The best team in Texas is little ole University of Houston. The Cougars rose to number six in the latest AP poll due to their domination of the Oklahoma Sooners in week one, 33-23. Houston showed the nation they are indeed very capable of hanging with Power 5 teams, and the Peach Bowl last year was not a fluke.
After the performance this weekend the Big 12 might be nervous about letting Houston in. Tom Herman has already proved he doesn’t need the title of being in the Big 12 to get big name recruits. Herman got Ed Oliver, the number one recruit in the country, to stay home and play for a AAC school, and that should make the nation nervous.
Every top program has players from Texas, and a lot are from the Houston area. Imagine how easy the recruiting process for Herman would be, he could literally recruit just inside of I-99 and have a top 10 recruiting class in the nation. Most players leave Houston to go to bigger programs to get more recognition and play against better talent. If the Cougars get into the Big 12, top players can stay at home, get all the recognition they want, and play all the other top schools, while having family at every home game.
Scott Van Pelt, ESPN anchor, said after the Cougars win while the Cougars may have ultimately been underdogs, their past two wins shouldn’t come as a surprise, and the Cougars feel the same way internally.
“We were prepared to win. We expected to win. We train to win,” Herman said. “It wasn’t about making a statement, it was about going 10 the first week of the season.”
The last time the Cougars were ranked in the top five was 1990, when they reached No. 3. It should be a surprise to no one to have them there once again in a few weeks. The Cougars are one of 11 teams to be in the running for Big 12 expansion and will meet with officials next week.
Another thing the Cougars have going against them is the Big 12 not needing to expand to have a conference championship game. Not having a conference championship game has previously hurt the Big 12, and the committee let them know that. The Big 12 will have a game starting in 2017 with or without expansion, and not needing to expand could hurt the leverage Houston has.
The Houston Cougars and Tom Herman showed what kind of team they are and what they are capable of against the Oklahoma Sooners, a top three team at the time. Teams in the Big 12 should be nervous, not only the week they will have to play the Cougars, but also on the recruiting trail.
