Tom Herman continues to cement his status as a home run hire

[caption id="attachment_19960" align="alignright" width="300"]Photo by Diana Porter Photo by Diana Porter[/caption] Three out of the 11 remaining undefeated FBS teams reside in Texas. TCU and Baylor dominate the headlines inside the state because of P5 status and the fact the two will eventually play to likely decide the Big 12 Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. The best story in the state takes place in Houston, however. Tom Herman is nothing short of the perfect hire. The Cougars hit a homerun when they hired the former Ohio State offensive coordinator to take over the Houston program. He’s rewarded the Cougar faithful with an 8-0 record to start his head coaching career. The latest victim to the new-look Cougars was Vanderbilt, an SEC team. Vanderbilt isn’t a powerhouse in the SEC by any stretch of the imagination, but a 34-0 win over a team from the best conference in college football is no small feat for a program that started the 2014 season with a home loss to UTSA. Houston already knocked off Louisville early in the season. Those are two program-defining wins for Herman in his first eight games as coach. The Cougars face an uphill battle towards recognition by playing in the AAC, the conference just on the outside of the P5 monopoly currently running the NCAA landscape. The good news for Houston is that the AAC has impressed this season with the likes of Houston, Memphis and Temple. There is one more test to pass for Houston this season and that takes place at home on Nov. 14 against undefeated Memphis. If the two teams can get past their matchups this week, it’ll set up a battle of undefeated and ranked teams inside the AAC with each holding wins over P5 programs. It’ll also be great recognition for the conference, which only furthers the point Herman is driving home in his first year as the head coach of the Cougars: Non-P5 programs in the state of Texas can win and compete for rankings and conference titles. North Texas, UTSA, SMU and UTEP are horrible. Rice is struggling this season. Texas State is putting up numbers, but won’t be competing for Sun-Belt championships this season. The non-P5 schools in this state are struggling mightily compared to Houston. The Cougars lapped those programs this season and all it took was the right hire.