Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Houston 35, SMU 22

The Cougars bounced back from a 7-12 deficit in the first half to defeat the SMU Mustangs at TDECU Stadium last Saturday, avenging last year's miserable loss to the Ponies and winning that all-important first win in division play.

The Good: Running back Duke Catalon had a career game, rushing for 177 yards and two touchdowns; UH's ground game accounted for 265 yards overall. QB Kyle Postma completed 19 of 27 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass from D'Eriq King on a trick play, and was never sacked. The defense intercepted SMU QB Ben Hicks twice and also sacked him twice. The Mustangs struggled against the UH defense on third down, converting only 5 of 14 opportunities. SMU also missed a field goal right before halftime.

The Bad: Hicks and his receivers were nevertheless able to do damage, torching the Cougar defense for 397 passing yards. Postma had two interceptions, both of which were the result of poor decisions to throw into double coverage. Although he had a good game overall, Catalon also dropped a sure touchdown pass.

The Ugly: Although the Cougars were only flagged for four penalties overall, two of them were rather stupid and unnecessary personal foul penalties. The ability - or lack thereof - of the UH secondary to tackle in space is atrocious.

What it Means: the Cougar offense finally found two things that had eluded them up to this point in the season: a strong running game and an offense that could score in the second half. I can only hope that this is a sign of things to come.

The Coogs are now 4-1 and travel to Tulsa to play the struggling Golden Hurricane.


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