By Cheval John

J.J. Watt showed why he was worth the $100 million that he recently inked with the Houston Texans today.

Watt had a sack, a blocked PAT and a fumble recovery in the Texans’ 17-6 win over Washington in Houston, Texas.

Both teams play well defensively as the game remained scoreless for most of the first half.

Washington got on the board first on a 1-yard touchdown run by Darrel Young for a 6-0 lead.

However, their PAT was blocked by Watt to keep it at that score.

That proved to be game changing as Texans’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who went 14 of 22 for 206 yards and a score, found DeAndre Hopkins for a 76-yard touchdown that tied it up at 6.

The PAT by the Texans made it 7-6.

A couple of plays later, Andre Blue blocked a punt, recovered it and scored that increase the lead to 14-6.

Washington had two chances to pull with a touchdown as they were in the red zone.

But they fumble the ball twice that was recovered by the Texans.

As the season progresses, Watt will aim to lead the Texans to the playoffs.

By Cheval John

It was pretty much over before the first snap of the game between Sam Houston State and LSU.

The Tigers blitz the Bearkats at the expanded Tiger Stadium 56-0 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the new SEC Network that is operated by ESPN.

As an alum, I had “hope” that the Bearkats had a chance against the Tigers (2-0) after fellow Southland Conference member McNeese State went to the wire with Nebraska, but lost narrowly 31-24.

It seemed as if SHSU was going to set the tone early when they move the ball effectively on their first possession of the game.

Then on a flee-flicker play, quarterback Jarrod Johnson threw an interception that gave the Tigers the ball.

On the Tigers first play of the their drive, quarterback Anthony Jennings found Travin Durcal for a 94-yard score that made it 6-0.

It all went down hill from there as LSU scored two more times for touchdowns to increase the lead to 20-0.

By the end of the first quarter, the Tigers had 279 total yards of offense while the Bearkats only had 75.

It was hard to watch the rest of the game because of the continued dominance of the Tigers.

But if you are a die-hard fan of a team or in the case, your college, you must continued to support your team whether they are doing good or bad.

The real hope from this game is that the Bearkats will improve tremendously because they played a very quality opponent like the Tigers.

It will also make SHSU mentally tough going into SLC play in a couple of weeks.

And if the Bearkats run the table for the rest of the season without winning the SLC title, their schedule could convince the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) committee that they deserve an at-large bid into the 24-team playoffs.

So a huge loss to LSU will benefit the Bearkats in the long run.

By Cheval John

The women’s basketball program at the University of Connecticut got slapped with an NCAA violation this week because head coach Geno Auriemma called Mo’ne Davis to congratulate her on the success during the Little League World Series (LLWS) last month.

“I heard about that this morning, and it’s sad,” Davis, 13, said Friday to ESPN. “There wasn’t anything about recruiting in the call, he was just congratulating me.”

Davis, who is also a basketball player, had mentioned that she had wanted to play collegiate basketball at UConn.

In reality, this is really absurd.

I can understand if coach Auriemma was calling to try and make a pitch that she should play at Connecticut when she finishes high school.

But he was not trying to recruit her.

All he did was call to congratulate her, that was it.

Of course, another school, who is a competitor of UConn was so paronoid that they made a complaint to the American Athletic Conference about Auriemma contacting Davis to congratulate her during the LLWS.

From there, the conference reported it to the NCAA and then just to make themselves feel important, they concluded that it was a secondary violation.

What this shows is that the rules of the NCAA is so overblown that it really needs a makeover.

Hopefully in the future, the board of governors or whatever hierarchy in the NCAA, will make changes to these byzantine rules.

All I got to say to the NCAA, “Get a life.”

By Cheval John

If you want to beat a great team like the Seattle Seahawks, you got to play clean and smart football.

The Green Bay Packers did not do that in their season opener against the defending Super Bowl Champs.

Their lack of discipline and decent defense led to a 36-16 loss to Seattle.

The Packers committed 8 penalties for 69 yards.

None was bigger than late in the fourth quarter.

After Aaron Rodgers led the Packers on a 10 play, 82-yard drive that was capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb that cut the lead to 29-16, it seemed as if momentum was swinging the way of the Packers.

However, Greg Jones was called for a holding penalty that nullified the incomplete pass play by Russell Wilson on 3rd and 6th and the Seahawks got a fresh set of downs.

Then Wilson, who went 19 of 28 for 191 yards and 2 scores, led Seattle down the field on a 12 play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Coleman to extend the lead to 36-16.

That drive took 7 minutes off the clock and pretty much sealed the game.

Even though it’s the first week of the season, the Seahawks showed that they are ready to make another trip to the Super Bowl while the Packers have a lot of work to do if they are going to make a run at the playoffs.

On the bright side of things, the Packers did not played like they were petrified of the Seahawks unlike the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.

By Cheval John

Today begins the anticipated 2014 NFL season.

Many people will be around their television sets or the iPhone watching their favorite teams duke it out for that win.

For media members, they have the fun job of dissecting each team’s strengths and weakness to see if they have a shot at making the playoffs.

Here are some games to look out for in Week 1

Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers

The Seahawks begin their Super Bowl title defense against the Green Bay Packers.

This game could be a dress rehearsal for the “Legion of Boom” as they return most of their starters.

It will not be as lopsided as the Super Bowl matchup in the New York City area when the Seahawks dismantled the Denver Broncos 43-6.

Many are expecting Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers to put up points against the “Legion of Boom” and also have a MVP-caliber season.

Even though Rodgers will manage the game against Seattle, it will not be enough as the Packers’ defense will not be able to stop an improved Seattle offense that is led by Russell Wilson.

Prediction: Seahawks 35-Packers 24

Dallas Cowboys vs San Francisco 49ers

An age old rivalry will be renewed on Sunday when the 49ers travel to AT&T Stadium, a.k.a. “Jerry’s World” to face the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas.

The last time these two teams met was in 2011 in San Francisco when the Cowboys rallied to beat the 49ers 27-24 in overtime.

It seemed like the 49ers are not the same team from last year.

One of their main defensive players, Aldon Smith was given a 9-game suspension by NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell for multiple offenses that made him transgressed the NFL’s substance abuse and personal conduct policies.

The 49ers’ preseason does not compare to the Cowboys, who went winless in theirs for the first time since 2000.

The Cowboys had four other preseasons without wins.

But that did not affect their season because in 1998, they won their division title and made the playoffs.

The Cowboys hope that a win against the 49ers will set the tone for them to have a successful season and to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

Prediction: 49ers 24 Cowboys 23