What happened in Vegas …
UH blows early lead, loses bowl to San Diego State.
LAS VEGAS — By the second interception, the University of Houston was already in trouble.
Then came a third and a fourth, part of a turnover-filled second half that doomed the Cougars in a 34-10 loss to San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
The debut of new coach Major Applewhite was upstaged by a blistering Aztecs defensive assault and coronation of Donnel Pumphrey as the NCAA’s career rushing leader.
Pumphrey finished the game with 115 yards, breaking former Wisconsin star Ron Dayne’s mark of 6,397 yards on a 15-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
For UH, a season that began with an upset of No. 3 Oklahoma ended with the fourth-biggest bowl loss in school history.
“Terrible,” senior tight end Tyler McCloskey said after the Cougars ended the season 9-4. “They beat the crap out of us. We did not show up.” QB ravaged with 7 sacks
In his final game, senior quarterback Greg Ward Jr. threw interceptions on the Cougars’ first three possessions of the second half. He was sacked seven times, all after halftime, including on back-to-back plays late in the game when he slowly picked himself up off the artificial turf at Sam Boyd Stadium.
The final play of Ward’s decorated career was an interception by Kameron Kelly, his second of the game, with 17 seconds left.
“(Turnovers) really swayed the game,” Applewhite said, adding that there was miscommunication between Ward and receivers on two of the interceptions, including a 54-yard return for touchdown by Ron Smith that put the Aztecs (11-3) ahead 20-10.
Houston jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on a 31yard field goal by Ty Cummings and 2-yard touchdown run by Ward. The Cougars forced San Diego State to settle for a pair of field goals after drives stalled twice inside the 15-yard line.
Things began to unravel early in the second half.
Kelly intercepted Ward on the third play of the half, and Calvin Munson set up the go-ahead score with an interception as UH moved deep in Aztecs territory.
Pumphrey broke loose for a 32yard touchdown for a 13-10 lead, followed by Smith’s pick-six that put the game out of reach.
“Being down 10, still think you are in the football game in the third quarter,” Applewhite said. “Then going down 17 for how we were producing, it became almost insurmountable in some people’s eyes.”
UH had two possessions end on loss of downs in the fourth quarter, leading to a 28-yard touchdown pass from Christian Chapman to Curtis Anderson and 7-yard run by Juwan Washington.
The Cougars’ second-half possessions resulted in three straight interceptions, a punt, three failed fourth-down attempts and another interception. It was the Cougars’ biggest bowl loss since falling to Air Force 47-20 in the 2009 Armed Forces Bowl. Pumphrey gets record
All eyes turned to Pumphrey’s record chase. With Pumphrey needing 108 yards to begin the game, the pursuit looked in trouble early when he was held to minus-10 yards on three straight carries in the first quarter.
By halftime, Pumphrey had 58 yards. He added 32 more on a touchdown, finding a hole and breaking one final tackle to give the Aztecs their first lead.
Pumphrey broke the record with 12:28 left in the game, taking the pitch and following his blockers along the right side. He finished his career with 6,405 yards.
“It definitely wasn’t easy,” Pumphrey said. “They didn’t want me to break it against them.”
Afterward, Applewhite was asked his feelings after losing his head-coaching debut.
“In general, they stink,” he said. “We lost. That is how I judge myself as an assistant, as a player and now as a head coach. If you win, you did great. If you lose, you did bad. Didn’t enjoy it.”
The loss ended a run by UHs senior class that produced 38 wins, the most of any class in school history.
“I just hope when they move forward, they should never want to feel like this,” McCloskey said. “Hopefully look at all of the seniors and see how … I just got done crying. I hope the underclassmen see that and just understand going forward to get better.”