UH offense fails to meet high expectations
Were expectations too high from the beginning?
Did fans buy into years, decades really ,of high-scoring offenses and superhuman quarterback feats only for this day to inevitably come?
Maybe the University of Houston’s offense is just average.
Forget about the days of hanging 40 points on an opponent. Reaching half that total seems like a chore.
Even identifying the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart (Kyle and Kyle) comes with some guessing.
Three games into the season, nothing comes easy for the UH offense.
Disclaimer: Kyle (Allen) has struggled with turnovers and bad decisions, but the quarterback position is hardly the only problem coach Major Applewhite and his staff are sorting through this week heading into Saturday’s American Athletic Conference opener at Temple.
After all, the Cougars are 2-1.
In all honesty, they should be 1-2, if not for a late, gameclinching interception by Garrett Davis to beat Arizona in the hurricane-delayed season opener.
And if we don’t know exactly who the Cougars are approaching the end of September, we will in a month with the meat of
the schedule coming up against SMU, at Tulsa, Memphis and at South Florida.
Now is the time to be concerned. Wake up Sunday morning after a close win over struggling, quarterback-challenged Temple — or, even worse, a loss — and it’s OK to go into full panic mode.
Snap judgments
At least for this week don’t expect Applewhite to rush to any snap judgments. Reading between the lines — and with Major you need a special decoder — it appears Allen will remain the starter for at least another week.
“We’re going to evaluate [quarterback] like every other position,” Applewhite said.
Translation: You’ll know the starting quarterback at kickoff Saturday. It’s the same approach Applewhite took in preseason camp, when information on pecking order between Allen, Kyle Postma and D’Eriq King was in short supply. Although multiple sources said King, a talented playmaker, was “making a push for the job” before re-injuring his knee.
Prone to turnovers
Ball security is at the forefront of how long of a leash Applewhite has with Allen moving forward. In three games, Allen has committed six turnovers, four of them were interceptions.
“We’ve still got to put a priority at the quarterback position on taking care of the football,” Applewhite said.
No stranger to a quarterback controversy from his days at Texas, Applewhite surely knew the risk when he benched Allen for Postma with 7:26 remaining in the game. With Texas Tech guarding a 17-point lead, Postma led two late touchdown drives. Yes, a step in the right direction for an offense starved for points, but enough to scrap plans at quarterback?
“I don’t want to take anything away from Kyle Postma,” Applewhite said, noting Tech was playing in a cover-2 man defense. “I love Kyle. Kyle has done a lot for our football program, and he’s going to continue to do a lot for our football program.”
UH must also decide what’s the best way to maximize King in the offense. Now healthy, King is expected to have an expanded role in the offense, which includes plays at quarterback in certain packages.
If this sounds familiar, it should. Former coach Tony Levine moved Greg Ward Jr. around from receiver to kick returner to, finally, quarterback after John O’Korn struggled. The results: Ward became one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in college football and finished with 27 career wins, the second most in school history behind Case Keenum.
But it won’t matter which of the three quarterbacks is under center if other problems aren’t corrected. The offensive line was pushed around against Texas Tech. Receivers dropped balls. Repeatedly, low snap exchanges caused a disruption in the timing of the offense. There were missed assignments.
Running game lacking
UH was frequently in unfavorable third-and-long situations. The running game is nonexistent. Did we mention the abundance of shovel passes and bubble screens? The Cougars have been selective in taking shots down field with only six completions of 25 or more yards.
“It was what you thought it was — a lack of inconsistency across the board,” Applewhite said of the Tech performance.
Until UH shows otherwise, the offense is what we think it is.
Average at best.