Saturday, October 10, 2015

New American Frontier: Cougars Turn Peruna in to Purina

I made my first UH game of the season and it was worth it. I have season tickets to the Texans and I was torn about going to the game.  At the end of the day, I decided to watch the most exciting football team in the city of Houston.

The Coogs had me on edge most the first half.  The Ponies took a 14-7 lead early on.  I had nightmares of last year's UTSA game.

The first two SMU drives were to easy.  I wondered out loud if this was a repeat of UTSA all over again.

SMU's first two drives went for touchdowns drives of 82 and 75 yards.  Houston's defense looked clueless and exploited in the first quarter.  Several times UH looked to have a sack or a stop for a short gain only to see missed tackles leading to more Mustang yards.

Fortunately the Cougar offense was able to respond.  Greg Ward, Jr and the offense made quick work in their opening possession.  The Coogs shredded the Mustang defense in 4 plays for 75 yard in 1:14 drive to equal the score at 7.

The Mustangs again were able to move the ball with ease in building a 21-14 lead at the 6:18 mark in the 2nd quarter.

The Houston offense stalled again and punted to the Ponies.  The way SMU moved the ball it appeared the could add to their lead.

Instead the Cougar defense decided to join the game.  After the Houston punt, on a 3rd and 4 play, UH linebacker Steven Taylor strip sacked SMU QB Matt Davis and Adrian McDonald recovered for Houston on the Pony 12.

Two players later, Kenneth Farrow ran 6 yards and the game was knotted at 21.

On the ensuing drive, Pony once again coughed on the ball.  This time it was freshman running back Braeden West giving Houston the ball on the Cougar 43 with 44 seconds left in the half.

No problem for the Greg Ward, Jr. Show.  The key play was a Ward 28 yard pass to Steve Dunbar that moved the Coogs in to SMU territorty with 26 seconds.  With no timeouts left and the ball on the two, instead of clocking the ball, Ward took the ball in for a TD with 2 seconds remaining.  Houston 28, SMU 21 and the game had been seized by the Cougars.

SMU never was able to recover from the two minute disaster to end the half.

The Mustangs looked hapless the rest of the game as the Cougars reeled off three more TDs to take a 49-21 lead.

Final Houston 49 SMU 28

Cougar Notes and Analysis
I'm not sure why the defense allowed three early touchdowns early on.  Though it does mirror what happened to the Mustangs vs ECU last week.  They stormed out to an early lead before the Pirates changed quarterbacks and ran amok over the Pony defense.

Either the Mustangs had a sound game plan coming in and the Cougars made the right adjustments or there was some lingering affects of a short week.  I don't buy the short week theory though.  The Mustangs had the same short week the Cougars had.  My guess is SMU came out fired up, played lights out for a half but the talent level for the Coogs eventually caught up with SMU and ended their hopes for victory.

Kicker Kyle Bullard lost the his kicking duties to kick off specialist Ty Cummings.  Bullard struggled early in the season and after the Tulsa game head coach Tom Herman opened the place kicking duties to competition.

With back up quarterback Adam Schulz out for the year, the Cougars are dangerously thin at the position.  Nursing a 42-21 lead late in the 4th quarter, I would have liked to see Kyle Postma get reps for experience and to protect Ward.  Instead, Ward stayed in the game.  However, Herman chose not to expose Ward to injury.

The Coogs took over possession after a SMU punt with 1:06 left in the 3rd.   To protect the lead and Ward, the Cougars mounted a 8:38 minute drive for that resulted in a touchdown.  The drive featured all heavy run dose and only two passes out of sixteen plays. I did cringe when Ward ran the ball twice including the final TD.

Houston's reputation as a pass heavy offense was put on hold vs SMU.  They ground pounded the Ponies for 214 yards and 7 TDs.  It is the second game in a row that Houston doesn't score through the air.

Ward set broke Case Keenum's record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. Ward now holds the record with 11. Keenum's old record was 9.

No comments:

My Sports Allegiances

My favorite teams are in no particular order: Houston Texans, San Antonio Spurs(NBA champs 99, 03, 05, 07, 14) and the Houston Cougars, Pittsburgh Penguins (Stanley Cups 91, 92, 08, 16, 17)
My secondary teams are: Houston Dynamo(MLS Champs 06, 07), Houston Astros (NL Champs 05), Houston Rockets (NBA Champs 94, 95)
Teams I Hate: Anything out of Dallas
Teams I Enjoy Seeing Lose: Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies, Baylor Bears football
Teams that are Insignificant: rice owls