and chemistry. Kadie and Amber Rolfzen are both playing at

HOUSTON -- When the Houston Texans host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, it will be the first time since 2010 theyll play without J.J. Watt.A person familiar with Watts condition said the star defensive lineman he had back surgery Thursday and it is expected to miss the rest of the season. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday night on condition of anonymity because the team hasnt announced the surgery.Watt was placed on the injured reserve Wednesday. Its his second back surgery in two months after he missed training camp and Houstons four preseason games after surgery in July to repair a herniated disk. He will miss a game for the first time in his career after starting 83 straight games since he was drafted in 2011.Watts loss is a huge blow to a team looking to bounce back after a 27-0 loss to New England last week. The Texans know that one person cant replace what Watt brought to their team, but coach Bill OBrien expects everyone to pitch in to help make up for his absence.OBrien was with the Patriots in 2008 when they went 11-5 despite playing without Tom Brady for all but one game.Ive been around teams where a top player goes down and the mentality of the team, which needs to be the mentality of a team, is that if a good player goes down -- if any player goes down -- the next guy has to step up, he said. Thats the mentality of this team.Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel wouldnt say who would start in Watts place. But he did say that other stars of his defense like Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus will have to continue to improve to keep the defense afloat.Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey said their game plan wont change with Watt out and knows Houstons defense has plenty of other threats the Titans will have to deal with.They have a pretty good front there, so we have a lot of guys we have to handle up there, he said.The Titans have struggled against Houston the past two seasons and have lost four in a row in the series. Tennessee defensive tackle Jurrell Casey knows that if they hope to contend in the AFC South theyll have to figure out a way to beat the Texans.Its something thats been haunting us for the last couple years ... its a ... divisional opponent thats been on top of our division for a long time, he said. If we want to take our division by storm, its got to start this week.Some things to know about the Titans-Texans game:ROAD WARRIOR: Marcus Mariota has been at his best away from Tennessee so far in his young NFL career. In seven games on the road, Mariota has thrown for 1,612 yards with 12 touchdowns with only two interceptions for a 104.9 passer rating. He also has a rushing TD and caught a TD catch on the road. This will be his first game in Houston, and Mariota has five TD passes with a 92.6 passer rating in his last three games against divisional opponents. Mariota isnt sure why hes played so much better on the road, where three of his four career victories have come.Thats going to have to change, Mariota said. Really, again, Ive got to continue just to prepare like any other game, focus on what I have to do and what this team asks me to do, and just continue to be a better player each and every single day.NO EXCUSES: Houston quarterback Brock Osweiler is in his fourth year in the NFL, but spent most of that time as a backup and has just 10 career starts. Hes struggled so far this season, throwing four interceptions and three touchdown passes. He isnt using his inexperience as an excuse.I dont use my lack of starts as an excuse for anything, he said. I expect myself to play at an extremely high level. I have great confidence in my abilities and what I can do, and I have great confidence in the teammates around me to help me do my job. Im never going to use my lack of starts for an excuse or say: `Ill figure it out eventually or anything like that.OFFENSIVE BOOST: The Titans are hoping tight end Delanie Walker is back against the Texans; he missed the Oakland game with a right hamstring injury. He had a career season last year with 94 catches for 1,088 yards, and Walker has been the Titans biggest deep threat so far, with the longest reception this season at 32 yards. Barring a setback, wide receiver Kendall Wright also should make his season debut in Houston. Wright caught Mariotas first career touchdown pass but has been hampered by injuries over the past season. His return would provide a speedy boost to the offense.RETURNING TO HOUSTON: This will be the second straight season Andre Johnson has returned to the town where he played his first 12 NFL seasons and still keeps a home. Johnson had six catches for 77 yards and two TDs when he played the Texans as a member of the Indianapolis Colts last season, and he said its fun to go back home.Itll be good to go back and see some faces I havent seen in a little while, Johnson said.---AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker contributed to this report.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL Air Max 1/97 Nz . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. Nike Just Do It Shoes Nz . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. http://www.airmaxnzwholeale.com/cheap-air-max-98-nz.html . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Nike Air Max 90 Nz . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. Nike Air Max 270 Mens Nz . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Three repeat visitors from last season -- Nebraska, Minnesota and Texas -- and one very, very familiar presence -- Stanford -- make up the volleyball final four this year. Heres a look at whos headed to Columbus, Ohio, and what well see this week from the best of the best.1. Stanford: Doing Stanford stuff againTheres no debate which school has had its hand prints on the NCAA tournament the most throughout the events history: Stanford is in the final four for the 20th time. The sixth-seeded Cardinal upset No. 3 Wisconsin on the Badgers home court in the Madison Regional final.Stanfords first final four was in 1982, the second year of the NCAA tournament, and the Cardinals first national championship was in 1992. But its been 12 years since the last of the Cardinals six NCAA titles. And in that time, Penn State passed Stanford for the most with seven, with six of them coming between 2007-2014.In the past decade, in fact, Stanford has dealt more with big disappointments in the NCAA tournament than big celebrations:Three consecutive NCAA final losses from 2006-08.One national semifinal loss.Two down-to-the wire fifth-set losses in the elite eight.Three losses in the second round, including last year to Loyola Marymount.The Cardinal were without 2014 first-team All-American Inky Ajanaku last year because of a knee injury, and despite still having a strong senior