Hamstrung at quarterback
Experiment rotating signal-callers backfires as Cougars can’t overcome five turnovers
For two weeks, the University of Houston was faced with the possibility that quarterback Clayton Tune’s hamstring could limit or even force him to sit out Saturday’s game.
To prepare for No. 25 Cincinnati, walk-on Logan Holgorsen took a majority of the reps with the first-team offense, and the Cougars worked on using former prep quarterback-turned college wide receiver Bryson Smith out of the wildcat formation.
All three played quarterback Saturday in the latest twist from the “Season of the Redshirt.” UH kept things close into the fourth quarter but was ultimately doomed by five turnovers in a 3823 loss to Cincinnati before an announced crowd of 25,716 at TDECU Stadium.
UH fell to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the American Athletic Conference. It’s the first time the Cougars have lost their first two conference games since 2002 as a member of Conference USA.
“Nobody is happy about 2-4,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We’ve lost to four pretty dadgum good teams. We expect to be a good team as well. We’re going to stay the course, put our head down and keep playing.”
The reality for the Cougars: it might get worse before things get better.
Holgorsen was forced to experiment at quarterback with D’Eriq King no longer an option, announcing Sept. 30 he will redshirt this season. And while Tune spent most of the past 14 days limited in practice, Holgorsen said the decision to play him was based on “we don’t have a whole lot of options after him right now.”
In his fourth career start, Tune was intercepted three times and hampered in his ability to run.
“He can’t play the way he wants to play when he can’t run around,” Holgorsen said. “So, we were obviously very careful with what we did. Cincinnati has a good pass rush. I wasn’t just going to let Clayton sit back there and get teed off on. We did what we felt like we had to do.”
Tune finished 9 of 27 for 184 yards and two touchdowns, the highlight a 69-yard catch-and-run to Marquez Stevenson.
“I was kind of limited just staying in the pocket,” said Tune, who left the game briefly after taking a hard blindside hit from defensive end Myjai Sanders in the second quarter. “We had a game plan to work around it.”
For the first time this season, Smith was used out of the wildcat formation. Smith completed his only pass — a 50-yard touchdown to Jeremy Singleton — and had five rushes for 27 yards.
“We found another skill set with him that I think we’re going to be able to utilize moving forward,” Holgorsen said.
Logan Holgorsen, the Cougars’ true freshman backup quarterback, was 0 of 2 with an interception. Running back Kyle Porter also took some direct snaps out of the backfield and finished with 107 yards on 16 carries.
UH pulled to within 28-23 midway through the fourth quarter on a 6-yard touchdown catch by Christian Trahan. Cincinnati (5-1, 2-0 AAC) closed out the game with a 32-yard field goal by Sam Crosa and Perry Young’s 2-yard touchdown return off an interception.
Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell said the Bearcats were uncertain who would start at quarterback for UH.
“Nobody thought this was a trap game,” Fickell said. “This is obviously a very good football team with some guys down and some guys that are redshirting. But they have a lot of talent. You can tell they have a lot of fight.”
UH was hurt by a questionable call to end the third quarter. Faced with third down-and-18 from the UH 42, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder was stopped about four yards shy of the first down. Officials, however, ruled that UH nickel back Amaud
UH update
Next: Houston at Connecticut. When/Where: 11 a.m. Saturday; Rentschler Field. TV/radio: ESPNU; 950 AM Willis-Dalton shoved Ridder after he had a foot out of bounds, The Bearcats cashed in on a new set of downs, with Michael Warren II hauling in a 11-yard touchdown catch for a 28-17 lead with 13:41 left.
“You going to pay my fine?” Holgorsen asked athletic director Chris Pezman in the postgame news conference.
“I’ll split it,” Pezman said. “The CFO does not want me to answer this because they would have to pay some of my fine,” said Holgorsen, adding the play was “a very, very critical point of the game.”
Ridder was 14 of 24 for 263 yards and three touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to Rashad Medaris. Medaris finished with three catches for 121 yards.
UH’s defense made progress, holding the Bearcats scoreless in the third quarter, which has been a struggle in games this season. The Cougars’ undoing, though, were the five turnovers that led to 21 points.
Now the Cougars must win four of the last six games to reach bowl eligibility, a tough task with SMU, Central Florida and Memphis still on the schedule,
“We’re still a good team despite all we’ve been through,” safety Deontay Anderson said. “We play hard and we practice hard. We’ve got six games left, so we have to try and go win all six.”