Tom Herman’s Houston Cougars are at it once again. Once again Herman’s Cougars entered a matchup against a ranked opponent as a heavy underdog, and once again the Cougars sent the opponent packing with an emphatic loss on their resume. Florida State experienced this in the Peach Bowl in January, Oklahoma got a taste of it in NRG Stadium to open the season, and now for the second year in a row and with the heavily favored Heisman trophy candidate at quarterback, Louisville was dealt a losing hand by Houston.
The Cougars have no doubt had their ups and downs this season as they hit more adversity than they did all of last year, but here they are with a 9-2 record and with a chance to notch back to back 10 win seasons for the first time in the history of the program. I had to do my fact checking on that last bit to make sure I was seeing things correctly. A win over Memphis next week on the road or a win in the bowl game will give Tom Herman back to back 10 win seasons in his first two years as a head coach, and he would be the first head coach in history of Houston’s existence to do that down in the 3rd Ward. That’s a pretty special thing, and it shows that Herman and his bunch weren’t a fluke after last year.
Everyone wanted to see if Houston and Herman would be able to follow up a successful season with another one and after taking down the Sooners in the opening week they were well on their way to another great year. That was until they hit a snag in the middle of the year with the loss to Navy, a nail biter with Tulsa, then a loss to in-state rival SMU on the road that had everyone questioning how good this team really was. Injuries and distractions both in and outside the locker room can hurt a team, especially when one of the distractions is the idea of the head coach bolting for a bigger job at the end of the year. Rather than let things spiral out of control, the Cougars got healthy and got back to their winning ways behind their stars like quarterback Greg Ward and freshman sensation Ed Oliver. You’ve probably seen Oliver wrecking game plans and quarterbacks every week since he set foot on campus, and he continued his absurd year last night by living in Louisville’s backfield and tossing Heisman hopeful Lamar Jackson around several times before sitting most of the 2nd half with an injury.
From the opening kickoff (literally) Houston took control of this game and set the tone for how this game was going to go. Most had Lamar Jackson coming to Houston and putting up his usual numbers, but instead Todd Orlando’s defense made his life absolutely miserable for four quarters. Louisville’s offensive line had the worst collective performance I’ve probably seen ever, from the 11 sacks they surrendered to several false starts that continued into the 4th quarter and several other penalties that consequently derailed any drives the offense got going. Jackson was getting hit from just about every angle possible and was facing intense pressure all night and it made it incredibly difficult for even an athlete of his caliber to get into a groove.
After his performance last night, if there was any room for speculation on who should win the Heisman, I think the door has been left ajar, though I still think Jackson deserves it personally. Herman and his staff deserve major kudos for getting their team healthy and ready to play in a game that most had completely wrote them off in. For those who were quick to cool on Herman’s stock as a potential offseason hire, I would bet they are red hot again after last night’s performance and they are probably looking quite foolish. Games against UConn last year and the Navy and SMU game this year look more like anomalies after big wins like last night’s for Herman’s Houston squad. In a short amount of time he is already proving to be one of, if not the best hires in the history of the program as he is taking the program to new levels that hasn’t been seen. Is he going to rebuff suitors this offseason and stick around? My gut tells me that is highly doubtful, but if I was a Houston fan I would just enjoy the ride because the team is a lot of fun to watch with Herman at the helm.
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