A LOOK AT THE AAC
The UH/AAC Report: UH loses Battle of the Cougars, plus other blowouts and big wins
Sep 18, 2019, 6:55 am
UH Cougar Football Facebook
This week saw UH falling to Washington State by seven, UCF continuing to roll, a couple blowouts, and Temple picking up a big upset win. Let's dive into week three of the AAC:
UH loses Battle of the Cougars
Losing to a top 25 team on a "neutral site" by seven isn't what you want from a program looking to gain more respect nationally, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing either. The Fighting Holgorsens will get right. Dana said as much on The Bench With John and Lance. While he estimates it could take up to two years. I think it could happen much faster if they get transfers.
Other Key Results
UCF 45, Stanford 27: It's the Golden Knights' world and all other AAC teams are living in it. Good win over a PAC 12 team.
Tulane 58, Missouri State 6: The Green Wave beat up on a lesser talented team in a tune up before their Thursday night showdown with UH.
Temple 20, Maryland 17: The Owls threw a cold bucket of ice water on one of the hottest teams in the country. They held the #21 ranked Terps 54 points under their early season average.
Navy 42, ECU 10: The Midshipmen picked up the first conference win of the season by besting the Pirates. They even outpassed the Pirates 153 to 138.
Memphis 42, South Alabama 6: The Tigers continue to roll despite losing NFL talent. This team will be one to watch this season.
Stars of the week
Tyjae Spears, RB, Tulane: The freshman had eight carries for 89 yards and a touchdown. He added one catch that went for an 88 yard touchdown. Not bad for your third collegiate game.
Dillon Gabriel, QB, UCF: He completed 73% of his passes for 347 yards and four touchdowns against Stanford at home. This performance makes the loss of McKenzie Milton sting a lot less.
Temple's Defense: The Owls held the high scoring Terps to 3.5 yards per rush, 4.6 yards per pass attempt, and only 17 points. Considering Maryland scored 79 and 63 in their first two games respectively, I was impressed.
Five games to watch this week
UH vs Tulane
UCF vs Pitt
SMU vs TCU
Temple vs Buffalo
UConn vs Indiana (Indiana is a -27 favorite. Who's taking the Huskies and the points?)
Three players to watch this week
Dillon Gabriel, UCF: Coming off last week's performance against a Power Five school at home, can Gabriel replicate or one up himself on the road against another Power Five School?
TJ McDaniel & Xavier Jones, SMU: The two running backs combined for 267 yards and four touchdowns on 28 carries last week against TX State. TCU offers a much different type of opponent as they allow only 62 yards a game on the ground.
UH Offense: The Tulane defense gives up 14.7 points, 181 yards passing and 95 on the ground on a per game basis so far in this young season. That's a stingy defense to go against considering the Coogs offense has struggled to get going and rev up to full potential.
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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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