Houston 34, Louisville 31: What We Learned

[caption id="attachment_18541" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Diana Porter Photo by Diana Porter[/caption] Houston came up with a big win on the road at Louisville on Saturday. What did we learn about the Cougars? DCTF's Greg Tepper breaks it down.Tom Herman is building something special. It was a little surprising to outsiders when Houston fired Tony Levine after what was a decent-not-great 2014 season. And while he may have had quite a pedigree as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, new hire Tom Herman was a bit of an unknown — after all, he’d never been a head coach. But two games into the Herman Era, and it’s clear that something is happening in H-Town. So far, he’s pushed all the right buttons and his players are clearly responding to him. It’s not scientific, but this looks like a Houston team with more fire in its belly. And take a look at Houston’s schedule — Texas State at home, at Tulsa, SMU, at Tulane are the next four games. You see a loss? I don’t. Buy your Tom Herman stock now. Greg Ward Jr. is still getting better. Confession: I’m a huge fan of Greg Ward Jr. I’ve been high on him since he was in high school at John Tyler. He still has a bad habit of thinking he can fit it in any window, and that can get him in trouble. He only threw one interception — this one on an overthrow — but he could’ve thrown a couple of more. There’s definitely room for improvement. But he already looks like a more complete quarterback this season, and helped guide Houston to a terrific win over Louisville. He made big throws at big times — including the game-winner on a beautiful flag route by Demarcus Ayers — and most importantly, he kept plays alive with his feet and turned negatives into positives. And when you combine that with a terrific runner like Kenneth Farrow, that’s even better. That’s the mark of a leader, and of a quarterback who’s getting better. That’s a quarterback you can win with. The Coogs’ defense is reliant on the big play, and that’s OK. Louisville got their yards. Two quarterbacks combined for 325 yards of passing against the Cougars’ defense. And they hit their share of big plays. But Houston did what it did last year — force turnovers — and it paid off. The Cougars nabbed four takeaways, including interceptions from star safeties Trevon Stewart and Adrian McDonald, and that was essentially the difference in the game. It’s possible that Houston won’t be a dominant defense, but if they’re a timely one, and a playmaking one? That might be just as good.