YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS
Maybe UH football is the only program that got it right
Jun 22, 2020, 8:10 am
Photo by Jonathan Bachman / Stringer/Getty Images.
Before you read this article, full disclosure here: I am good friends with UH head coach Dana Holgorsen. I have been for a long time. Do I want to see him win? Yes. But I wanted to see Major Applewhite win too. I liked him. And I liked Tony Levine and Tom Herman. I'm still friends with Kevin Sumlin. I liked Art Briles and Dana Dimel (although I knew he wasn't going to win much). My relationship with UH coaches goes back to Kim Helton who was great to me when I was one of the new guys in town.
I also like UH AD Chris Pezman a lot and I think President Khator is a superstar. I'm a big fan. I guess you could say I'm a UH fan. Maybe I'm not supposed to be because I'm in the media but I don't care. I want to see them win.
So when they got hit with a scud missile in the Houston Chronicle after UH shut down the football program last week I was pissed. Just three short days later in that same paper Jerome Solomon wrote a piece on how all of college football could be and maybe should be shut down.
Wait…what? Which is it? You can't have it both ways. Either it was good to shut it down or it wasn't.
That first piece condemning the leadership was written by Joseph Duarte who's the Coogs beat writer. I've known Joseph a long time. He's a good guy but what he wrote can undermine the program.
My main contention with his article is this sentence:
"If you rushed student-athletes back to campus with a flimsy, inadequate and ill-conceived plan, why should parents and fans have trust in anything you do or say moving forward?"
First of all, they didn't rush the players back. All of college football came back at the same time, June 1st.
Secondly, the plan was a 35-page document put together by 21 staffers and four doctors. It was neither flimsy, inadequate nor ill-conceived. Smart, concerned people worked on it. It apparently didn't meet Joseph's standards.
His main objection was that it didn't include the testing of all players on June 1st, the day the student-athletes arrived. He says UH was the only FBS school in the state that didn't test all their athletes that day. I haven't asked the other schools. I'll trust he's accurate there.
It is true that UH did not test all the players when they arrived. The plan was to test anyone who had a cough, fever, sniffle, sore throat, diarrhea or any other symptom however remote. They did and they were all negative.
Then just five days later the players were off on a long weekend which included trips to Galveston, the protests and funeral of George Floyd and wherever else 18 to 21-year olds chose to go. On June 11th they had six positive tests. On June 12th they shut down the football program.
This past weekend The University of Texas reported 13 positive tests, Clemson had 23. Texas A&M says their positive tests are on the rise. LSU has 30 players in quarantine.
30.
All those programs are still active.
UH had six positives and shut down their program.
Instead of being criticized, UH should be lauded for putting their student-athletes ahead of their football program. You think Dana doesn't want his guys working out together, building comradery, having player-led practices? Of course he does. While UH players are at home, every other program in the country is spending valuable time together, the positive tests be damned.
What's become quite clear is that the initial tests were useless. Ask Clemson. They had all those negative tests on June 1st, and they have 23 positive tests now. You'll be hard-pressed to find any school that doesn't have more positives than it did on June 1st. If they say they don't, they're probably lying. The fact is that unless you incarcerate and isolate your players from the rest of society they will be at risk of contracting the virus.
Was Dana supposed to tell his players they couldn't protest or go to the funeral? Good luck with that.
What really stings though is the attack on the leadership at UH for not protecting the athletes and how parents and fans can't trust them now. That's a line that opposing recruiters will use in living rooms all over the state and that's a shame because the exact opposite is true.
While other programs continue to put their athletes at risk with up to dozens of players testing positive, UH acted swiftly and decisively in shutting down its program, sending kids home, hopefully out of harm's way.
Later in the article Duarte took another shot at Pezman and Khator saying they had been "redshirting this spring." He thinks they disappeared at the most crucial time because they wouldn't answer his phone calls when he was looking for a quote for his piece.
What he may find from now on is that his phone calls to them will be going from redshirt straight into the transfer portal.
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Miami (6-7) at Houston (8-5)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS
BetMGM Odds: Texans by 3.
Against the spread: Dolphins 5-8; Texans 5-6-2.
Series record: Texans lead 8-3.
Last meeting: Dolphins beat Texans 30-15, on Nov. 27, 2022, in Miami.
Last week: Dolphins beat Jets 32-26 in OT; Texans were off, beat Jaguars 23-20 on Dec. 1.
