Houston's win against Louisville last week gave the Cougars two top-five wins this season. Now can The American please get some respect from the rest of the nation?


by Dick Weiss


The University of Houston has two signature victories this season. The Cougars defeated Oklahoma, 33-23,  when the Sooners were ranked 3 in the AP poll, and then completely shut down Louisville, 36-10, last Thursday in prime time game when the Cardinals were also ranked No. 3.
 
Western Michigan may be undefeated in the MAC, but there is not a team in the nation that has better nonleague victories than Houston. 
 
“Unbelievable win,” Cougars’ coach Tom Herman said. ‘“It’s important to know that we have not gone anywhere. We have been here all along. We were banged up, tired and exhausted in the month of October. That’s not an excuse, that’s reality, and our guys fought through it and fought through the adversity. They never wavered or stopped having confidence. This is what happens when you get the band back together; get everybody healthy, everybody fresh and everybody doing their job for the love of their brother. As hard as these guys play, and as talented as they are, we can play with anybody in the country, and we proved that again.”
 
Ironically, Houston had been nowhere to be found in the College Football Playoff rankings this season. In fact, no one from The American has cracked the CFP top 25, which is surprising considering that last year, four league teams were ranked at one point or another. Hopefully, they are not being penalized because the American Athletic Conference has almost been too good for its own good this season.
 
After all, with as solid as Houston’s resume is, what does that say about Navy, which is 8-2, won The American’s West Division title, beat the Cougars and holds a nonconference win against Notre Dame? Or what about USF, which is 9-2, has lost only to Tempe and Florida State, and has scored at least 30 points in 15 straight games? Or how about Temple, which has shut out its last two opponents - both on the road - and has blanked three opponents this year on the way to an 8-3 record? Or Tulsa, which has scored at least 40 points in eight of its 10 games and has seen its two conference losses decided by a combined nine points?
 
The Cougars are 9-2, having lost to Navy and SMU in conference play, and finished second to the Midshipmen in the West Division. Houston would not be automatically selected to appear in a New Year’s Six bowl game because the Cougars did not win their league championship.
 
The same rules do not apply to teams from the so-called Power 5, where teams do not have to win league championships to qualify for spots in the New Year’s Bowls.
 
Big 12 favorite Oklahoma (9-2) has two losses - to the Cougars and to Ohio State - but was ranked ninth in last week’s rankings. By comparison, Tulsa also had losses to those same to teams - a close call against Houston and a road game at Ohio State - but had been unranked altogether.
 
USC (8-3), which lost to Alabama, 51-6, in its opener on a neutral field, has three losses but jumped from 20th to 13th after a win over previously unbeaten Pac-12 leader Washington. And Ohio State (10-1) is second in the rankings, but unless the Buckeyes defeat Michigan and Penn State loses to Michigan State in the final games of the regular season, the Buckeyes would not have won its own division in the Big Ten.
 
It’s time for the College Football Playoff committee, which judges teams on a weekly basis, to take a longer view of the overall strength of The American and its competitive league play among the contenders when evaluating its teams. The American has five teams with at least eight wins -- Navy, Temple, USF, Houston and Tulsa. Memphis has seven wins entering the final weekend, and SMU and UCF have made remarkable turnarounds in 2016 as the Knights have secured bowl eligibility and the Mustangs stand one win away.
 
Despite the fact that The American is 2-0 in New Year’s Six Bowl games in the three-year history of the conference (UCF beat Baylor in the 2013 season, and Houston knocked off Florida State in 2015), the league is constantly forced to fight an uphill battle to crack what appears to be a glass ceiling. It’s time to take out a sledge hammer.
 
It’s not like Houston is Cinderella. 
 
The Cougars finished 13-1 last season, dominating heavily favored perennial Florida State, 38-24, in the Chick-Fil-a Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
 
 
The Cougars made a bold statement against Louisville. Their ferocious defense, fueled by freshman defensive tackle Ed Oliver and linebacker Steven Taylor, sacked Heisman Trophy front-running quarterbackLamar Jackson 11 times and held him to 244 yards of total offense. The Cardinals were limited to 10 points, 30 below their average. No one, not Clemson or Florida State, else has come close to containing Jackson.
 
“He definitely didn’t look like himself,” Oliver said. “The game plan we had drawn up was amazing. It obviously worked. We believed in the coaches. I do believe it got him a little riled up.”
 
Teams like Houston, Navy, USF and Tulsa all have high powered offenses that are all capable of generating 600 yards-plus in total offense. Temple’s defense, meanwhile, has been its calling card; the Owls are third in the NCAA in total defense (277.8 ypg).
 
Navy clinched The American West Saturday with a powerful 66-31 victory at East Carolina in which quarterback Will Worth rushed for 159 yards and four of the Midshipmen’s nine rushing touchdowns.
 
Quinton Flowers passed for 195 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for 142 yards, and USF tied its program record for wins with a 35-27 victory over SMU.
 
D’Angelo Brewer ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns, James Flanders had 163 yards rushing and another score and Tulsa pulled away from UCF in the second half for a 35-20 win.
 
And quarterback Phillip Walker threw for 337 yards and two touchdowns to help lead Temple to its fifth consecutive victory in a 31-0 shutout at Tulane. If the Owls, who have shut out their last two opponents, defeat East Carolina next Saturday, they will win the East and play Navy for the championship Dec. 3.
 
The American has coaches who are proven veterans and others who are rising stars. It has teams that are constantly improving and it merits more attention and respect than it has been getting as we head down the stretch.
 
Hopefully, members of the committee are watching.