Cougars fade in AAC finale
Team squanders 11-point lead in its final regular-season game as conference member
The roller-coaster regular season for the University of Houston added one final dip Saturday night.
A week after the Cougars’ most complete game of the season in a 39-point blowout at East Carolina, the Cougars twice blew an 11-point lead and struggled repeatedly near the end zone in a 37-30 loss to Tulsa at TDECU Stadium.
Tulsa wide receiver JuanCarlos Santana snapped a 27-all tie with a 25-yard touchdown with 8 minutes, 13 seconds remaining as the Golden Hurricane sent the Cougars out with a loss in their final American Athletic Conference game. UH will officially join the Big 12 in 2023.
“Just a disappointing end to a hard-fought season,” coach Dana Holgorsen said after the Cougars finished 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the AAC. “I thought we had enough left in the tank to win this last one … We got outcoached, we got outplayed.”
A change in offensive philosophy sparked the Cougars to five wins in the last seven games, including a 42-3 win at East Carolina that was easily the team’s best game of the season. Along the way, however, the Cougars endured close calls (a triple-overtime win over UTSA in the opener, a double-OT loss to Texas Tech the following week and another OT loss to Tulane in the conference opener), a 19-point fourthquarter comeback to beat Memphis and a 77-63 shootout loss to SMU.
Rather than a return trip to the AAC championship, the Cougars will play in a second-tier bowl game that will be announced Dec. 4.
No position group avoided injuries, with a brunt of the casualties in the secondary, backfield and at receiver.
“It’s been hard-fought,” Holgorsen said. “I love this team. They’re hurting in there right now because they care. The ball didn’t bounce our way, but we were resilient and didn’t quit. I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t quit. We just kept fighting.”
UH led 24-20 at halftime thanks to Nathaniel “Tank” Dell, who had a 68yard punt return for touchdown and a 13-yard catch for another score, and a 27-yard touchdown by Matthew Golden.
UH had three drives stall deep in Tulsa territory and had to settle for Kyle Ramsey field goals of 42 (a career-high), 20 and 23 yards. One drive ended at the 3-yard line and another on a pass by Clayton Tune that was intercepted in the end zone.
UH entered the game converting 72-percent of red-zone possessions into touchdowns.
“We’ve been really good this year at executing in the red-zone (with) touchdowns,” Holgorsen said. “We didn’t execute worth a crap in the red zone when it came to scoring touchdowns. Is that the difference in the game? Yeah, probably. We moved the ball, but when we get down there, we’ve got to punch it in.”
Dell finished with nine catches for 161 yards, his fourth 100-yard game in the last five games. He became the seventh player in program history to reach 100 catches in a season. For the season, Dell has career highs with 103 catches for 1,354 yards and 15 touchdowns.
“To end like this, to send the seniors out like this, is kind of stressful,” Dell said. “The biggest goal was to win a championship, but we didn’t even get close to winning.”
Tulsa quarterback Braylon Braxton was 25-for-43 for 316 yards and three touchdowns for Tulsa, which finished the season 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the AAC. Santana had six catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns.
Tune, who was among 18 seniors playing his final home game, was 26-of-47 for 386 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.