Growing up in Katy, Texas which about 30 minutes from downtown Houston and 45 minutes away from the University of Houston campus, depending on how many fender benders and people running out of gas there are on I10 and I45; you didn’t really see many U of H fans around.
The two teams you grew up to be fans of were Texas and Texas A&M. Once someone found out you were a football fan the next question was “Are you an Aggie or Longhorn?” never in a million years would someone have asked you are you a Cougars fan, if they did the response would’ve just been laughter. I remember hearing about how Houston used to be one of the best teams, back when Andre Ware was winning the Heisman and the Run ‘n Shoot was in its prime. Houston did have a little comeback 5 years ago with Case Keenum, but that was done with the loss to Southern Mississippi for a chance at a BCS bowl game and Kevin Sumlin headed north to College Station.
Boy, how times have changed.
Wearing a burnt orange shirt now is just showing that you still fit into that shirt from 10 years ago. If you’re wearing a Texas A&M shirt it is probably from the one glory day the Aggies had when Johnny football was running things in College Station.
The hype has never been greater around Houston Cougar football than it is right now. The Cougars are coming off a Peach Bowl victory of Florida State, on the verge of going the Big 12, have the hottest coach in football with Tom Herman and a legit Heisman Trophy candidate quarterbacking the team, Greg Ward Jr.
The Cougars will have their biggest test of the year week one against the Oklahoma Sooners at NRG Stadium Saturday at 11 a.m. This game could be the deciding factor if Houston gets into The College Football Playoff.
Last year Houston missed going undefeated by one game. Ward Jr. and the Cougars were rolling until Ward Jr. rolled his ankle the week before the UConn game. Kyle Postma did throw for 190 yards and a touchdown, but had to be replaced by injured Ward Jr. Houston would fall to the Huskies 20-17, costing themselves a potential playoff berth.
Last year was a test run for not only his players buying into Herman’s system, but for Herman as well.
“I think the new guys, the newcomers, that got here in June they assimilated to our culture so much faster, than when we got here and had to assimilate and entire to to our culture,” said Herman.
Tom Herman has been on fire the past two years. Herman left Ohio State after winning the national championship, then comes to Houston leads them to a 13-1 record. Houston had the number one recruiting class of 2016 in the AAC and 35th in the nation, that would’ve been fourth in the Big 12. With a win over a playoff favorite Sooners team on opening day, a great season and a bowl win you could see recruits in Texas come in bunches to Houston.
This could be the year “#HTownTakeover” turns into Texas takeover. With there not being a dominate team in Texas right now recruits are looking for schools outside of the state to go to. Texas is once again unclaimed territory, and the Houston Cougars are primed to take it.
