Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
HOUSTON IS FOR REAL
No. 15 Houston upsets No. 3 Oklahoma 33-23
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston coach Tom Herman and the Cougars are past the point of proving they are for real.
Shocking the world is for the real underdogs and if a Power Five conference happens to take note of what Houston is doing that’s fine. Whatever. “We were prepared to win. We expected to win. We train to win,” Herman said. “It wasn’t about making a statement, it was about going 1-0 the first week of the season.”
Greg Ward Jr., Brandon Wilson and the 15thranked Cougars looked every bit ready to compete in the Big 12 — or any other conference for that matter — in a 33-23 victory against No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday.
Houston is one of 11 schools that will meet with Big 12 officials starting next week to make a pitch to the Power Five conference that is pondering expansion.
Regardless of whether Houston (1-0) ends up in the Big 12, the Cougars’ latest surprising win could have season-long ramifications on the College Football Playoff.
“We’re not your typical Group of Five program,” Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek said.
The elusive quarterback Ward passed for 321 yards and two touchdowns. Wilson, though, provided the key play in the biggest regular-season nonconference game the Cougars have played in 25 years and Houston’s third victory in school history against a top-three team.
The versatile senior defensive back went end line to end zone to score a touchdown with a short 54-yard field goal attempt to give Houston 26-17 lead with 8:28 left in the third quarter.
Wilson reached up to catch the ball, barely keeping his feet in bounds. Reminiscent of Auburn’s Kick Six against Alabama in 2013, Wilson went flying out of the end zone and hurdled a fallen teammate to score what went into the books as a 100-yard return.
Oklahoma called a timeout before trying the kick, which Herman said allowed Houston to see the Sooners’ personnel and set up for the return.
The Takeaway
Oklahoma: The good news for the Sooners is they have plenty of time and opportunities left to make another playoff run. But they need to get things fixed quickly with No. 6 Ohio State in two weeks and No. 13 TCU on Oct 1.
Houston: After finishing last season 13-1 with a Peach Bowl victory against Florida State, the Cougars have consecutive victories against top-10 ranked opponents for the first time in school history. …
Cincinnati, UT Martin 28-7: Hayden Moore threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns, Mike Boone ran for a score and Cincinnati beat UT Martin 28-7 on Thursday night.
Cincinnati scored on a 3-yard pass from Moore to Nate Cole with 19 seconds left in the first half to pull to 7-6. Josh Pasley, who missed a 24-yard field goal earlier, missed the extra point.
Kahlil Lewis added a 3-yard TD catch late in the third and a successful two-point conversion made it 14-7. Boone’s TD capped an 11-play drive and Tyrell Gilbert intercepted Gunnar Holcombe and returned it 58 yards to cap the scoring.
The Skyhawks are 1-21 all-time against FBS teams. The lone win was a 20-17 victory over Memphis on September 1, 2012. …
UConn 24, Maine 21: Bobby Puyol hit a 37-yard field goal with 11 seconds left and UConn avoided a season-opening upset with a 24-21 win over Maine from the Football Championship Subdivision on Thursday night.
UConn defensive tackle Mike Myers blocked a 47-yard field-goal attempt with 1:48 to play and UConn drove 50 yards in nine plays before the winning score.
Quarterback Bryant Shirreffs hit receiver Brian Lemelle with an 18-yard pass down the left sideline to set up the kick. … Army 28, Temple 13: Andy Davidson spent his first year at Army as a linebacker. The coaches are certainly glad they moved him to the offensive side of the ball for his sophomore season.
Davidson ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns in his first game at fullback and Army piled up 329 yards on the ground to beat Temple 28-13 on Friday night in the opener for both teams.
Temple, which entered the season with huge expectations after a historic 2015 campaign, finished with 251 total yards of offense to lose to Army for the first time in its last seven meetings. … Navy 52, Fordham 16: Navy pulled a quarterback out of the stands on Saturday, finding an unlikely replacement for injured starter Tago Smith.
Freshman Malcom Perry was told to suit up and take over after Smith was lost to a knee injury. Perry, who started the junior varsity game on Friday, put together a 90-yard-drive in the fourth quarter that led to a 23-yard field goal.
Junior fullback Chris High had 176 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns, including a 70-yard scamper, in his first career start for Navy. It was the most rushing yards by a Navy fullback since 2010. …
E. Carolina 52, W. Carolina 7: Philip Nelson passed for five touchdowns and ran for another in his East Carolina debut and the Pirates gave new head coach Scottie Montgomery a 52-7 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday.
Nelson threw touchdown passes to Quay Johnson, Anthony Scott and Zay Jones en route to a 31-7 halftime lead and added one each to Scott and Jimmy Williams in the third quarter.
Nelson set career highs with his five touchdowns and 398 yards passing. …
South Florida 56, Towson 20: Quinton Flowers threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, helping South Florida open the season with a 56-20 rout of overmatched Towson on Saturday night.
The dual-threat quarterback also scored on runs of 5 and 7 yards, showing why he’s one of the reasons USF enters the year with heightened expectations.
Two-time AAC rushing champion Marlon Mack ran for 58 yards and a TD before sitting out the second half, ending a streak of five consecutive 100-yard performances.
Red-shirt sophomore Morgan Mahalak, who spent two years at Oregon before transferring to FCS Towson, threw for 165 yards in his debut for the Tigers. His 56-yard completion to Christian Summers set up the first of two TD runs by Darius Victor. …
Memphis 35, Southeast Missouri State 17: Riley Ferguson threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns and Doroland Dorceus ran for another score to lift Memphis to a 35-17 victory over Southeast Missouri State in the season opener for both teams on Saturday night.
Will Young had a 61-yard touchdown run and finished with 114 yards rushing to lead Southeast Missouri State.
Memphis jumped out to a 29-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Jake Elliott made two 40-plus yard field goals to cap back-to-back long drives between the third and fourth quarters for the Tigers.
The second-half start was delayed about 10 minutes due to a power outage in the press box and around the Liberty Bowl neighborhood. …
Tulsa 45, San Jose State 10: D’Angelo Brewer ran for 164 yards and three touchdowns to help Tulsa roll over San Jose State 45-10 in the season opener for both teams on Saturday night.
Dane Evans threw for 198 yards and a TD, Keevan Lucas had 112 yards receiving, and James Flanders added 82 yards rushing for Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane held a 512-287 edge in total yards, and a 305-53 lead in rushing.
Already leading 17-7, Tulsa’s Jesse Brubaker intercepted a Kenny Potter pass and returned it 24 yards for a score to give Tulsa 24-7 advantage after one quarter. The Golden Hurricane never looked back, building a 45-7 lead into the fourth quarter.
Potter finished with 234 yards passing and one TD for the Spartans, a 64-yard strike to Rahshead Johnson. …
UCF 38, South Carolina State 0: Justin Holman threw for two touchdowns and ran in another, Matthew Wright kicked a career-best four field goals, and Central Florida plowed past South Carolina State 38-0 in the season opener for both teams Saturday night.
Holman was 14-of-28 for 193 yards and picked up another 40 on the ground, including a 10-yard keeper he ran in for the game’s first touchdown. He later hauled in a 24-yard pass from receiver Tristan Payton, which set up his 37-yard TD strike to Tre‘Quan Smith on the next play.
Dontravious Wilson punched in a touchdown from the 1, and Payton cemented the final score with a 5-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter.