The UH/AAC Report
Houston in control of their own destiny: UCF and USF avoid upset
Alex Baltazar
Oct 17, 2018, 7:16 am
Ed Oliver ends sack drought. Photo via Houston Cougar Football/Facebook
Houston 42, ECU 20
The Cougars went into Greenville, NC on Saturday still hot from their late game-winning rally vs Tulsa. Houston started with a typical up tempo Kendal Briles opening drive, where QB D’Eriq King threw to WR Courtney Lark for a 38-yard TD. The Cougar defense then held ECU to another three and out and gave the ball back to King, where he led his offense to the end zone after another long drive, and scored via rushing TD from the Pirate 8-yard line with 8 minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Houston defense showed up even bigger this game and continue to show that they are peaking at the right time. LB Emeke Egbule intercepted a batted pass from ECU’s QB Reid Herring, which was converted into another TD throw from King and resulted in the Cougars leading 21-3 at the half.
ECU drove to the Houston 16 on their second half opening possession, but were halted by the Cougar defense yet again, and were forced to kick a field goal cutting the difference to 21-6. Houston’s Heisman candidate Ed Oliver finally ended his 2018 sack drought in a pivotal manner by forcing ECU to fumble the football in their own territory, only to be picked up by Egbule and run in for a defensive touchdown, which resulted in a 28-6 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The offense continued to pile on with two more touchdowns, one being a flashy trick play passing TD from QB Bryson Smith to WR Keith Korbin, leading the Cougars to a score of 42-6 with 11 minutes left in the game. Much of the fourth quarter saw the second string Houston defense, which allowed ECU to score 14 points in garbage time.
The Houston defense yet again proves that they are able to force turnovers in the right moments. They intercepted the ball three times and forced a fumble. Egbule had another outstanding game, with an INT and fumble recovery for a touchdown. Oliver also had another monster game with five tackles for loss and two sacks. The offense is very effective because of this one overlooked component, the offensive line, who has only allowed one sack and 19 tackles for loss through five games, ranking them fifth nationally. ECU drops to 2-4 and will play the 19-0 UCF Golden Knights. Houston improves to 5-1 and travels to Annapolis, MD this week to face a 2-4 Navy team. UH is now in control of their own destiny and keep their AAC championship title hopes alive.
Houston is ranked second in the nation in total offense with 582 yards per game.
Ed Oliver leads all defensive linemen in the nation with 8 tackles per game, despite being double and triple teamed.
King went 13 of 23, threw for 209 passing yards, and had three total TDs.
UCF 31, Memphis 30
Two of the most compelling offenses in the AAC went at it in rainy Memphis on Saturday, both who possess Heisman hopefuls in Tigers’ RB Darrell Henderson, and the No. 10 ranked Golden Knights’ QB McKenzie Milton. This game had upset written all over it from the beginning. The Memphis offense dominated UCF throughout the first half by scoring 31 points, against UCF’s 17. But the UCF defense adjusted so well, that they shut out the Memphis explosive offense in the entire second half. McKenzie Milton displayed his Heisman quality athleticism as he went airborne for what was the game winning TD, finishing a 14-point comeback with 12 minutes left in the clock. Do not be fooled, much of this game was attributed to the rain and its impacts on the passing game, where UCF went 2 for 12 in third down efficiency. Memphis is a tough opponent, especially at home and with a workhorse like Henderson, who finished with 31 carries, 199 rushing yards, and 1 TD. They even had a valiant effort in attempting a comeback to try and set up a game winning field goal, but the Tigers ran out of time as the final catch wasn’t taken out of bounds to stop the clock. In the end, Milton came through for the Golden Knights by going 17 of 29, with 296 passing yards, and 1 TD, leading his team to an unbeaten 19-0 streak. Memphis falls to 4-3 on the season and will face Missouri next. While UCF will head to Greenville, NC and face a not so impressive ECU team.
USF 25, Tulsa 24
No. 23 USF climbed in the rankings two spots after their close win in Oklahoma. The Bulls uncharacteristically struggled offensively vs Tulsa. Golden Hurricane QB Seth Boomer had an awful day vs the USF defense, where he went 6 of 21, had 79 passing yards, 0 INT, and 1 TD. USF had difficulty taking advantage of the weak opposing quarterback play until the fourth quarter, where QB Blake Barnett began to set up what would be a clutch comeback win. Barnett took matters in his own hands by driving in two rushing TDs, but failing to convert a game tying 2-point conversion with two minutes left on the clock. USF got the football back with 48 seconds left, where Barnett once again showed how USF is an offense capable of exploding at a moment’s notice. He made a couple of long throws down the field that set up a chip shot, game winning, 22-yard field goal. USF remains perfect and improves to 6-0, while Tulsa continues to lose control in the 4th quarter, dropping to a record of 1-5. USF will play a weak UConn team next.
Other AAC Results
Temple 24, Navy 17
Teams on BYE week
#20 Cincinnati (Prior rank #25), Tulane, SMU, UConn
Stats available via UH Cougar Football.
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The Astros have already been swept in four series this season. They were swept in four series all of last season. As Mexico City says bienvenidos to the Astros this weekend, there are certainly more than a few folks fretting that the Astros are already close to saying adios to playoff hopes. The Astros are not at the point of no return, though one can see it out there on the horizon. It wouldn’t take another month of their garbage level 7-19 performance for the season to be essentially down the drain.
If the Astros were in the American League East, they’d already be ten games out of second place. But they’re not! If in the AL Central they’d be eleven and a half games back of Cleveland. But they’re not! Dozens of teams have rebounded to win divisions from larger deficits much later in the season than the Astros face presently. The Seattle Mariners lead the thus far weak AL West at 13-12. The Astros being six and a half games in arrears of the M’s and six back of the Texas Rangers in late April is far from optimal but nowhere near devastating.
Multiple media outlets have noted how few teams historically have started a season in as stumblebum a fashion as the 2024 Astros and wound up making the playoffs. What every outlet I have seen noting that failed to include: this is just the third season since Major League Baseball added a third Wild Card to each league’s postseason field. So, while 7-19 out of the gate is indisputably awful, it is not the death knell to the extent it has been over generations of MLB.
The issue isn’t where the Astros sit in the standings, it’s that they have played atrocious baseball and aren’t providing reason for optimism that a stark turnaround is imminent. The starting rotation is the best hope. Justin Verlander has made two starts. Framber Valdez rejoins the rotation Sunday. Cristian Javier should be a week or so away. Obviously, Ronel Blanco isn’t going to continue pitching as well as he has through his first four starts. But if he is a good number four starter, that’s fine if the top three coming into the season pitch to reasonably hoped for form.
Hunter Brown simply is not a good big league pitcher. Maybe he someday fulfills his potential, but the data at this point are clear. What can Brown do for you? Not much. Spencer Arrighetti needs better command to be a good big league starter. J.P. France was a revelation over his first 17 starts last season, but since has looked like the guy who posted underwhelming numbers when in the minor leagues. If the Astros wind up with 50-plus starts from Brown/Arrighetti/France their goose will probably be cooked.
The only MLB teams with worse staff earned run averages than the Astros’ horrific 5.07 are the Chicago White Sox (Wait! They have Martin Maldonado!) and Colorado Rockies. At 3-22 the White Sox are on an early pace to post the worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockies never have a chance to post good pitching stats because of the mile high offensive freak show environment in Denver.
Way to go, Joe
Props to Joe Espada for his conviction in making what he believed to be the right call in pulling Verlander after four and a third innings Thursday at Wrigley Field. Verlander allowed no runs but had reached 95 pitches in just the second outing of the injury-delayed start to his season. Not easy for a rookie manager skippering what has been a Titanic journey thus far to pull a surefire Hall of Famer who was two outs away from qualifying for a win. Many were no doubt poised to destroy Espada had Rafael Montero given up the lead in the fifth. Verlander was angry at being pulled from any chance at his 259th career win. Understood, but the manager’s job is to make the decisions he thinks are in the ballclub’s overall best interest. That Montero and Bryan Abreu combined to blow the lead in the sixth is immaterial.
Then there's the offense…
Six runs total the last four games. Scored more than four runs in just one of the last nine games. Timely hitting largely non-existent.
At last check Alex Bregman still hawks that “Breggy Bomb” salsa. At the plate, he’s been mostly stuck in “Breggy Bum” mode, including zero bombs (home runs). 23 games played without a homer is Bregman’s longest drought since 2017 when he had separate 35 and 27 game stretches between dingers. Bregman has a history of slow first months of the season, but never anything as inept as he’s posted thus far. A litany of lazy fly balls, infield pops, and routine grounders add up to a .216 batting average and feeble .566 OPS. Reference point: Martin Maldonado’s worst OPS season with the Astros was .573. If Bregman was a young guy handed a starting job coming out of spring training, if a viable alternative were available, there’s a chance he’d be a Sugar Land Space Cowboy right now. Bregman’s track record makes it a decent bet that he winds up with decent numbers, but nothing special. Certainly nothing remotely worth the 10 years 300 million dollars or whatever Bregman and agent Scott Boras intend(ed) to seek on the free agent market this coming offseason. Two hits Thursday did get Bregman to the 1000 hit plateau for his career.
Despite arriving south of the border with his batting average at .346, even Jose Altuve has his warts. With runners in scoring position, Altuve has one hit this season. One. In 16 at bats. Small sample size, but it counts. That’s .063. Yordan Alvarez has been no great shakes either, five for 24 (.208) with RISP.
One wonders what would happen if the Astros got a hold of and “lost” Jose Abreu’s passport/visa this weekend in Mexico City and Abreu couldn’t get back into the U.S. after the two-game set with the Rockies.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.