Cougars convincingly cruise
Tune throws five touchdown passes as Houston dusts off victory formation to cap easy win
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The University of Houston dusted off a call from the playbook Saturday afternoon.
The Victory formation. After nail-biters on a seemingly week-to-week basis during the first half of the season, the Cougars huddled close together as quarterback Clayton Tune took a knee in the final seconds of a convincing 38-20 victory over Navy at NavyMarine Corps Memorial Stadium.
“We’ve practiced that since Aug. 1 and haven’t been able to do it in that situation,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We didn’t have to snap it. They took control and wanted to do it, so I let them do it. We’ll take a loss of 2 yards to make everybody happy.”
It was all smiles in the post-game locker room as the Cougars won consecutive games for the first time this season, following up a 19-point comeback win over Memphis on Oct. 7 with one of their best performances of the season. Tune threw five touchdowns, two apiece to Nathaniel “Tank” Dell and Sam Brown, to match a stadium record.
Defensively, the Cougars recorded two interceptions by Jayce Rogers and Art Green, made a pair of fourth-down stops, and held Navy’s triple-option attack mostly in check.
UH improved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the American Athletic Conference.
“I think this is the team we are, winning games, coming out and playing hard until the end,” defensive end Atlias Bell said. “I think this is our turnaround.”
Entering the second half of the season, Tune said he wanted to “cut it loose” and “take more shots” on offense. Fast starts had not been UH’s forte all season, falling behind by 14 points in four games. Until Saturday, UH had not led at halftime. Maybe that’s why when told he had a lead during a halftime radio interview, Holgorsen quipped: “Say that again?”
With plenty of time to throw, Tune came out firing from the start with four passes of 20 or more yards in the first half as the Cougars raced to a 21-7 halftime lead.
Tune and Dell connected for touchdowns of 6 and 11 yards — Nos. 7 and 8 for
the junior wide receiver — just 14 plays into the game. On the first play, Dell caught a 23-yard pass and was followed three plays later by a 28-yard grab by tight end Christian Trahan. Later in the game, KeSean Carter made a 40yard catch while falling backward to the turf and tight end Matt Byrnes added a 31-yard catch. Those four plays accounted for 122 of Tune’s 261 yards in the game.
“We talked about it for the last two weeks, honestly, because Navy shortens the game on offense, they burn a lot of clock,” Tune said of Navy’s triple-option that entered the game tops in the nation in time of possession. “We’re going to have to make the most of every possession that we’ve got. That was the mantra all week: start fast.”
With a noon local time kickoff, Holgorsen said the “fast” approach began with an early wakeup call at the team hotel.
“We started fast in the hotel this morning, which was step one,” Holgorsen said. “We were alert, had good meetings, a good walk-through and then started fast in the football game. I’m very proud of our team.”
In its only blemishes,
UH had three fumbles in the game, two of which led to Navy touchdowns. Brandon Campbell appeared to find a hole for a 28-yard run with about 11 1⁄2 minutes left in the second quarter. But Navy’s Eavan Gibbons knocked the ball loose and the Midshipmen recovered in the end zone. Aided by a 52-yard catch by Jayden Umbarger, Navy needed only four plays to score, capped by a 25-yard run by fullback Daba Fofana.
Navy (2-5, 2-3 AAC) pulled within 21-14 early in the third quarter when Jacob Busic came off the left edge and jarred the ball loose from Tune. Jianni Woodson-Brooks picked up the ball and ran 5 yards
for the touchdown.
On its next possession, UH drove to the Navy 2yard line but had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Kyle Ramsey to push the lead to 24-14. Navy’s next drive was short-lived as Green stepped in front of Tai Lavatai’s pass for the Cougars’ second interception of the game. Five plays later, Tune tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the game, a 7-yarder to Brown.
Up 14-7 in the second quarter, UH caught a break after Stacy Sneed (career-high 100 rushing yards) was stopped short on two consecutive runs near the goal line. The Cougars lined up for a 23yard field goal attempt by
Ramsey. Navy, however, was called for an illegal formation (the Midshipmen lined up over the snapper) to give UH an automatic first down. On the next play, Tune hit a wideopen Byrnes for a 3-yard touchdown, the first of his career.
Navy was held to 201 yards on the ground, well below the 255.2 that was fifth nationally entering the game. With Navy struggling to find running room, the Midshipmen turned to the passing game, usually with disastrous outcomes. Navy had a minimal edge in time of possession (31:48 to 28:12) as the Midshipmen struggled to extend drives. Six of Navy’s nine drives were three minutes or less.
“We did a great job of stopping the run and forcing them into some passing situations,” Holgorsen said. “We felt this Navy team and (Lavatai) could throw the ball pretty well. But, man, we covered them and didn’t have any busted assignments.”
As the final seconds winded down, Sneed picked up a first down. That allowed the Cougars to finally run the Victory formation.
“We finally got the opportunity, so it means we’re doing something