Everyone has one of those friends. The kid that puts off writing their 10-page paper until the morning of, but still gets it turned in the next morning — and does well on it. Didn’t read the book, aces the test. Falls behind by large deficits early, but flexes its muscles when it needs to and comes out on top.
There’s a reason they’re called the Cardiac Coogs.
Thursday’s 49-42 win in El Paso was not the first time this season the Cougars had gotten off to a slow start. Excluding the season opener against UCLA — and the exhibition against Georgia State — it’s become the norm.
So why the wait?
The defense has the ability to step up. They make a habit of doing it when they must. But why does it take the urgency of a back against the wall, falling behind by 27 points or a possible game-tying possession in the red zone to get them to make stops? Why can’t this be a regular thing that happens on the opening possession of games or in a boring, comfortable situation in the second quarter?
They make up for their inconsistencies with big plays. Against the Miners, Marcus McGraw ran a fumble back for his first career touchdown, and also recorded a big sack. Kent Brooks and Jackie Candy came up with big plays in coverage to stop the Miners from tying the game in the final minutes. Phillip Steward had two huge sacks.
Sammy Brown continued to do what Sammy Brown does best, wrapping up ball carriers in the backfield.
But the defense still gives up too many big plays in the running game.
UTEP running back Joe Banyard did his best Donald Buckram impression and had seven runs of more than 10 yards — 12, 50, 19, 12, 68, 15, 16 — finishing with 240 yards on 22 carries.
“They ran it all over the place in a variety of ways,” head coach Kevin Sumlin said.
“We got the power stopped and then they went to a little different scheme. We got that stopped and then they went to a draw. Then when we got that stopped, they screened us. They were coaching and they were moving and it was the same thing on both sides.”
The Cougars were undermanned on defense, with defensive backs D.J. Hayden and Chevy Bennett sitting out, and Colton Valencia missing time in the second half. But injuries are part of the game. And with so many new pieces on defense, there are still growing pains — even five games in.
Fans are clamoring for UH to be ranked.
On Saturday, No. 22 West Virginia took out Bowling Green 55-10. That is how ranked teams take care of business. There is work to be done.
What is refreshing is that Sumlin and his staff know there is work to be done, and improvement should be expected.
“We’ve got some things to clean up,” Sumlin said. “We’ve got some things to work on, we’ve got some things to fix. We are 5-0 and 1-0 in our league and the West. We get to go back home for a pretty good while now and I think right now coming through this portion of the schedule playing three road games out of the five and not how we won them, but we won them, it ought to give us some type of confidence.
“We’re honest with ourselves. We didn’t play very well. We’ve got to play better as the season goes on, but the good news is we did win those games and we’ll be back home at the Rob.”
