhere if they have the No. 1. pick.

4) “Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose.” – White Men Can’t Jump.

No, that quote never made any sense. But it applies here. The Texans did not win on Sunday against the Jaguars. But the setback was a win, of sorts. They locked down no worse than the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. They can clinch the No. 1 overall pick with a loss next week against Indianapolis or a Chicago Bears win or tie against the Vikings. So it was a win from a loss. Or something. At least there is a rooting interest for Texans fans. (See Young, Bryce in the top item). The good news? If the Bears wind up with the No. 1 pick, it’s unlikely they would take a quarterback since they have the developing Justin Fields. But they have so many holes they could flip the top pick for a haul from a team that might want to jump the Texans and take a QB. So the loss to the Jags isn’t quite the win Texans fans were hoping for, and they need one more loss to ultimately win the draft. Make sense?

3) Georgia bids for a repeat. The Bulldogs were outplayed most of the game against Ohio State Saturday night, but they came up with 18 fourth-quarter points and a late drive to win 42-41 in an absolute thriller. Ohio State missed a late field goal attempt that would have given them the game. Just an awesome performance by two great teams.

2) The Houston Cougars No. 3 basketball team continues to roll. They were pushed by a good Central Florida team that had entered with only three losses by a combined seven points. They gave the Cougars fits, but Houston was clutch late and got out with a 71-65 win in the conference home opener. The Cougars will be getting everyone’s best shot in the American this year. They took UCF’s best and grinded out yet another big victory.

1) TCU goes to the national championship game. The Frogs used defensive scores and big plays to shock Michigan 51-45 and move on to the championship game to face Georgia. TCU is the first Big 12 team in the CFP era to make the finals. They will be significant underdogs against Georgia, but the resilient Frogs can score and have a puncher’s chance. These were easily the best two semifinals of the playoff era.

It’s moments like these that remind us how much we love the games. And we had a great weekend to appreciate and enjoy all of these wild, incredible occasions. (Well, maybe not the Texans).