The UNLV game was a disaster, but I wonder why anyone is surprised. Dana Holgorsen did not leave this program in a position to succeed. He had no plan beyond the end of the 2023 season. Dana basically abandoned recruiting when the 2023 season started, and going into 2024, UH had two options: try to plug holes in the ship (again) in the hope of scratching out a bowl game or let that ship sail and hire an admiral to try to build an actual program with a from the ground up.
Dana’s last season saw UH escape with a 17-14 at home to UTSA in the opener, only to lose to Rice a week later. Then, double-digit losses to former AAC mates Cincinnati and UCF while losing five of the last six (and scoring two TDs or less in regulation in four of those six games). A Hail Mary and a two-point conversion in Waco glossed over the fact that last year’s team was really, really bad. Consider this: in Dana’s fifth season, UH’s two most effective linemen (and the only NFL draft pick) were still holdovers from Major Applewhite’s days as head coach.
This was never going to be a simple fix.
I want to try to glean some positives from the UNLV game, but I am struggling to find many. There were a couple of bright spots from individuals, but overall, it was just bad. It would be nice if I could pin the blame on one particular failure that led to the loss, but this was a program-wide effort, and almost everyone contributed.
Penalties, blocking, tackling, special teams mistakes, coaching—you name it, and you can come up with a list with breakdowns. My only expectation coming into the season was to see the Wille culture start to take hold. To see this team improve over the course of 12 games. They set the bar so low that it is nearly impossible to not improve.
I don’t believe that hardships build character. I believe that hardships reveal character, and your response to hardships is what builds character. You might also hear that competition makes you stronger. That is partially true because competition reveals your weaknesses. How you address those weaknesses is what makes you stronger.
The only positive thing about this game is that the team’s weaknesses have been thoroughly exposed, and its character is being heavily challenged. I say it is a positive because this happened in the opener. There are no delusions that it was just a bad night, that everyone looks bad or even sillier, and that they kept the playbook simple. Some UH fans believed that under Dana Holgorsen, but they were always met with reality soon after. Last year, those fans thought it before getting embarrassed by Rice.
Not this year. Every player on the roster got a gut check Saturday night. I don’t expect much in the way of final results against OU this week, but I expect this team to come out and play better than they did in week one. I expect they will clean up most of the penalties and correct the errors, such as running the wrong routes or RBs going the wrong way. The tackling will be better than in the first half of the UNLV game, and there will be fewer special team mistakes. The plan will be better.
The bar was set so low with that week one performance that it shouldn’t be difficult to look better.