Biggest challenge yet awaits Cougars

Head coach Kevin Sumlin just can’t get away from Larry Fedora.

“When I was at Oklahoma, he was at Oklahoma State,” Sumlin said. “So the same thing keeps going on. As a matter of fact, his wife sent my wife a text Saturday night that said, ‘It’s on girlfriend.’”

The battle on Saturday for the Conference USA Championship between the two familiar foes will feature teams that stack up well against each other and will provide the No. 6 Cougars with their biggest challenge in a season where they’ve seemed untouchable.

The No. 24 Golden Eagles rank 15th in the NCAA in points scored (36.9) and 25th in points against (20.5).

The Cougars’ schedule has climbed in difficulty each week since their initial matchup with UCLA, and each week the defense has gotten better. Southern Miss will be the Cougars’ greatest challenge yet by far.

We’ve said in this very space before, ‘Watch out, this week is going to be a challenge,’ and then watched UH roll to victories by 40 or more, but this week, seriously, this is going to be a challenge.

It comes at good time, though. The Cougars have held their last four opponents under 20 points and seem to finally be hitting on all cylinders as a unit.

With such an influx of new players on defense and a 3-4 system that returning players were still adjusting to, it took 12 games for the defense to finally look like a winner.

“These two, Marcus (McGraw) and David (Hunter), have been playing awesome,” sophomore cornerback Zach McMillian said. “They’ve really been stepping it up and leading us defensively and we’ve been really talking it out in the secondary.

“I feel like we’ve been playing a lot better through just talking. Everybody is on the same page and understands the defense. That’s why I feel like we’re playing with a lot more energy and excitement.”

The Cougars’ depth has been an enormous help this season, particularly to a secondary that resembled a M.A.S.H. unit in midseason and upfront.

“Dominique Miller, we just didn’t have any depth before him,” Sumlin said. “He and Scypion, Zeke Riser, Braswell, David Hunter. When you’re only dealing with three defensive linemen, you’re able to rotate a little bit more and keep those guys fresh.”

Senior quarterback Austin Davis and the Golden Eagles’ offense will keep the Cougars on their toes with many different looks and a diverse, dynamic attack.

“Larry’s going to force you to defend the whole field,” Sumlin said.

“Stretch you vertically, give you some option, give you some quarterback read-run, some designed runs for the quarterback, then they’re going to take Tracy Lampley and force you to play a perimeter game if they want to screen you, a speed sweep, a reverse, get you running back and forth. There’s no doubt they’ve been able to move the ball in just about every way.”

Davis has completed 63 percent of his passes for 3,052 yards and 24 touchdowns, and has also been a threat in the run game, rushing for 285 yards and four touchdowns.

“It will be another great challenge for our defense,” Sumlin said. “Really, there will be some carryover from Tulsa, in terms of we had to face a little bit more quarterback run game than we faced against SMU.

“But I think looking at it overall, perimeter-wise and speed-wise, they’re probably a step faster than Tulsa. They’ve got some excellent skill on the outside, some big wideouts.”

Senior receivers Ryan Balentine and Kevin Bolden lead the Golden Eagles in receiving, each catching six touchdowns and over 600 yards, but Lampley has been a dynamo for the Golden Eagles.

Lampley has caught 37 balls for 424 yards and one touchdown, while gaining 379 yards on the ground on 70 carries. Lampley is also one of the top returners in C-USA, returning 45 punts for 342 yards and one touchdown and 17 kickoffs for 369 yards.

Junior cornerback D.J. Hayden’s ability to cover man-to-man will be helpful in allowing the Cougars to switch up their coverages.

“If we can put him on an island with whatever receiver he’s covering, everybody else on the other side can mix up the defense and mix up their looks coverage-wise,” McMillian said.

If the Cougars’ defense continues to play as it has for the past four weeks, the Golden Eagles will not be able to keep up with Cougars.

Southern Miss has won 10 games and defeated many of the same teams as UH, but has not done so in such emphatic fashion, and has even dropped games to Marshall and UAB — two teams that the Cougars handled with ease.

The Cougars should be wary of the Golden Eagles’ attack, but it would not be shocking if the Cougars win by a wide margin. Southern Miss has a strong offense, but it isn’t nearly as explosive as UH’s.

If it turns into a shootout, Southern Miss won’t be able to keep up.

 

Second Senior Day

Having a better record than the Golden Eagles has its benefits. The Cougars get to play at Robertson Stadium.

“It’s another senior day,” senior quarterback Case Keenum said.

“It’s going to be awesome. That’s one pretty cool thing about this conference is that the championship game is played at home. I know a lot of guys are really excited about that. I think it adds to the hype of the game that we get to play here.”

Also a treat for the Cougars, the telecast has been moved from ESPN2 to ABC for 11 a.m. on Saturday.

“I know we’re not on network television, or we haven’t been in a long time. We play on Thursday nights or Friday mornings on different channels, and we love any time we get a chance to play on any type of TV, but is obviously a chance to play on a little bit more of a national stage,” Keenum said.

“It’s good for our whole school and we’re looking forward to it.”

If the Cougars win, they will advance to a BCS bowl for the first time in school history. A loss would most likely send them to the familiar Armed Forces Bowl.

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