According to Houston Cougars head coach Kevin Sumlin, his team has yet to play a perfect game. Saturday, the Cougars defeated the Memphis Tigers 55-14 in what was easily their most dominating performance of the season.
So, coach, was this game perfect?
“Now looking at it, it probably is as good an effort as we’ve had all year,” Sumlin said.
Yes, there were some mistakes. Sumlin admitted that he took too long getting the first play into the game, and he had to take a timeout because the ball had gotten too wet. The Cougars got hit with nine penalties for 68 yards, and Sumlin doesn’t like penalties. The offense actually failed to score three times. Matt Hogan missed an extra point.
But damn, if this game played on a wet, soggy, chilly Saturday wasn’t perfection, then it was close. And even if it wasn’t perfection, it was a fun game to watch, starting from the opening kickoff which Tyron Carrier returned 40 yards to the Cougar 49-yard line.
The only thing that stopped the Cougars on that opening drive was
Sumlin and the timeout, because eight plays and 2:16 later the Cougars
were in the end zone after Keenum hit L.J. Castile with a 7-yard TD
pass.
The score was 21-0 Houston with 6:50 still left in the first, and
Keenum was already 9-for-13 for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Memphis
would turn to a running game featuring Curtis Steele that was able to
churn up some yards and get some points. But it didn’t matter, and by
the end of the first half, the score was 42-14.
“We knew we had to come
out from the start and really focus up and just do what we do from the
start to the finish,” Keenum said. “It was nice to be able to execute
like that on all sides of the ball. Things came together there. Guys
stepped up and made plays. We kept it rolling. We had the momentum, and
kind of kept the momentum throughout the game, which was nice.”
The
offense operated at full speed despite missing the injured Bryce Beall
and James Cleveland. Sumlin took mercy on Memphis midway through the
third and sent in the back-ups, including Keenum’s backup, Cotton
Turner, who made his play for some prime playing time by completing 13
of 16 passes for 173 yards and a TD.
“Cotton played really well,”
Keenum said. “I was proud of him. Probably the best post I’ve ever seen
[Turner hit E.J. Smith on a post pattern for 47 yards]. Better than
both of my posts today that I threw. E.J. made a heck of a catch on
that one. And Cotton did a great job with a good read and a good throw
on that play.”
But for Steele, the Cougars defense shut down the
Memphis offense, forcing Memphis into three-and-outs on multiple
occasions throughout the game. It was a pretty dominating performance
by a defense that has, at times, been disappointing this season.
“Our
coaches, they put together a great game plan,” cornerback Brandon
Brinkley said. “We wanted to stress staying focused. We’ve been up a
few games and we lost focus and teams were able to come back. We wanted
to stay focus and put it away this game.”
And stay focused and put away
the game the Cougars did.
So, Case, what do you say about that perfect
game? “We felt that we haven’t played our best football game, yet,” he
said. “And honestly, I’d say that we’re still striving for that.”
This
might not have been that perfect game for which the Cougars have been
striving. But this was the game, the performance, the fans have been
looking for all season. It was a dominating performance by the offense
and defense and special teams from the kickoff to the end of the game.
And if the Cougars ever do get that perfect game, then it’s going to be
a beautiful thing to behold.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES: Seeing as
the how the AP dropped the Cougars to 25 after this win, and seeing as
how Colt McCoy moved up in Heisman talk because Mack Brown let him pad
his stats against Kansas, it’s obvious that the only way the Cougars
and Case Keenum can get any respect is to also let Keenum pad his stats
against mediocre competition. Sure McCoy hasn’t shown that he can
actually perform in the clutch like Keenum, but it’s obvious that
padding stats is more important than performing in the clutch — see
this Richard Justice slobber fest for proof…The Coaches Poll and the BCS rewarded the Cougars, however. The
Coaches poll moved them up to 20 and the BCS moved them up to 23.
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2009.
