Tom Herman is the first head coach in UH history to start their career 9-0. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar
During his weekly press conference, head coach Tom Herman broke down the team’s strategy for their game against the University of Memphis Tigers.
Herman said they pulled information from earlier Memphis matchups like former opponents the University of Tulsa and the University of Cincinnati.
Herman also gleaned strategy from Memphis’ game against the University of Mississippi, who Herman said had a similar offense to Houston’s.
“You have to gauge philosophically who they are and what they want to be,” Herman said. “You formulate a game plan around your experience as an offensive staff.”
Herman said they’ll do their best to emulate Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch’s style with the scout team’s quarterback, but they know that they’re not going to be able to replicate him.
“The Bear Fenimores of the world have to puff their chests out a little bit this week and say ‘I’m Paxton Lynch and I’m going to go out there and give the defense the best look possible,’” Herman said. “We are going to do our best to give them a decent representation.”
Herman said Lynch, who stands six feet, seven inches and weighs 245 pounds, is a creature with an extremely strong arm who runs well and makes great decisions to get the ball out.
“For our defense, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire, back-to-back weeks against Gunner Kiel (of Cincinnati) and Paxton Lynch,” Herman said. “I don’t know a two-week stretch in the country where you’re going to face two quarterbacks with that much talent.”
Herman said Memphis’ 3-4 defense is similar to Houston’s and expects them to bring players from all parts of the field and different positions.
“The thing about them is, usually teams that are that multiple aren’t very sound because they try to do too much,” Herman said. “But they are very sound in what they do. You can tell that they have a good grasp on that defense.”
Overall, Houston doesn’t expect to change their training to prepare for Memphis this week. He said he expects the team to have a little extra pep in their step for this week’s match-up and doesn’t plan to calm their excitement.
“The thing that you caution against is listening to the outside noise and the praise, but the excitement is great,” Herman said. “We don’t run from the excitement and the buzz of this being a big game, but it is not going to change the way we prepare.”
