The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Houston upends Auburn in Tigers’ backyard
Air Force turns to passing game, earns 10th victory.
Clayton Tune and the Houston Cougars punctuated an impressive season with a win in SEC country.
Jake Herslow caught a 26-yard, go-ahead touchdown pass from Tune with 3:27 left to help lift No. 20 Houston to a 17-13 victory over Auburn on Tuesday in the Birmingham (Alabama) Bowl in front of a mostly orange-and-blue crowd at Protective Stadium.
The Cougars (12-2) marched 80 yards in eight plays to cap the third season in program history with at least 12 wins. They snapped a four-game bowl losing streak and won 12 of their final 13 games, the only loss after the opener coming to No. 4 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said this win was similar to “some other ones that we’ve had this year.”
“Just a bunch of guys that fight hard and win,” Holgorsen said. “Basically, winning this game solidified this 2021 football team at the University of Houston as a great football team.”
The Tigers (6-7) went in the opposite direction at the end of coach Bryan Harsin’s first season. They ended with five straight losses for the first time in 71 years and dropped their third bowl game in a row.
Harsin was already looking ahead to, he hopes, better things.
“Nobody’s going to go in there and just hang their head and say, ‘Well, this is just how it is,’ “Harsin said. “We’re going to change it. We’re going to fix it, and we’re going to get better.”
Game MVP Tune completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns with an interception while also rushing for 43 yards. Nathaniel Dell caught 10 passes for 150 yards, while Alton Mccaskill ran for 66 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
“That’s kind of been our
offense this whole season, is when we’ve needed to make plays we do,” Tune said. “There was no panic.”
And Herslow, who walked on after playing for Old Dominion from 2017-19, delivered the biggest catch.
Auburn, which fired offensive coordinator Mike Bobo after the regular season, had one more chance but couldn’t get a first down and Houston ran out the clock.
Air Force 31, Louisville 28: Haaziq Daniels threw for
two touchdowns and ran for two others as Air Force beat Louisville (6-7) in the First Responder Bowl in Dallas.
Daniels completed 9 of 10 passes for a season-high 252 yards, leading a triple-option offense that came into the game averaging an Fbs-best 340.8 rushing yards and the second-fewest passing yards at 82.5 per game.
Brandon Lewis had TD catches of 64 and 61 yards for Air Force (10-3), finishing with a career-high 172 yards.