For the second week in a row, a Cougar road game came down to overtime. This time, however, the outcome was not as favorable for UH.
The Good: For the second week in a row, the Cougars battled back from a 14-point halftime deficit and led the game with less than a minute to play. Derek Parrish was a beast on the Houston defense: he forced a fumble, racked up 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss - both American Athletic Conference records - and earned National Defensive Player of the Week honors. When he wasn't being sacked by Parish, Red Raider QB Donavan Smith was throwing interceptions: three of them, including one returned 54 yards for a UH touchdown by Jayce Rogers.
The Bad: For the second week in a row, the Cougars were sloppy and undisciplined. Poor tackling, dumb penalties (Houston was flagged 11 times for 121 yards), dropped passes, a pair of turnovers, poor offensive execution, a missed field goal because Tune took a sack that put the Coogs out of Baxa's range)... Hologrsen said it himself after the game: "We didn’t play well enough to win. Just a whole lot of stupid stuff. Stupid, stupid, stupid, undisciplined stuff."
Well coach, you're being paid $4 million a year to fix it. I know back to back games on the road are tough, but eliminate just a few of those mistakes and the Cougars could have left Lubbock with a win. For example:
The Ugly: For the second week in a row, a brilliant Tank Dell punt return for a TD with a stupid penalty. For the second week in a row, the Cougars allowed the opposing team to tie the game with less than a minute on the clock.
But worst of all? The UH defense allowed Texas Tech to convert 4th and 20 in the first overtime.
That's right. 4th and 20.
In the second overtime, Smith would run virtually untouched into the endzone to secure the Texas Tech victory.
What It Means: The loss knocked the Cougars out of the top 25, where they probably didn't belong to begin with. The Cougars have now lost 10 out of the last 11 games against once-and-future conference mate Texas Tech; the last time they beat the Red Raiders in Lubbock was 1990.
Next up for Houston is their first home game of the season, against a Kansas team that just beat West Virginia on the road in overtime. Uh-oh.
Andy Yanez and Chris Baldwin have more.
No comments:
Post a Comment