Cougars flex offensive muscles
Passing attack amasses 544 yards, while ground game adds another 207
Ed Oliver played about one quarter Saturday and then took a front-row seat as the University of Houston publicly unveiled its new-look offense for the first time.
“You see the offense?” the Cougars’ All-American defensive tackle asked. “That’s what today is about — offense.”
On a cold, windy Saturday afternoon, UH trotted out an offense during the annual Red & White Game that fans can get onboard with come September. The Cougars lined up in wide splits, showed formations that stacked two and three wide receivers, mixed in runs and took shots downfield.
Lots and lots of shots downfield.
“We want to be aggressive,” coach Major Applewhite said.
There was a 58-yard touchdown pass from quarterback D’Eriq King to wide receiver Terry Mark. That was followed by a 60-yard touchdown strike from King to Courtney Lark.
No shortage of weapons
King, a junior who enters the season as the unquestioned starter, completed 8 of 13 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns. For the game, UH quarterbacks — which included Bryson Smith, Clayton Tune and Ike Ogbogu — completed 32 of 51 passes (61.5 percent) for 544 yards and three touchdowns.
In the battle for the No. 2 quarterback job, Smith was 9-of-15 for 99 yards; Tune was 11-of-16 for 85 yards and one interception.
The game also represented a changing of the guard at receiver, where a young but unproven group takes over following the graduation of Linell Bonner and Steven Dunbar, who combined for 307 receptions, more than 3,700 yards and 16 touchdowns the past two seasons.
The next wave of receivers includes Lark, Mark, Keith Corbin, Marquez Stevenson, Jeremy Singleton, Tre’von Bradley and Julon Williams.
On Saturday, Lark had three receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Timon Nolan had seven receptions for 129 yards, both game-highs, including a 70-yard score to end the game.
“Big shoes to fill,” Lark said. “It’s the passing of the torch. We knew one day it was going to happen.
“It feels good to get that torch passed down to us.”
Applewhite said the Cougars installed “a ton” of the offense during the spring, enough on offense and defense, to play the season.
The staff scaled back late in spring workouts to allow players to “sink their teeth” in what has been learned and focus on evaluating second- and thirdteam units.
“I was happy to see our wideouts come out and make plays,” Applewhite said. “It’s just about consistency, day-in and day-out making those plays.
A noticeable change was how the Cougars lined up, with receivers in wide splits that force defenses to account for the entire width of the field, a staple for new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles in past stops at Baylor and Florida Atlantic.
In addition, the Cougars no longer designate “inside” and “outside” receivers, instead placing emphasis on speed and getting into one-on-one matchups “to put pressure on the defense,” Briles said. One-two running punch
While the offense piled up passing yards, the Cougars also ran for 207 yards. Kevrin Justice had a game-high 99 yards and a touchdown and Mulbah Car added 72 yards and two touchdowns.
“We’re going to be able to take a lot of shots downfield,” Justice said. “A lot of that is going to be with our running game being able to open stuff. If we keep running the ball, our receivers are going to make plays downfield.”
Defensive end Isaiah Chambers, a transfer from TCU, had two sacks and safety Deontay Anderson had five tackles. Anderson is awaiting word from the NCAA whether he will be eligible to play this season after transferring from Mississippi. joseph.duarte@chron.com twitter.com/joseph_duarte