Mandel’s Mailbag: Which AP top-4 team will finish outside the top 10? Why is anyone high on Houston football? https://theathletic.com/2775916/202...op-10-why-is-anyone-high-on-houston-football/ We hear all this talk of AAC teams that could be at the top of the mountain — SMU, Cincinnati, UCF and so on. Houston is mentioned there sometimes as well, but as a current student, I have to ask, why? We haven’t taken advantage of our geography as well as SMU, we haven’t been .500 in three years, much less a contender since Tom Herman went full Mensa-mode on us. Why do people give us hope? And why haven’t we capitalized on our natural advantages as well as we should? — Camden from Houston Stewart Mandel: Camden, you might want to stay home from class for a couple of days now that I’ve published this. Houston fared surprisingly well when I dug into Big 12 and AAC TV ratings. Their 2019 Sunday night opener against Oklahoma, watched by 5.4 million, was a tad misleading — it was Jalen Hurts’ Sooners debut — but even without that, Houston averaged more than 1 million viewers for 10 other games on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 in 2018 and ‘19. That was higher than all but TCU, West Virginia and Oklahoma State among the remaining Big 12 schools. Which is to say, the table is set. Houston built up a nice bit of brand cachet going back to Kevin Sumlin and Case Keenum, and then Tom Herman and Ed Oliver. You brought up SMU, which has absolutely taken strides under Sonny Dykes, but the Mustangs have not yet reached a New Year’s Six bowl, much less won one, like Houston did beating Florida State in the 2015 Peach Bowl. Not to mention beating Oklahoma and Lamar Jackson-led Louisville the next year. But so far the Dana Holgorsen era at Houston has been just plain weird. First, his decision to essentially tank the 2019 season backfired, with the Cougars going 4-8 and redshirted QB D’Eriq King transferring anyway. It’s hard to make much of last year’s 3-5 campaign what with the staggering eight game cancellations. The silver lining was that Houston’s defense went from terrible to middling, but its offense was erratic. QB Clayton Tune needs to put it all together this season, and Holgorsen needs to get much-needed help from transfers like ex-Texas Tech WR KeSean Carter and Iowa State DT Latrell Bankston. What I’d be most alarmed about right now is Holgorsen’s recruiting. Herman in 2016 signed a class ranked 36th nationally and included five-star local product Oliver. Major Applewhite didn’t come close to replicating that, but Holgorsen’s 2021 class was even worse, ranking seventh in the AAC and 83rd nationally. That seems like a squandered opportunity given its location, especially with Dykes up in Dallas reeling in big-time local players like QB Preston Stone. I wouldn’t give up on Holgorsen after essentially 1.5 seasons, but if he can’t get it done, the parts are in place for someone else.
Dana Holgorsen is by far the biggest reason our football program has taken a giant step backwards. We have a newly renovated stadium, new practice and training facilities, but unfortunately we have a second rate head coach that can't coach his way out of a wet paper bag. He can't recruit. He has a personality that is not likable. He is an embarrassment to the university when the cameras show him ranting on the sidelines. The sooner we get rid of him, the sooner we start winning again and UH football becomes something I look forward to watching again.
Never gonna happen without a separate behemoth marshaling the effort, but i've always thought that Houston fit the profile better than most. Interesting to see it laid out in numbers though. UH feels like UCLA in a lot of ways minus several IQ points.
Even as a Bauer alum that seems exceptionally unfair to UCLA, HCC's founding proposal mentions U of H no longer filling the same purpose as a workin' man's junior college.
Lets be honest our recruiting has been **** since Herman skipped town and poached half our commitments on the way to whornville. Applewhite was awful recruiting and DH has been pretty much the same. When he was here in 08-09 the offense was a thing of beauty, but his offense isn't nothing close to that I am not sure if its because of Tune or he is just gun shy now. I really hope this is the last year Tune is our QB because we are never going anywhere with him at QB. He looks the part but every game he makes just enough dumb plays to make you lose.
UH has always done well with DUAL THREAT QBs. Tune has some wheels but not sure if he's in the Ward mode. Recruiting has been horrible for yrs. the program is definitely down right now.
It's probably going to take a Ed Oliver type commitment for get back on track to some sort of relevance. Local kid wanting to stay home but then again his brother was here so that helped a ton. Cause there really isn't any reason for any elite kid to commit here initially atm with the state of the program. Herman should just come back
Big 12 expansion talks focused on BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston: Sources https://theathletic.com/news/big-12...u-ucf-cincinnati-houston-sources/5CZvjXPK0mL1
It definitely is Big East pt. 2. But we would make that move again just like we’re going to make this move. **** CUSA, **** AAC, the money calls the shots.
