Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Houston 38, Tulsa 28

It was a lot closer than it needed to be, but the Cougars managed to edge out a win over the 2-9 Tulsa Golden Hurricane to become bowl-eligible for the second consecutive season.

The Good: Running back Kenneth Farrow dominated Tulsa’s hapless defense, carrying the ball 21 times for 116 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Wide receiver Steven Dunbar, a true freshman, had a breakout game with seven receptions for 150 yards. The defense continued its turnover-forcing ways by intercepting Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans three times, all in the fourth quarter, to seal the win.

The Bad: The Cougars jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but then let their foot off the gas and allowed Tulsa to tie things up in the second half. The Golden Hurricane matched the Coogs score-for-score throughout most of the second half and the Cougars couldn’t put the game away until late in the 4th quarter. The Defense struggled for the second game in a row, giving up 25 first downs and 416 total yards to Tulsa.

The Ugly: The athletics department might have distributed 23,572 tickets to this game, as the box score attendance indicates, but hardly anybody used them. Kickoff time was moved up to 11 am to avoid potentially severe weather, and the skies were gray and threatening throughout. That, along with the letdown against Tulane two weeks before, caused a lot of people to stay home and TDECU Stadium was mostly empty for this game.

What it means: The win assures that Houston can do no worse than .500 on the season. Next up is a Black Friday showdown against the SMU Mustangs in Dallas.

No comments: