Cougars aim to keep rolling
Coming off an emotional victory over SMU, the University of Houston is perhaps faced with a tougher challenge heading into the final four weeks of the regular season.
Avoid a slip-up.
A 44-37 victory in the closing seconds against SMU vaulted the Cougars to No. 20 in the Associated Press writers’ poll and No. 19 in the coaches’ poll but not yet into the College Fooball Playoff rankings. The win also put UH — one of two unbeatens teams in conference play along with Cincinnati — in the driver’s seat to qualify for the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Beginning Saturday, the Cougars’ remaining schedule consists of teams looking to play the spoiler’s role: South Florida (2-6), Temple (3-5), Memphis (4-4) and nonconference opponent UConn (1-8). All except the Memphis game will be on the road.
“Your goal is to win, and if you do, then you are going to eventually get ranked,” UH coach Dana Holgorsen said. “You can’t avoid it, so you might as well embrace it. That’s what the goal is around here, it’s what the expectations are around here. We finally got to that point. It would be a shame to slip up right now.”
UH (7-1, 5-0 AAC) is seeking its eighth straight win, which would be the program’s longest streak since starting 10-0 in 2015.
USF has lost 17 consecutive games to ranked opponents.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH Surely, they won’t kick to him …
1 To kick or not kick to Marcus Jones? That seems to be the weekly question as teams dare UH’s All-American return specialist, whose nine career return touchdowns are tied for the most in NCAA history. Four of those have come this season, including 98- and 100-yard kickoff returns in back-to-back weeks in close wins over East Carolina and SMU. One of the better special-team units around, USF has not allowed a return for a touchdown this season. It’s unlikely Jones will get many chances Saturday. But that’s what we’ve thought most of the season.
Alton McCaskill back
2 Running back Alton McCaskill is expected to play against USF after a brief scare that forced him to leave the SMU game in the first quarter with a lower leg injury. “It scared him more than anything,” Holgorsen said on his weekly appearance on ESPN 97.5 FM. “He’ll be ready to go.” McCaskill is the Cougars’ leading rusher this season with 478 yards and nine touchdowns. Holgorsen admits it will be tough for the Cougars to continue to win if the run game does not improve. UH is coming off its two worst rushing totals of the season: 87 yards against East Carolina and 77 yards against SMU. Backup Ta’Zhawn Henry had some tough yards after replacing McCaskill. Quarterback Clayton Tune is close to 100 percent from a hamstring injury and could be used on a few designed run calls.
Remain explosive
3 Speaking of Tune, the junior quarterback had the best game of his career against SMU, completing 73 percent for 412 yards and four touchdowns. Tune has been a catalyst in UH’s climb into the AAC race with improved pocket presence and decision-making that has led to just two interceptions in his past 200 pass attempts. One big stride the Cougars made against SMU was explosive plays, including two of 50-plus yards that were the longest passes of the season. Nathaniel Dell had 52and 48-yard grabs (part of a career-high 165 yards and three touchdowns) and Jeremy Singleton broke loose for a seasonbest 55-yard catch. “About time,” Holgorsen said of the big plays. “It’s coming together.”
Play the disrespect card
4 Holgorsen likes to play the “us vs. the world” card, and he has another angle this week. Despite breaking into the writers’ and coaches’ polls this week, UH was not included in the first College Football Playoff rankings released Wednesday. The omission wasn’t all that surprising, given the Cougars have just one win over a team with a winning record. “I could care less,’ Holgorsen said on ESPN 97.5. “We’re proud of seven in a row, 5-0 in the league and top 20 in a couple of polls. It matters to be ranked. You get talked about more. It’s good for the program. It’s just another thing of disrespect, which we are quite honestly better when we get disrespected. I can use that to our advantage to say some things to our team to get them motivated.”
Scouting the Bulls
5 Freshman dual-threat quarterback Timmy McClain is expected back after being held out of last week’s game at ECU with an ankle injury. … USF has produced 620 rushing yards in the past two games, including a program-record 421 against Temple. Jaren Mangham has 13 rushing TDs, second-most in the AAC. USF is third in the AAC with 183.4 rushing yards per game; UH is among the best in the nation at stopping the run, ranking 10th in the FBS (96.1).