UH head coach Tom Herman, right, and Temple head coach Matt Rhule and their teams will square off Saturday for the conference title. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar
With Houston preparing to take on Temple University in the American Athletic Conference Championship game, head football coach Tom Herman spoke to the media on Friday.
“(We’re) happy to, obviously, have achieved the honor of hosting this game,” Herman said. “It’s a testament to the kids and our players and staff as to what they’ve accomplished throughout the regular season and really just thrilled for the city of Houston, thrilled for our university.”
Herman spoke about the Temple team UH will face and the level of competition.
“I know this, there are 22 selections on offense and defense for first-team all-conference and Temple had seven of them,” Herman said. “They’re very talented, especially on defense; it’ll be a challenge. Their numbers are not farce, their numbers and what they’ve been able to do throughout a 12-game regular season has been very, very remarkable.”
Herman also talked about how it felt to get the five-year contract extension finished.
“My thoughts are…first of all, excitement to know that we’ve renewed our commitment to the university and obviously they’re renewed commitment to us has been fantastic,” Herman said. “The negotiations went swimmingly, as they say, I guess probably to get it done this morning was a big relief…to not have to spend the next 24 hours answering questions .”
Despite a lot of speculation that Herman might be headed to a Power-5 school for a new head-coaching job, he resigned with Houston and spoke about what led him to want to stay.
“Well, obviously the leadership is a big factor in Dr. Renu Khator and Chairman Fertita and then certainly Hunter Yurachek and their commitment to providing us the necessities to win championships here for years to come,” Herman said. “That was the biggest thing that I needed to hear, was that we were committed to pulling out all the stops in order to not just have a Cinderella season, so to speak, but to really build a championship program and a foundation here that can sustain and I think we’re certainly a lot closer to that than we’ve ever been.”
With senior running back Kenneth Farrow having a lingering injury, Herman said junior corner back Brandon Wilson might be playing both sides on Saturday.
“Kenneth is still day to day, ya know, he’s still hobbled a little bit. If he can go, he’s gonna go,” Herman said. “If he can’t, then certainly Brandon will have to play tailback…depending on Farrow’s health I can certainly see him playing on both sides of the ball.”
When asked about the America Athletic Conference’s performance this season, Herman praised the teams, saying, in his eyes, they’re among the best.
“I’ve said since day one I think the Power-5 designation is merely a legislative term, it’s not a competitive term,” Herman said. “We feel like we’ve proven that we can play on the playing field with anyone in the country. I think the validity of the level of competition in this league has certainly surfaced this season and it’s a meat-grinder of a schedule, I can tell ya that, there’s no gimmes on your conference schedule, this is a very talented league, top to bottom.”
Despite all the speculation surrounding the team about bowl destinations with a possible win, Herman said the team is focused.
“There is no tomorrow,” Herman said. “There’s no next week, there’s no second chances, so we’re going to use every bullet in the chamber so to speak. We’re not going to leave anything left out there.”
