King rolls a winning seven
UH quarterback has 551 yards, accounts for 7 TDs in victory
Ed Oliver was on the sideline wearing street clothes.
On the other side, South Florida entered unbeaten and No. 21 in the national polls.
“Playing without one of the best players in the country is pretty tough, to be honest,” quarterback D’Eriq King said.
It sure did not look like it for the University of Houston.
King accounted for 551 yards and seven touchdowns, both career highs, as the Cougars demolished South Florida 57-36 on Saturday before an announced crowd of 31,631 at TDECU Stadium.
At 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the American Athletic Conference, UH holds a two-game lead over SMU in the West Division with four games left in the regular season.
Another sign of progress in head coach Major Applewhite’s second season: UH is in position to enter the national polls when they are released Sunday.
“The things we are chasing after … there’s no reward sent to our office (Sunday) and they are not going to stop playing college football the rest of the season,” Applewhite said of the potential of the Cougars being ranked for the first time since the end of the 2016 season. “It’s not over. We have a lot to go through. Being ranked is just a notoriety deal. Our players are not buying into that.”
What UH is buying into is an offense that continues to pile up points and yards at warp speed. With the latest outburst, the Cougars are averaging 49.8 points and 571.4 yards per game — both second in Football Bowl Subdivision behind top-ranked Alabama.
Against the Bulls, the Cougars racked up a season-high 681 yards. All eight of their touchdown drives covered at least 75 yards. All but one took less than three minutes.
“This offense is really special,” King said.
Oliver, widely considered a potential top-five pick in the 2019 NFL draft, was held out of the game with a bruised right knee. The junior defensive tackle remains day-to-day.
“I love Ed. We all love Ed,” Applewhite said. “But I thought this was a huge win for our team from a morale standpoint, a confidence standpoint. That when you lose a two-time All-American you can still go out there. I’m proud of the way they responded.”
The Oliver-less UH defense held South Florida to a touchdown, a pair of field goals, forced two fourth-quarter turnovers and limited the Bulls to 28 rushing yards in the second half.
“We love (Ed) to death. We love our boy,” linebacker Austin Robinson said. “We just want to show the world it’s not all about him sometimes.”
After jumping out to an early 14point lead, the Cougars had a close call early in the third quarter when the Bulls (7-1, 3-1 AAC) capitalized on an intentional grounding from the end zone that resulted in a safety and a 23-yard field goal by Coby Weiss to pull within 28-26.
On the ensuing possession, King broke four tackles, made a spin move and scored on a 36yard run to extend the lead to 3526 with 8:25 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession, South Florida was called for a holding penalty that wiped out a 7-yard touchdown run by Johnny Ford. The Bulls had to settle for a field goal.
“Three or nothing is our motto,” Robinson said. “A field goal or nothing at all. We take pride in that.”
In four league wins, the Cougars have turned things up defensively in the second half, allowing an average 14 points.
“Defense is different now from when I was growing up,” Applewhite said. “You saw people hold them to seven and 10 points. It’s just not the same game any more. You have to play great in the red zone. We forced some stops and had a few takeaways in the second half.”
UH added three more touchdowns — a 52-yard catch by Jeremy Singleton, 11-yard run by Mulbah Car and 27-yard catch by Raelon Singleton. It marked the eighth consecutive game that the Cougars have scored at least 40 points, a school record.
“This team is special,” King said. “All year it’s been ups and downs. Down by 14, up by 14. So we kind of know what it’s like to be in a tight game. I think we showed it there.”
King was 28-of-41 passing for 419 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Marquez Stevenson had six receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and Jeremy Singleton had five receptions for 125 yards, both career highs, and a touchdown.
Johnny Ford rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns for South Florida. The 57 points allowed was the most in school history.
“When you lose a game the way we just lost, it’s totally embarrassing,” Bulls coach Charlie Strong said.