Houston sacks No. 3 Louisville’s playoff chances

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Cougars quite enjoyed playing spoiler on Thursday night with their playoff hopes long since gone.

Louisville felt disrespected when the placed 5 in the latest college playoff rankings following the upheaval preceding the new list, but failed to prove a point.

5 Louisville 36-10, dominating the game in every phase and opening up a 31-0 lead before the Cardinals got on the board.

The first half was 30 minutes of the most stunningly one-sided football seen in some time.

Aside from the usual bragging rights motivation for the November 19 game with Kentucky, Louisville does have quarterback Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Trophy hopes in question. “We’ve just got to go out there and execute”. The two teams met previous year in Week 2, when Lamar Jackson played in his second career game for the Cardinals.

With only Kentucky left after this game, Thursday might be their final chance to make a lasting impression on the committee. Jackson was held to 145 passing yards and one touchdown last week. They have until Monday, Dec. 5, at 5 p.m. ET to return their ballots to Deloitte, the accounting firm that tabulates the votes.

Louisville turned it over again on Brandon Radcliff’s fumble at the 3:05 mark of the first period, setting up a Houston field goal and a 10-0 UH lead after the first quarter.

Jackson finished 20-for-43 with 211 yards and a touchdown pass. Houston also shut him down on the ground, holding him to 33 yards on 25 carries. He simply had no chance to succeed as the pocket collapsed around him and provided nowhere to run. And that may ultimately hinder Jackson’s otherwise remarkable Heisman resume.

Jackson, the most dynamic and productive offensive weapon in the country, was bottled up by the Houston defense for the entire night. Houston has its own offensive threat in quarterback Greg Ward Jr. They held a Louisville offense that was averaging almost 50 points per game to just one touchdown and a mere 10 points. A knee injury sidelined Oliver in the second half. A first place vote allots 3 points to the player selected, second place gets 2 points and third place gets 1 point. Perhaps losing to Houston last season serves as an extra bit of motivation, too.

If Clemson loses to Wake Forest on the road this Saturday, Louisville will actually be the Atlantic Division champion.

Louisville already didn’t control its playoff destiny.

Ironically, it was the Houston Cougars, a team from the American Athletic Conference, that stole Louisville’s thunder and will ultimately keep the Cardinals from reaching their desired destination.

Now any considerations of hypothetical finishes are rendered moot.

So who benefits from Louisville’s collapse?

Joining the Sooners on Fornelli’s list of playoff underdogs are Big 12 foes West Virginia and Oklahoma State. He failed to live up to the hype in a big primetime spot. Let’s look at the chaos scenarios for Week 12.

Both teams are 9-2, but it was Houston that looked like a national championship contender instead of Louisville. Their strength of schedule is nothing to be proud about as they’ve beaten only two teams with records over.500 and the biggest game on their schedule, at Clemson, ended up being a loss.