Cougars come from behind to take late win over Memphis

The Tigers (8-1, 5-0, No. 21 CFP) are coming off their first loss of the season Saturday against Navy, but Houston coach Tom Herman sees Memphis as a huge challenge, especially on offense.

The Tigers’ season took a blow in hard fashion, as they had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal with 19 seconds left, but Jake Elliott, who made two prior field goals Saturday, missed a 48-yard attempt.

Houston does lead the nation in takeaways with 25 on the season but they will have to contend with Paxton Lynch on Saturday night who has thrown just two interceptions all season. Memphis added another touchdown and extra point with 1:52 remaining in the first half with a 61-yard pass from Lynch to Doroland Dorceus and another extra point by Elliott. Houston is averaging 44.4 points per game on the season (compared to Memphis’ 44.8) and boast an incredibly balanced attack with over 250 yards per game on the ground and through the air. There was just a bunch. With Memphis having only one timeout left, the game was effectively over and Houston moved to 10-0 on the year. Houston’s defense allows 99.4 rushing yards (eighth nationally) and 18.7 points (22nd nationally) and has forced a FBS-leading 25 turnovers.

Postma even capped the drive, keeping the ball for the seven-yard touchdown scramble, putting the Cougars on top, 35-34. “You try to glean as much as you can from Tulsa, as they’re split way out, and Cincinnati threw it sixty times that game, so their coverages are going to be a little bit different”. Bonner meantime has a 30 yard touchdown catch. “At one point, we had a false start and two back-to-back holding penalties in a row, and the offense came off the field”. The team overall has 77 yards rushing, 31 carries, no touchdowns. Tevin Jones also had a 25-yard TD run to give the Tigers a 34-14 lead to start the fourth quarter.

Farrow had sliced the Memphis lead to 20-14 with a 7-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

The reason the Houston Cougars are in their current position has a lot to do with the quarterback play of Junior, Greg Ward Jr.

Postma wasn’t fazed, though, and drove Houston down the field to set up Farrow’s second touchdown of the game, a 10-yard rush, to get within 13 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

A strong effort from Postma, both scrambling and passing again, led the Cougars 77 yard in 2:33 second down into the red zone.