As strange as it sounds, considering that the opponent is 3-6, the Houston Texans Monday night matchup with the Tennessee Titans is far and away the biggest and most important game in franchise history. Beat the suddenly surging team that used to be known as the Houston Oilers, who are 3-0 since reinserting Vince Young as the quarterback, and the Texans go to 6-4 and have a reasonable shot at making the playoffs for the first time. Lose and the ramifications are going to be ugly, starting with the likelihood the Texans won’t make the playoffs and, in that case, head coach Gary Kubiak will probably get fired at the end of season. Beyond that, it will embolden critics who claim the Texans should have drafted Young, and it will give Houston’s public enemy No. 1, Bud Adams, way too much satisfaction . . . Speaking of Adams, he really showed his you-know-what last Sunday in Nashville, repeatedly flashing his middle finger on both hands — actions shamefully displayed on YouTube — at Buffalo fans from his owners box. The obscene gestures, as you probably know, prompted a $250,000 fine from embarrassed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who spent the first three quarters of the game in Adams’ box. Regular readers of this column know there’s nobody in sports I detest more than Adams. He’s a mean-spirited, classless jerk whose good fortune in life can mainly be attributed to being a member of the lucky sperm club. Hopefully these latest actions will open the eyes of some of the forgive-and-forget faction of the media talking about voting him into the NFL Hall of Fame. It’s sad enough he’ll soon be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Look for the Dallas Cowboys, who have gotten farther and farther away from what should be their strength — running the football — to put heavy emphasis on the ground game today against the Redskins. Why would I say that knowing pass happy Jason Garrett is in control of the offense? Because Jerry Jones was quoted in Dallas papers this week as saying he thinks the Cowboys need to run the ball more, and that he’d really like to see Felix Jones get more opportunities. Wade Phillips has been saying the same thing for several weeks, but he doesn’t sign Garrett’s paycheck . . . Troy Aikman was up to his old tricks, defending Tony Romo last week when Romo threw an inexcusable interception on first-and-goal from the one late in the game. Aikman’s immediate reaction was to praise what a great play Packers DB Charles Woodson made. Then, when the replay showed how far behind tight end Jason Witten the ball was thrown, he backed off a little. But where was the questioning of Garrett’s play call on first down from the one? Dallas’ run-pass imbalance in Green Bay, by the way, was 39 passes to 14 runs. And three of the runs were scrambles by Romo. The Packers defense, incidentally, was basically the same one the Cowboys gashed for 214 rushing yards last year . . . Former Cowboys coach Barry Switzer got some air time last week in the uproar over New England coach Bill Belichick’s highly suspect fourth-down gamble from his own 29 with two minutes left against Indianapolis. Indy held and Peyton Manning drove his team 29 yards for the winning TD. In the debate over equally foolish gambles, Switzer’s calls against the Eagles in 1995 came to the forefront. The score was tied 17-17 in the final minutes, and Dallas was facing 4th-and-1 from its 29. Switzer sent Emmitt Smith into the middle and he was stopped cold. But the Cowboys got a reprieve when officials ruled the clock hit the two-minute warning before the snap. Given the benefit of hindsight, and the chance to punt, Switzer sent Smith into the middle again. Philly stopped him again, leading to the game-winning field goal. Who’d have thought Switzer would ever be mentioned in the same breath as Belichick?

