Saturday, Sept. 5 • 8 p.m. • ESPN3
TENNESSEE TECH
at
HOUSTON
TDECU Stadium (40,000/Synthetic)
Houston, Texas
Television
Brett Dolan and George Wrighster
Houston Radio - KPRC-AM 950 (flagship)
THE GAME
Saturday’s game will be the first meeting between Houston and Tennessee Tech … Houston has won its last three games against FCS opponents by a combined score of 165-13 (a 47-0 victory against Grambling State last season, a 62-13 win against Southern in 2013 and a 56-0 win against Georgia State in 2011.
TENNESSEE TECH
0-0
Head Coach
Watson Brown (Vanderbilt ’73)
38-53, ninth season at Tennessee Tech
132-204-1, 31st season as collegiate head coach
NOTES
Tennessee Tech was tabbed for seventh place in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll … The Golden Eagles went 5-7 last season and have 51 letterwinners returning … Head coach Watson Brown is quite familiar with the city of Houston after serving as head coach at Rice from 1984-85 … Brown was head coach at Cincinnati in 1983 … Brown led Tennessee Tech to the OVC title and a spot in the NCAA FCS playoffs in 2012 … Brown and his brother (former Tulane, North Carolina and Texas coach Mack Brown) have 370 career combined wins — the most of any brother combination in Division I history … LB Tra’Darius Goff was chosen to the preseason All-OVC team despite his missing most of the 2014 season due to a shoulder injury … Goff registered 101 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles in 2013 … RB Ladarius Vanlier was one of just four players in FCS football with a kickoff return and punt return for a touchdown last season … Vanlier is the team’s top returning rusher after he went for 494 yards and five TDs in 2014 … WR Brock McCoin had 43 receptions for 517 yards and two TDs.
HOUSTON
0-0
Head Coach
Tom Herman (Minnesota ’96)
0-0, first season
NOTES
Houston has 11 starters returning from a program that has turned in back-to-back 8-5 seasons … Head coach Tom Herman makes his debut on the Houston sideline after he helped Ohio State to the College Football Playoff National Championship as offensive coordinator in 2014 … The Cougars finished the 2014 season by rallying from a 31-6 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Pittsburgh, 35-34, in the Armed Forces Bowl … Many of the key players from that game are back, including RB Kenneth Farrow, who rushed for 1,037 yards and an American Athletic Conference-leading 14 touchdowns last season … QB Greg Ward Jr. threw for 1,919 yards and 12 touchdowns and added 569 rushing yards last season …QB Adam Schulz, a transfer from Utah, where he started the last three games of the 2013 season, also should see snaps this season … WR Demarcus Ayers was second on the team with 33 receptions last season … The Cougar defense features one of the nation’s top secondaries … S Adrian McDonald earned first-team all-conference honors last season, while CB William Jackson was a second-team choice … McDonald had five interceptions, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.