All over the place today but some fun numbers, stats, info, and memories:
UH’s Late Start
UH starts the regular season on Tuesday night at 7 vs. Alabama State. Out of 353 Division I programs, only two will tip-off their season later than the Cougars (Quinnipiac and St. Peter’s of the MAAC start on Wednesday). Manhattan from the same league will tip an hour before the Coogs.
On the flip side: UTSA (0-3) and Delaware (3-0) meet today in each team’s 4th game. They’re playing in the Sunshine Slam in Kissimmee, Fl. DePaul could get to 4-0 with a win over Iowa on Monday.
Spartans Travails
San Jose State football has played in 5 time zones:
– And won at Army two weeks ago (Eastern)
– They won at Arkansas in September (Central)
– Lost at Air Force (Mountain)
– Home games in San Jose (Pacific)
– And lost a heartbreaker to Hawaii last night (Hawaiian)
Don’t see that often. And speaking of don’t see that often: against Hawaii, the Spartans scored on every single drive.
Scored on every single drive … and lost! It’s rare to see a game with just 8 drives and more rare to score on every drive. Maybe stranger, there wasn’t a single punt in the game.
The only non-score in the game was a fumble by Hawaii.
UH Defense Dominates Angelo State
In the exhibition win over Angelo State, the UH defense looked pretty similar to the last few years.
Angelo had four players (two starters, two subs) combine for 82 minutes. The four also combined for 1/17 shooting.
Other than the guards #05, 10, and 23, the rest of the team combined to go 1/13 inside the arc and 0/9 from outside it. 1/22 total.
On the flip side, every Cougar that played more than 4 minutes shot over 50%. Gorham, Gresham, Jarreau (made the only shot he took), Hinton, Grimes, Sasser, and Harris each shot 55% or better and combined shot 36/54 (66.7%). Pretty, pretty good.
UH finished with more than double the offensive rebounds and more than double the defensive rebounds as the Rams.
Season Opener: Alabama State
UH’s first regular-season opponent is Alabama State. Those poor kids won’t play a home game until January 11th, 2020. That’s two months away! They’ll play games in all 4 continental time zones and 12 different states before playing their first game in Montgomery.
In a 5 day stretch, they’ll go from South Dakota to Kansas to Idaho. They’ll make 4 trips to South Dakota or further northwest before their first home game. The life of a small school athlete is not glamorous.
Baylor & Arkansas: Two Flip Sides of SWC Ineptitude
Before OT in the Baylor/TCU game, the Bears had just 183 total yards while neither team scored a TD in regulation. In the first half, Baylor had 94 yards on 26 snaps and their drive chart was: Punt, INT, Punt, FG miss, Fumble. That’s two punts, two turnovers, and a missed FG (on a 15-play drive).
Yet, they’re 9-0 and hosting Gameday this week.
Call The Hogs: Many beat writers believe that Arkansas head coach Chad Morris will be let go today. If so, former UH AD Hunter Yurachek can thank former UH backup QB Tyson Helton for the final nail in the coffin.
Helton, the head coach at Western Kentucky, beat Arkansas in Fayetteville 45-19 to get to 6 wins on the season. The Hilltoppers played a nearly flawless game including 9/18 on 3rd down and 5/5 on 4th down. Helton’s QB, Ty Storey, played for Arkansas before being run off by Morris.
If Helton was indeed the final nail, then the poetry is almost too much: 20 years ago this week, his dad Kim Helton put the final nail in Gerry DiNardo’s coffin at LSU. Helton beat the Tigers 20-7 and DiNardo was fired in the locker room after the game.
Two family members ending the tenure of two SEC West coaches and doing it 20 years apart. But just 8 days after DiNardo got the ax, UH would fire Kim Helton, too. Today, Kim serves as an offensive analyst for Ty in Bowling Green.
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