PORT ARTHUR — Win or lose today in Baltimore, it’s been a great week for the Houston Texans because Wade Phillips pulled himself out of consideration for the head coaching job at Tampa Bay. With Wade returning as their defensive coordinator, and all the team’s terrific young talent on both sides of the ball, there’s plenty of reason to think Houston is going to become one of the NFL’s most dominant teams over the next four or five seasons. If Las Vegas would post odds on teams likely to win a Super Bowl during that period, I’d jump all over the Texans. They are a good team that’s going to get better and better. They’d still be good without Wade, but every player on that defense would tell you he’s a difference maker.  . . . Some media types  in Houston are trying to say a Texans victory over Baltimore today, behind backup QB T.J. Yates, would at least match the 1979 Houston Oilers for the greatest achievement in the city’s football history. For sure, winning in Baltimore as a 7 1/2 point underdog, while playing with a No. 3 quarterback, would be a terrific accomplishment. It wouldn’t, however, even come close to the magnitude of what Bum Phillips’ ‘79 Oilers did in advancing to the AFC Championship game. That team went to San Diego as 17-point underdogs and won without QB Dan Pastorini, all-world running back Earl Campbell and stellar wide receiver Ken Burrough. San Diego boasted a future Hall of Fame QB in Dan Fouts and the NFL’s most explosive offense of that era. The Oilers 17-13 upset ranks alongside the Jets victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III as the biggest playoff stunner in NFL history.

I had to laugh after reading Fort Worth-Star Telegram columnist Randy Galloway’s piece earlier this week over how angry Cowboys fans are at Jerry Jones, with some even suggesting a ticket-buying boycott. Galloway knows, I know, you know and, above all, Jones knows, it’s just a bunch of hot air. Cowboy fans are so hooked on being Cowboys fans that they can’t help themselves. Through little he’s ever done from a football standpoint, Jethro has Cowboy fans right where he wants them. They will keep buying the team-logoed gear, keep paying outrageous ticket and concession prices and keep doing all the things that help his bottom line grow. And he’ll keep meddling and keep laughing all the way to the bank . . . John McClain, the long-time Houston Chronicle columnist, got in one of the best lines of the week as a guest on a Dallas sports talk show. As he was wrapping up a segment that was mostly about the Texans, McClain said he had one more thing he’d like to point out. He then mentioned that Texans’ rookie QB T.J. Yates has as many playoff victories on his resume as does the Cowboys Tony Romo. Too bad that he didn’t add Texans owner Bob McNair, whose team didn’t come into being until 2002, has as many playoff victories to savor in 10 years as Jerry Jones does since 1995 . . . Cowboy fans, by the way, shouldn’t get too excited over reading former Raiders head coach Bill Callahan has been hired as the team’s offensive coordinator. Jason Garrett is going to continue calling the plays.

Wish every Memorial football fan could have seen and heard the presentation I saw Titans coach Kenny Harrison make to the Port Arthur Rotary Club on Thursday. Kenny didn’t have to sell me that he’s the right guy at the right time for Memorial, but I went away tremendously impressed with his organization, his vision for the program and how he’s going about implementing his plan for building a Port Arthur football powerhouse all the way down to the Pop Warner level. Nobody is prouder of Harrison’s success, by the way, than the guy he succeeded — Ronnie Thompson . . . It’s not going out on a limb at all to predict that West Brook’s football program is probably headed right back to where it was before another TJ ex, Craig Stump, brought the Bruins out of the doldrums. With Stump headed to Atascocita, the only way West Brook can avoid becoming an also-ran in 21-5A is to get lucky by hiring an assistant coach who can overcome all the BISD obstacles confronting a head coach at that school. No current head coach with any kind of successful track record would consider putting up with the things Stump had to deal with at West Brook . . . Speaking of District 21-5A, it will be well represented when the Texans and Ravens square off today in Baltimore. In addition to Memorial ex Danny Gorrer, who is a backup cornerback for the Ravens, three former North Shore stars — DE Cory Redding, CB Chykie Brown and C Andre Gurode — play for Baltimore. Earl Mitchell, another North Shore ex, has been a season long force in the Texans’ defensive line.

No surprise here that Alabama beat LSU in the BCS championship game. The Crimson Tide dominated the first game and got beat only because its field goal kickers were terrible. What was surprising is how inept LSU was at the quarterback position and why it didn’t make a change at some point to former Brenham star Jarrett Lee. The fact that LSU was able to dominate the Southeastern Conference while being so average at quarterback makes me think the SEC may have been a bit overrated. All the more reason, of course, that the BCS championship game perpetrated a bit of a hoax by matching two teams from the same conference . . . How amazing is it that in back-to-back years two of the nation’s most powerful football programs of the past decade have turned to Boise State to hire an offensive coordinator? Texas Mack Brown, of course, bought Bryan Harsin away from the Broncos last year. Now along comes Florida’s Will Muschamp, the former Longhorns defensive coordinator, to lure Harsin’s replacement, Brent Pease, to succeed Charlie Weiss as his offensive coordinator. With Boise State coach Chris Peterson having turned down offers to coach at top level BCS schools, the only thing big time programs seemingly don’t want from the small Idaho power is having them on the schedule . . .  Latest recruiting rankings from CBS’ Tom Lemming have UT in its usual place — right at the top. Alabama and Texas are 1-2, followed by Michigan, Florida and Ohio State. Oklahoma is No. 8 and Texas A&M No. 11.

Lincoln ex Stephen Jackson, after playing poorly in his first eight games with the Milwaukee Bucks, stepped it up considerably this past week. In back-to-back wins over San Antonio and Detroit, Jackson scored 34 and 25 points. After shooting 32 percent from the field as Milwaukee stumbled to a 2-6 start, Jackson was 21-of-34 from the field and 6-of-11 on three-pointers. He also contributed 14 assists in the two Bucks victories. Jackson, who turns 34 on April 5, looks like he may still have plenty of gas in the tank . . .  The buzz around Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow, known as Tebowmania, has created ripples everywhere, including in Las Vegas. Because of the fascination with Tebow, Vegas posted three over/under lines — 55 rushing yards, 11.5 completions and 190 passing yards — strictly on him for the Broncos game playoff game at New England Saturday night. It was also 25-to-1 against him having the most passing yards in any of the four division playoff games. Expectations were that, because of Tebow, the New England-Denver game, could set a record for most money wagered on a non Super Bowl game . . . The Broncos, as you might suspect, had the longest odds against them winning the Super Bowl of the eight teams  in the four division playoff games. The number was 65-to-1, meaning a $100 bet would pay $6,500. I’m betting many of the Tebow true believers availed themselves of the long-shot possibility. Super Bowl winning odds on Houston, by the way, were 25-to-1.

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.