Houston’s win against Oklahoma got the Cougars off to a 1-0 start, but it also opened the door to a potentially magic season.
by Dick Weiss
The University of Houston can no longer be dismissed in the national championship conversation.
The Cougars made a bold statement, defeating third-ranked Big 12 colossus Oklahoma, 33-23, before a raucous sellout crowd of 71,016 at NRG Stadium.
Elusive senior quarterback Greg Ward Jr., who should be a Heisman Trophy candidate, completed 23-of-40 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns and senior co-captain Brandon Wilson exploded for a 100-yard return after a missed Oklahoma field goal as the champions from the American Athletic Conference savaged the Sooners.
This was no fluke.
Houston dominated time of possession and special teams in the biggest regular-season game they have played in the last 25 years. The Cougars’ ferocious front seven, anchored by freshman defensive tackle Ed Oliver, limited Oklahoma to just 70 yards rushing and were the more physical team defensively, especially in the second half when they forced the Sooners into three fumbles. They had the better quarterback and the better team.
“We expected to win internally,” Houston head coach Tom Herman said.
The FPI, a measure of team strength devised by ESPN, had Oklahoma ranked third and Houston ranked 48th, below South Carolina and just above Arizona State and Western Kentucky.
“What is this FPI thing, by the way?” Herman asked. “The thing doesn't favor the Cougars very well.”
It's time to redo the math.
Given the chance, The American champion has showed it can play with the best teams from any conference. UCF outscored Big 12 champion Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl and Houston overwhelmed resident ACC power Florida State, in this past January's Peach Bowl.
“Our league doesn't get many of these opportunities and to have an atmosphere like this with a nationally televised game on ABC, it is good for us,'' American commissioner Mike Aresco said. “All credit to the players, to Tom and his team. I am just pleased they had this opportunity and they took advantage of it.”
“We are still a team with a bunch of two- and three-star recruits who don't have the luxuries that Oklahoma or Florida State has,” Herman said. “So any time your resources don't match your opponents’ resources it is something surprising. I can understand why these things aren't supposed to happen and why it might be surprising to the general public and Joe Fan. But we know how we train and prepare so it's not surprising to us.”
The only surprise was that the score wasn't more lopsided. The Cougars piled up 337 yards total offense did not have to punt during the first half, but had to settle for two touchdowns and four Ty Cummings field goals after Ward led them to the red zone six times.
“I was disappointed in that,” Herman said. “I think we led the country last year in touchdowns in the red zone. I hate kicking field goals, but we have a good field goal kicker. We found ourselves in third and long a lot of times in the red zone, which wasn't very conducive to going for it on fourth down. Anytime you get points, it's a positive, especially against the No. 3 team in the country.”
The biggest play of the game occurred midway through the third quarter. Houston took a 19-17 lead on a 47-yard field goal by Cummings on the final play of the half, but the Sooners had a chance to retake the field when Bob Stoops made a decision to have Austin Seibert attempt a career-long 53-yard field goal in a fourth-and-18 situation from the Houston 36.
Oklahoma called timeout to set up the kick, allowing Houston a chance to see the Sooners' personnel and set up a return. The kick was short and Wilson caught in on the back of the end zone with his feet barely inside the end line and then made a decision to run it out. The result was a spectacular play - officially, 100 yards, but in actuality, more like 109.99 yards, that was reminiscent of Auburn's kick-six against Alabama in 2013.
“I really thought I stepped out,” Wilson said. “But I didn't hear a whistle or anything, so I went. I just saw green grass and I scored.”
Wilson got a couple key blocks and raced up the right sideline, hurdling teammate Zach Vaughan on the way to the end zone
Herman missed the play, which propelled the Cougars to a 26-17 lead with 8:28 left in the third quarter
“I actually didn't see Brandon cross the goal line,'' Herman said. “Once he crossed the 40 and was kind of running out of white shirts. I got a feeling that he's going to take this to the house then I started looking at the other side of the field to make sure there weren't any flags. I was thinking, ‘This is too good to be true.’”
Not on a special day like this. This day belonged to the horde of Houston fans, who displayed their pride by turning this game into a home field advantage for the Cougars.
“I've been complimenting Houston all summer,” Oklahoma's gracious coach Bob Stoops said. “Why would I change now? It has nothing to do with where they play. The bottom line is they've got a really good football team.”
College football fans throughout country can confirm that.