Lost season
As UH loses another game, Applewhite and his staff deserve more scrutiny
Oct 20, 2017, 4:00 am
Major Applewhite's first season at UH is not going well. Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images
The Houston Cougars lost their third game of the season Thursday night, blowing several big leads in a 42-38 setback against Memphis.
When Major Applewhite was hired, the joke was that “we fire coaches for going 8-4,” a reference to Tony Levine, who was dismissed after just such a mark.
What about 6-5? What will they do then?
People forget Levine’s recruits -- many who litter the NFL -- helped Tom Herman land the Texas job, and eventually got Applewhite the UH gig. That’s not to say Levine should not have been fired; there is no way they would have gone 13-1 with him at the helm. But Applewhite deserves the same scrutiny.
I believe Applewhite will be a good coach. But part of being a good coach is hiring the right people. Levine made one bad offensive coordinator hire after another and stubbornly stuck with John O’Korn at quarterback when he had a much better option with Greg Ward, Jr. It cost him his job.
Applewhite made a bad hire with his defensive coordinator. Mark D'Onofrio was a terrible DC at Miami. Before that, he was awful at Temple. He had been out of work for a year when Applewhite called him. It was a baffling hire at the time and looks worse now.
Last week, his defense was riddled by a bad Tulsa team. Thursday night, it gave up 42 points in the second half alone. They did not get ONE stop in the half. A team with the defensive talent UH has should never do that. Memphis made adjustments at halftime and their offense looked like a video game in the second half. UH never adjusted.
Applewhite has to realize the hire was a mistake and learn from that. If he does not fix it fast, it could be a fatal mistake. Hiring a guy with a track record of failure -- and then watching him fail some more -- is unacceptable. UH fans should demand better. They have seen this act with Levine.
Oh, and the Cougars QB situation is also a mess, but they were going to miss Ward no matter what. He was a terrific college quarterback. Kyle Postma is a nice backup thrust into a starter’s role. He played poorly at Tulsa and was OK against Memphis, although his late turnovers doomed any comeback attempt. The Kyle Allen experiment was just as big a failure as it was at A&M. And maybe, just maybe, Applewhite making the same mistake as Levine by not giving D’Eriq King a chance.
Applewhite also made a bad call late in the game by not going for it on fourth and short and instead trusting a defense that did not have a stop in the second half. Did we mention that?
And things could get much worse.
The Cougars get South Florida next and still have Navy on the schedule. At 4-3, they are likely staring at a 6-5 finish, 7-4 at best. They are probably lucky the UTSA game was canceled or they could have conceivably finished 6-6. They have way too much talent on the roster for that kind of season.
We have seen this act before in Levine era. If Applewhite is to succeed, it has to start with firing D'Onofrio and finding a competent replacement. If not? The Cougars will waste another year of Ed Oliver next season, and will be looking for a new coach. Again.
Of course, I hear Levine is available.
The Houston Texans addressed their most glaring needs by selecting offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery and a pair of Iowa State receivers in the NFL draft.
“The idea was to try to add good players, good people that are young, tough, hungry, that want to win, that put the team first,” general manager Nick Caserio said. “These picks exemplify that.”
The Texans got players that could help them quickly despite not picking in the first round for a second straight season. They didn’t have a first-round pick last year because of trades, including the one to move up and get defensive end Will Anderson with the third overall pick in the 2023 draft.
This season they shipped the 25th overall pick to the Giants on Thursday in exchange for several picks.
Their first selection in this draft was receiver Jayden Higgins, who was taken with the second pick of the second round. They added Ersery later in the second round with the 48th overall selection and picked up Higgins’ teammate Jaylin Noel in the third round.
Ersery could be Houston’s left tackle of the future after the offseason trade of five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Ersery started 38 games at left tackle over three seasons at Minnesota where he was a third-team All-American last season.
He comes to Houston to help shore up a line that allowed C.J. Stroud to be sacked 52 times last season, which was the second most in the NFL.
The Texans added veteran tackle Cam Robinson this offseason and Ersery will compete with him to protect Stroud’s blind side as the Texans attempt to reach the playoffs for a third straight season under coach DeMeco Ryans.
The 6-foot-6, 331-pound Ersery, who was the Big Ten’s Offensive Lineman of the Year last season, can’t wait to play with Stroud.
“C.J. Stroud is a baller,” Ersery said. “I’m so honored to be a guy to help out and come in and help protect him. I’m just super stoked and I know I’m going to a great organization.”
Cyclones teammates
Higgins and Noel join the Texans to add more depth at receiver to complement star Nico Collins with Tank Dell recovering from a serious knee injury and Stefon Diggs gone to the Patriots.
Higgins, who has been compared to Collins, had 87 receptions for 1,183 yards and nine touchdowns last season for the Cyclones and Noel added 80 catches for 1,194 yards and eight scores.
After Higgins was drafted, Noel never imagined he’d be heading to Houston, too. He shared on social media a fortune he received from a Chinese restaurant that read: “Look forward to an unplanned reunion with an out-of-touch friend.”
Noel later shared his feelings about joining Higgins on the roster.
“I was surprised,” Noel said. “But they’ve seen that 1-2 punch all year. They’re going to be very happy with those selections for sure.”
Caserio said a talk with Iowa State coach Matt Campbell on Friday helped him make his final decisions on the receivers.
“He was effusive in his… belief and praise of both Higgins and Noel,” Caserio said.
The Texans now have three receivers from Iowa State on their roster after drafting Xavier Hutchinson in the sixth round in 2023.
Overcoming obstacles
Ersery and his four siblings were raised by a single mother and experienced homelessness when he was a child despite her working multiple jobs. He is thrilled to have put those struggles behind him as he embarks on his next chapter.
“I’ve got that hardworking mentality from her,” he said. “So, growing up times were tough but now I’ve got my foot in the door and I look forward to trying to change some things around.”
Caserio loves guys with work ethic like Ersery’s and said that’s one reason why they believe he’ll fit in with the Texans.
“If you come in and put your head down and work and just get better, take advantage of your opportunities, you’re going to have a shot to have success and do a lot of good things for the organization,” he said.
What’s in a name?
Along with Noel, the Texans added another Jaylin in this draft with they picked USC cornerback Jaylin Smith in the third round.
“We got Jaylins, and we got all these guys around. It’s going to be hard to keep them straight,” Caserio joked on Friday after they picked Smith.
Then on Saturday, the Texans added another player with the same name, albeit with a different spelling, when they took Penn State safety Jaylen Reed in the sixth round.
That gives them four players with the same name and three different spellings as the three rookies join starting safety Jalen Pitre on the team.
Doubling up
Along with drafting two players from Iowa State, the Texans also added a pair of players from Southern California when they picked running back Woody Marks in the fourth round after drafting Smith in the third.
Marks ran for a career-high 1,133 yards with nine touchdowns for the Trojans last season after transferring from Mississippi State.
Be sure to watch the video below as NFL.com Draft Analyst Lance Zierlein shares his thoughts on all the Texans' picks!