Graduation rates released by the NCAA this week weren’t especially flattering to the University of Texas, not only in football but basketball and baseball as well. For the latest survey period — the recruiting classes entering school from 1999-2002 — the Longhorns football graduation rate was 49 percent over a six-year period. That tied for the lowest among teams in the latest BCS top 25. Oregon and Georgia Tech were also at 49 percent. No. 1 ranked Florida was at 69 percent and No. 2 Alabama at 67 percent. Tops at 75 percent was No. 5 Cincinnati. Among Big 12 programs, only Oklahoma (45 percent) was below Texas. In basketball, UT was eighth in the Big 12 at 47 percent and in baseball it was dead last at 37 percent. But what the heck, those teams are winning big and making money . . . Every time somebody tries to make a case for unbeaten Boise State to be deserving of a BCS bowl game, the elitists chant in unison that the Broncos don’t play a tough enough schedule. Part of the reason for that, of course, is few of the big dogs are to take a chance on getting embarrassed, as Oklahoma did a couple of years ago in the Fiesta Bowl. Latest example of dodging Boise comes from the fact the school is having a difficult time completing its 2011 schedule. According to WAC commissioner Karl Benson, several high profile programs have turned down a chance for a visit from Boise, despite the fact it isn’t asking for a home game in return. In other words, never give a sucker an even break . . . In another vein, never invite USC coach Pete Carroll and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh to the same dinner party. Harbaugh, who clearly doesn’t like Carroll, had his team go for two points after scoring a touchdown to take a 48-21 lead on the Trojans with six minutes remaining last week. They didn’t convert the two-pointer but later scored another TD for a 55-21 victory. My guess is that Carroll and USC had it coming.

One of the compelling NFL debates is over whether the Colts Peyton Manning or the Patriots Tom Brady is the better quarterback. Shallow thinkers who base everything on championship rings take Brady. Not so all the living NFL Hall of Fame QBs. In a poll taken of that group by NBC’s Andrea Kremer, Manning got 13.5 votes as the best to 2.5 for Brady. Joe Montana is the one who split his vote . . . Jamaal Charles couldn’t have gotten a worse break, coming off his 18-for-103 performance last week, than having Kansas City’s leading receiver, Dwayne Bowe, suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Now Charles must go up against Pittsburgh’s No. 1 ranked run defense, working behind a lousy offensive line and minus the Chiefs’ only go-to receiver. To top it off, the Steelers are coming in off a costly loss to Cincinnati. It’s not a good situation for Jamaal who, by the way, is Kansas City’s No. 2 receiver . . . One guy in the Southeast Texas golf community who quickly agreed to step up on behalf of cancer stricken Belle Oaks Golf Club superintendent/head pro Bryan Jackson is Chris Stroud. Stroud didn’t hesitate when asked if he would be willing to participate in a Jan. 9 fund-raising tournament for Jackson. Plans are still in the formative stages, but what we’re going to do with Stroud is auction him off to the group submitting the highest bid to have him round out their foursome for the tournament.

There was considerable consternation in Australia when word leaked out that the nation’s government had covered half the $3 million dollar appearance fee for Tiger Woods to play in the Australian Masters. Woods, however, drew record crowds, including several thousand from outside Australia who gobbled up hotel rooms and spread money around the way tourists tend to do. Unofficial estimates were that Tiger’s visit pumped $20 million into the Australian economy. Sounds like a pretty good investment. Woods, of course, won the tournament and collected a piddling first place check of $270,000 . . . Thanks to former Nederland defensive end Barry Terrell, the Food Network is getting its first mention in this column. Terrell, who played defensive end for Lloyd Wasserman’s ‘Dogs in 1979, has become quite a success in the food business. His T-Bone Tom’s, which is located a few blocks from the Kemah Boardwalk, is due some national exposure Monday at 9 p.m. on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives program . . . Couldn’t sign off without acknowledging how heartbreaking it was to learn that Jerry Glanville, aka the black clad macho midget, couldn’t cut it as the head football coach at Portland State. Glanville, of course, was Bud Adams’ little Frankenstein monster, as the misfit head coach of the Houston Oilers from 1985-89. Two of my favorite days were watching Sam Wyche’s Cincinnati Bengals put a 61-7 number on the Oilers in 1989, and seeing Steelers coach Chuck Noll chew Glanville up and spit him out at midfield, following a Pittsburgh victory. What’s so tragic is that now there’s nobody left to leave tickets for Elvis.

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