Kenny Perry had a helluva day against his alma mater on Saturday.
In his role as special teams coach, Perry told Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire that he thought they could block a Houston punt. On their first opportunity, his squad crashed hard and blocked one from the left side before scooping and scoring for a touchdown. His unit also had a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD.
In his role as running backs coach, Perry saw his guys rush for their most yards of the year and double their season total for touchdowns.
the daily #66 | 10/5/2023 | Archives
Perry played at UH from 1988-1991, recruited by head coach Jack Pardee and defensive coordinator Jim Eddy. He was a corner for two years under Pardee before switching to safety when John Jenkins became head coach. He was then a grad assistant for three years for the Coogs, working with special teams and DBs, notably under legendary special teams coaches Tommy Kaiser (UH Football 1973-74) and Frank Gansz Jr.
After the game, McGuire said Perry came to him early last week, believing they could block a UH punt. Perry said that he and his analyst had known about a UH punt team weakness since Sunday, six days before the game.
“Schematically, you gotta attack what they do,” he said this week. “Well, what they did, I just knew protection, we have some things,” Perry trailed off.
“I just knew going into it we were gonna get it if they gave us the opportunity. And we had it called, and it was perfect.”
Punting for the first time in the game, midway through the second quarter, UH special teams coach Mark Scott went with the same punt formation as he has all year. It’s a spread with four gunners, a long snapper, two guards, two shields, a personal protector, and the punter, Wilkins.
Tech decided to come after it – putting six men in the box against UH’s five (not counting the long snapper). They saw tendencies on film and exploited them. UH only has two ‘guards’ on the line of scrimmage bracketing the long snapper, and Tech knew that they would only offer a perfunctory block before releasing downfield. UH likes to use linebackers in the guard spots – Jamal Morris, Chris Pearson, and occasionally, Hasaan Hypolite and Latreveon McCutchin.
The difference is that Tech brought six, which no one has done all year. The defenders in the A gaps covered all three linemen, leaving four free rushers to ball the shield. The four presented a numbers mismatch and overwhelmed the shield.
Wilkins, a left-footed kicker, punts to the right side, and his shield naturally shuffles to the right to protect him. That allowed a straight angle to the punter for WR Loic Fouonji to come off the left edge. When the shield vacated their space, it gave Founji the perfect lane to Laine’s left foot.
Founji made a great play, then scooped it and scored.
“I was really proud of the team, you know,” McGuire said after the game. “When everybody got [into the locker room], the first thing I did was call Kenny Perry up and let him celebrate this with the team.”
The Cougars had not been blocked in Dana Holgorsen’s 4+ years at Houston. The last time it happened was the Temple game in 2018.
After the block, UH went to a four-man front for the rest of the game. On the next punt, Tech showed a four-man front, and with the ball on the right hash, inside gunner Hypolite came in to block on the right side. That was the punt where McCutchin hit the returner and was flagged 15 yards.
After that, it would be McCutchin blocking on the left side of the line and Hypolite back out wide.
Perry and Scott have a history of playing tit for tat. In 2021, Perry was SMU’s special teams coach. His unit returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game. But Scott’s unit had the biggest laugh: they blocked an SMU PAT in the first half, and after an SMU 45-yard FG to tie it, UH’s Marcus Jones returned the kickoff 100 yards for the game-winning score with just 17 seconds to play.
