HOUSTON — While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

1. Earl Campbell thinks he can fix the Longhorns. Texas’ first Heisman Trophy winner told me last week that he loves Sam Ehlinger, but he has a requirement for future Longhorn quarterbacks. "Until the University of Texas realizes you have to have a black quarterback, and nothing against Ehlinger, you got to have a talented, black quarterback," Campbell said. "All these schools that are winning, even in the pros, have black quarterbacks. When guys are not open, something can still happen." He mentioned Tua Tagovailoa, Vince Young, Jalen Hurts, Deshaun Watson and J.T. Barrett, who wanted to come to Texas. Campbell said he really admires Hurts and said they became close friends after the quarterback was a finalist for the Earl Campbell Award. They text each other often. "He reminds me of myself," Earl said. "He’s a calm individual. He doesn’t get too excited and keeps it all inside. Nick Saban did all he could to kill his motivation. Jalen is one of the most classy individuals I’ve ever seen play sports. It looks like Oklahoma is going to win the Heisman a third year in a row. It looks like he’s not even running, like he’s walking."

2. The biggest caveat to this Texas football season was always the health of Ehlinger and his ability to remain upright. That hasn’t been an issue as the junior has not missed a single meaningful snap in all eight games. That said, however, the 5-3 Longhorns are trending in a bad direction and have taken a detour toward mediocrity, thanks to the lack of a pass rush and horrible pass coverage, and have deservedly fallen out of the ranks of the Top 25. … Don’t really like UT’s chances of running the table, especially with two tough road trips to Iowa State and Baylor. If the Longhorns split their last four games to finish 7-5, that would mark a colossal setback for Tom Herman’s program going 10-4 last year. No question, the injuries in the secondary have been crippling. But otherwise Texas has been healthy mostly everywhere else except for running back Jordan Whittington and wide receiver Collin Johnson. … TCU coach Gary Patterson was reveling in his victory over Texas on Saturday and defended the slow evolution of freshman quarterback Max Duggan, who played masterfully in the win. "Everybody wants players to be like hot cocoa," Patterson said of Duggan’s development. "You just want to rip off the cover, pour it in, pour hot water in and then they’re a great player. Cocoa’s ready to go. It’s not that easy. It’s not that easy." He’s right.

3. Tweeted over the weekend that an unbeaten Baylor could have a shot at the College Football Playoff, an opinion immediately met with derision on social media. But these are not your downtrodden Bears. If they go undefeated and beat Oklahoma (maybe twice) and Texas once down the stretch to win the Big 12, they’d have a legitimate argument over any one-loss contender and should be strongly considered. Before you begin to feel sorry for Herman struggling to become elite in his third season, consider that Matt Rhule inherited an even more toxic situation at Baylor and is doing quite well in his third year in Waco after a 1-11 start in his initial season. His unbeaten, 12th-ranked Bears (7-0) played a laughable non-conference schedule — it was as weak as, say, Alabama’s — but is playing outstanding football and has overcome serious injuries of their own. Baylor’s down two of its best three running backs, a left tackle (replaced by a redshirt freshman), a terrific middle linebacker and was without two starting defensive backs for all or half of the Oklahoma State road game, but still rank in the top 30 nationally in nine offensive categories and had two defensive starters, James Lynch and Bravvion Roy, placed on the Associated Press midseason All-America first and second teams. ... Oklahoma lost a chance to beat Kansas State in the late stages because of an onside kick that went awry because the ball glanced off a Sooners player who may or may not have been pushed into the ball. That aspect is not reviewable, which is crazy. Everything, and I mean everything, should be reviewable in the last two minutes of a game. If they’re going to review where balls are spotted in the first quarter as they do, for Pete’s sake, they should adopt the proposal for complete reviews that late in the game.

4. Juan Soto has been impressive for the Nationals in the post-season, hitting four homers and driving in 12 runs. Teammate Adam Eaton said of the 21-year-old phenom, "He plays like a 30-year-old, like he’s playing his 10th season. I don’t know where you were when you were 21, but probably not hitting 98-mph (fastballs) in the Show. Nothing fazes him."

5. So we have progress. Hopefully definitive progress. The NCAA's top policy-making group Tuesday voted "unanimously to permit students participating in athletics the opportunity to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness in a manner consistent with the collegiate model." The devil will certainly be in the gory details, but the Board of Governors said the NCAA rules changes could begin immediately provided athletes are treated like non-athletes "unless a compelling reason to differentiate," and the rules do not adversely affect "fair and balanced competition." Yeah, good luck with that. These rules figure to be very elastic. This has to scare the NCAA to death, but changing the landscape is the only way it can survive. Amateurism is dead or at least at the high school level. Embrace this, NCAA. This is a long overdue win for the athletes.

6. Had a chance to visit with Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of all time, before he was interviewed by Jimmy Roberts at the third annual Dan Jenkins Excellence in Media banquet at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. His victory at Colonial in 1982 was his second to last win on the PGA Tour, and just four years before he won the Masters at age 46. When I asked him whom he beat to win the Colonial, Nicklaus, as only he could, said, "The field."

7. If I were the Houston Texans, I’d trade a future first-round draft choice to the Indianapolis Colts to steal ... uh, acquire Frank Reich, the second-best coach in the NFL. ... For at least a half, Monday night’s game between the Dolphins and the Steelers both looked like they were tanking. Dreadful game. ... Do not sleep on Oregon’s Justin Herbert becoming the first pick of next year’s NFL draft.

8. Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to former Texas safety Stanley Richard. Caught up with linebacker Dusty Renfro, a commercial realtor and co-owner of an oil-field service with Matt Trissel and father of Lago Vista freshman golfer Knox and TexElite Titans infielder Nash.

9. Watched "In Cold Pursuit," and was surprisingly entertained by basically a quirky, mild Quentin Tarantino knockoff. Biggest takeaway: Don’t kidnap or harm one of Liam Neeson’s kids in a movie. He will find you, and he will kill you. Gave it seven ducks.

10. Crazy prediction: Gerrit Cole will sign with the Angels, Yankees or Phillies.