Houston 59, UCF 10: What We Learned

8b6308f51a3f27b64e0312e6d140119fHave yourself a game, Kenneth Farrow. Houston’s rushing has been impressive all season, but the senior’s performance against UCF was something else. Farrow rushed for 167 yards on 13 carries and scored three touchdowns – in just three quarters. He tore through the Knights’ defense, finding holes in the defensive line and reading the secondary well. He showed off his strength and acceleration by breaking tackles and turning on the after burners to streak down field. He was efficient, explosive and really sparked a Cougar offense that started the game unusually slow. Farrow took a nasty helmet-to-helmet hit when he scored his final touchdown late in the third quarter, but he walked off the field under his own power and hopefully will be OK. Houston’s offense continues to dominate. Believe it or not, Houston trailed 10-7 early in this game. Quarterback Greg Ward wasn’t on his game early and the offense followed his lead. There seemed to be some miscommunication, Ward wasn’t making good throws and the offensive line was getting beat. Then Farrow got hot and lit a fire in Houston’s offense. Ward found his stride and finished the game 16-of-23 with 256 total yards of offense and two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing. The Cougars had another great rushing performance, recording 361 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. Kicker Ty Cummings kicked his first field goal of the season and hit the 34-yarder perfectly. Everything was going right for the undefeated Cougars, which seems to be the story of their season. Good luck scoring on this defense. Houston’s defense was a little shaky early in this game. Yes, the first score of the game came from an 85-yard fumble recovery by the Cougars, but the defensive unit was slow in the first quarter. The defensive line was putting decent pressure on UCF’s quarterback, but couldn’t quite break through enough to do any damage. The secondary was a step behind and gave up a few big plays and missed some tackles. Fortunately for Houston, the defensive woes didn’t last long. The Cougars forced four turnovers behind the fumble and three interceptions. They kept the Knights to just 280 total yards of offense and made big stops on third down. Houston’s defense showed that the offense isn’t the only unit worthy of attention. It’s a force to be reckoned with and made UCF look as bad as its record.