Football Sports

Round table: Cougars slip out with win against Memphis, but Navy awaits

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Senior safety Trevon Stewart led the vicious Cougar defense which forced two pivotal turnovers in the second half. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar

In this week’s round table, The Cougar sports staff discusses the come from behind win over the Memphis Tigers and the chances for them to host the conference championship game.


How would you rate the Cougars play on Saturday?

Staff writer J.D. Smith: The Cougars play was a tale of two halves. The first half the offense couldn’t get anything going and wasn’t moving at all until sophomore quarterback Kyle Postma came in. The defense played well enough to keep Memphis from pulling too far away, but the slow start that has plagued the offense all year almost cost them this one.

Senior staff writer Michael Calderon: I give the Cougars a B- after their upset win over Memphis. They started out miserably on offense and gave up the most points of the season on defense, but played well when it mattered most and got the win against the best competition they’ve faced all year. It may not have been pretty, but UH gave fans a great game and won, even if they weren’t at their best.

What was the biggest story line coming out of that game, to you?

Senior staff writer Shardanna Jones: Kyle Postma, most definitely. You lose a quarterback like Greg Ward Jr. who’s able to throw a couple of touchdowns and make plays and run for a few touchdowns himself, you begin to worry. Postma came in and showed there was no reason to worry. What impressed me the most was that he remained calm and poised, but there was also a confidence in his performance and decision-making. The win is huge, but we’ll be talking about Kyle Postma for a while now.

Sports editor Bryce Dodds: Everything surrounding Greg Ward Jr. The time that he was in the first half, he was locked down. Memphis had the perfect blue-print for containing him, holding him to 60 yards passing and -19 yards rushing. Ward going out with injury is also worrisome, but he was walking around on the sideline in the second half and Tom Herman didn’t sound too concerned, so he’ll be alright. The biggest concern is that Memphis provided good tape on how to contain him, and in doing so, contain the UH offense.

Did UH deserve to win that game?

BD: I don’t think “deserve” is the right word. The Cougars did what they needed to do in the second half to get the win, and that’s what matters. Their play in the first half was awful, but the adjustments they made at halftime were effective, as they’ve been all year.

MC: The Cougars had no business beating the Tigers. UH couldn’t move the ball at all for most of the first half and were leaky on defense much of the night. To the Cougars’ credit, they never gave up and fought to the end, but if the Tigers’ final field goal had sailed just a little more inside, we would be talking about a whole other story.

The Cougars now just have to win out and they clinch the right to host the AAC title game. Do you think they can do it?

JS: You certainly never want to look past a team, but the University of Connecticut Huskies shouldn’t put up much of a test and the Cougars should blow them out. The real test will be the United States Naval Academy and the triple-option they run because if the offense gets out to its patented slow start, the methodical Navy offense doesn’t leave a ton of time on the clock for a big comeback. The key will be to stop the run and make sure the offense has sustained touchdown drives. They certainly have the talent to do it and at this point, it would be a big upset if they did not win the AAC West and finish the regular season 12-0.

SJ: I’m laughing as I type this, because I believe the Cougars can win any game that they put their mind to. This sounds cheesy, but it’s apparent. If they believe they can do it if they have that mentality to know that they can overcome any adversity, they can, and they will. That title is theirs for the taking.

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1 Comment

  • We barely beat the team that was only previously beaten by the team we’re going up against in two weeks.
    This is a movie-like underdog story if I’ve ever seen one, but as people in this article said, I can’t see victory coming out of the second half in this game.
    We need to show up at the start and stay until the end.

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