Dolphins offense: overall (19), rush (24), pass (14), scoring (23).
Dolphins defense: overall (9), rush (7), pass (11), scoring (T14).
Texans offense: overall (18), rush (16), pass (17), scoring (11).
Texans defense: overall (5), rush (10), pass (7), scoring (T12).
Turnover differential: Dolphins minus-2; Texans plus-10.
Dolphins player to watch
QB Tua Tagovailoa, who has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL at throwing with anticipation and accuracy since he returned from a concussion in Week 8. Tagovailoa leads the NFL with a 73.8% completion rate and threw for 300 yards for the third straight game last week vs. the Jets. Tagovailoa is the first player in NFL history to have at least 40 pass attempts, multiple touchdown passes and no interceptions in three consecutive games within a single season.
Texans player to watch
QB C.J. Stroud has thrown for at least 225 yards in each of his six home games this season and is 11-4 in 15 starts in Houston, including the playoffs. He has thrown for 3,117 yards with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season.
Key matchup
Houston RB Joe Mixon vs. Miami’s run defense. Mixon ran for 101 yards in Houston’s previous game for his seventh 100-yard game this season. He ranks third in the NFL by averaging 88.7 yards rushing a game. This week he’ll face a run defense that ranks seventh in the NFL by holding teams to 105.6 yards a game.
Key injuries
Miami LT Terron Armstead is dealing with a knee injury that limited him to just five snaps last week. He did not practice Wednesday… LBs Bradley Chubb (knee) and Cameron Goode (knee) could make their season debut, depending on how this week of practice goes, coach Mike McDaniel said. … WRs Tyreek Hill (wrist) and Jaylen Waddle (hamstring), RB Raheem Mostert (hip), and LB Anthony Walker Jr. (hamstring) were among those limited in practice Wednesday. … Houston S Jalen Pitre is expected to miss a second straight game with a shoulder injury. … DE Denico Autry was limited in practice Wednesday because of a knee injury.
Series notes
Houston won the first seven meetings in this series. … Miami didn’t get its first win against the Texans until a 44-26 victory in 2015. … The Dolphins have won the past two meetings. … These teams first met in the season opener in 2003 when Houston got a 21-20 win on a late field goal.
Stats and stuff
Three of Miami’s final four games of the season are on the road. … K Jason Sanders needs 13 points Sunday to reach 800. He also needs one field goal to reach 177, which would give him the second-most field goals made in franchise history. … TE Jonnu Smith needs 100 yards receiving to reach 792 and set a franchise record for most yards receiving by a tight end in a single season. Smith had three catches for 44 yards, including the game-winning TD vs. the Jets last week after having no receptions during regulation. … Tagovailoa needs a completion rate of 70% or better on Sunday to reach eight consecutive games completing at least 70% of his passes. That would tie him with Joe Montana (1989) and Drew Brees (2017-18) for the longest streak in NFL history. … The Dolphins gave up a season-high 402 yards to the Jets last week. Aaron Rodgers burned Miami’s pass defense for 319 yards, and Miami’s secondary allowed a combined 223 yards by Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams. … Houston can clinch the AFC South title for the second straight year with a win and a loss by Indianapolis Sunday. … The Texans rank second in the NFL with 84 tackles for loss. … Their 42 sacks also rank second. … WR Nico Collins had eight receptions for 119 yards for his fourth 100-yard game this season in Houston’s previous game. He has had at least 75 yards receiving and a TD reception in each of his four home games this season. … TE Dalton Schultz had five receptions for 61 yards and a score in Week 13. He has had at least five catches in two of his past three games. … LB Azeez Al-Shaai will serve the first game of a three-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of QB Trevor Lawrence Sunday. … DE Danielle Hunter is one of two players in the NFL this season with at least 15 tackles for loss (15) and 10 sacks (10 1/2). It’s his sixth career season with at least 10 sacks. He has eight tackles for loss and five sacks combined in his past three games. … DE Will Anderson has had a sack in his past two home games. … LB Henry To’oTo’o has had at least five tackles in four straight games. … CB Derek Stingley had his third interception of the season in his previous game. … CB Kamari Lassiter had a career-high eight tackles, including a tackle for loss in Week 13. … S Jimmie Ward has had an interception in his past two home games. He also had an interception in his previous game against Miami in 2022 while with San Francisco.
Fantasy tip
Collins has 456 yards receiving and four touchdown receptions in four home games this season.