presence, fell short of repeating their 14 final four trip.This season, Ajanaku was back as the den mother to a team loaded with freshman talent.The Cardinal were the highest-seeded Pac-12 team in the NCAA field, despite not winning the league title. Yet it looked like another tough ending for Stanford when it fell into a two-set hole at UW Fieldhouse, where Wisconsin had lost just once (to Minnesota) all season. Somehow, though, when their backs were really up against the wall, the Cardinal just started playing freely. They climbed all the way back to stun the Badgers 15-9 in the fifth set, and in doing so, brought the West Coast back into the final four. Last year, all four teams were from the Central time zone for the first time, and the same would have been true this year if Wisconsin had won.Now, Ajanaku, who had 20 kills and 11 blocks against Wisconsin, gets her second trip to the final four with lots of help from youngsters like Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Kathryn Plummer.The Cardinal face Minnesota in the semifinals, a rematch of the teams early-season meeting at Stanford on Aug. 28. Stanford won that one 3-1.2. Minnesota: Gophers on the prowlNo. 2 seed Minnesota is the only final four team that has not won an NCAA title; this is the Gophers fifth time making it this far. The closest theyve come to the pinnacle was a 3-0 loss to Stanford in the 2004 final.But if you were going to pick a favorite just based on the four teams regional performances, it might well be the Gophers. They beat No. 15 seed Missouri, the SEC co-champion, 3-1. Then the Gophers faced No. 10 UCLA, which tied for second in the Pac-12 with Stanford.Minnesota started the first set slowly, trailing the Bruins 6-0, and then took off. They prevailed in a sweep and now have won 14 matches in a row, the longest current winning streak of any of the final four teams.The Gophers had five different players who had double-digit kills against Missouri, led by Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Wilhite, and the attack was also pretty spread out against UCLA. With the Big Ten Setter of the Year, Samantha Seliger-Swenson, Minnesota is a really difficult team to defend because there are so many options.Last year, the Gophers won the Big Ten title and then fell in the national semifinals to Texas, 3-1. That was a growth experience for Minnesota under coach Hugh McCutcheon, who is in his fifth season in Minneapolis and has built up quite a powerhouse.I was extremely proud of our athletes for the way they responded to the different style of play we got to see from UCLA, McCutcheon said. A lot of defensive discipline on their part.For what its worth, the Gophers national semifinal opponent, Stanford, lost both of its Pac-12 matches this season to the Bruins, 3-1 at UCLA and 3-2 at Stanford. Those are the Cardinals only llosses since mid-October.dddddddddddd.3. Texas: Longhorns here againThe bully of the Big 12, Texas finally got knocked of its conference perch for the first time since Nebraska left the league in 2011. Kansas won the league, with Texas second. A new sheriff in town?Well, not exactly. Nothing can take the league title from the Jayhawks, of course. But in the NCAA tournament, its the same old story: Fourth-seeded Texas is in the final four. The Longhorns advanced there for the fifth season in a row and for the eighth time in the past nine years. (Kansas went to the final four as well last year, but was upset in the second round this season by Creighton, the same team that Texas swept in the regional final.)The problem for Texas, though, has been finishing the job once it gets this far -- which perhaps isnt a fair way to look at it.Yes, Texas has just one title in recent years -- in 2012 -- to add to the one the Longhorns won way back in 1988. But this current streak of success means theyve reached the final four both in years where theyve been a truly great team and in years when they overachieved.Such was the case last year, in fact, when injuries left them a bit less talented -- but even more determined. Texas got to the 2015 NCAA final, but at that point was overpowered by Nebraska, 3-0.This season, they faced the Huskers in August on a neutral court in Eugene, Oregon, and were swept again. In Big 12 play, Texas fell to Kansas and to Iowa State.And the Longhorns almost stumbled in the regional semifinals, losing a 2-0 lead and facing two match points in the fifth set before a dramatic rally to beat BYU. That close call was followed up by the exact opposite kind of match: a 3-0 statement over Creighton.So if youre not sure exactly what well see from the Longhorns in Columbus, the truth is that they might not be sure, either. But these things are certain: They have an extremely experienced setter in senior Chloe Collins, and three hitters with great ability to put the ball down: Paulina Prieto Cerame, Ebony Nwanebu and Micaya White.This team has been up and down this entire year, Collins said. To go and achieve [the final four] is something special for us, because we know all the obstacles weve been through this whole season.4. Nebraska: Seeking a repeatThe Huskers saw their season flash before their eyes Friday afternoon, facing two match points against Penn State. But such is the nature of volleyball that momentum can turn on the proverbial dime -- and when it does, it can be breathtaking to behold.So close to elimination -- and the end of their dream of repeating as NCAA champions -- the Huskers scored four consecutive points to win the third set. With a new life, they didnt squander it: Nebraska beat Penn State in five sets, and then looked like a favorite to win it all after dominating Pac-12 champion Washington in the final.There are no doubts about Nebraskas strengths: experience and chemistry. Kadie and Amber Rolfzen are both playing at a high level, and fellow seniors Justine Wong-Orantes and Andie Malloy have also been key contributors. Briana Holman, a transfer from LSU, has helped solidify Nebraskas block, and pulling it all together is setter Kelly Hunter.The pressure on the Huskers last year to win the title in Omaha, Nebraska, was extreme, and accomplishing that no doubt helped steel them for their tougher moments this year.However, there werent a lot of those. The Huskers let a 2-0 lead get away at Minnesota in late November and found themselves in a five-set match they lost to the Gophers. They fell short in that test but didnt in their five-setter Friday with Penn State.The Huskers and Longhorns have a very long history -- the Big Red leads the series 32-21 -- and theyve maintained their rivalry even after Nebraska leaving the Big 12.They are two programs -- and two coaches in Nebraskas John Cook and Texas Jerritt Elliott -- that have carried the torch for collegiate volleyball for a long time. And the fact that they keep running into each other in big moments is a testament to both. ' ' '