Houston Cougars drop 3rd game in a row; fall to Cincinnati, 24-17

John O'Korn (5) was well below his season passing average 
of 247 yards against the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2013 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (November 23, 2013) The Houston Cougars could not seem to get their offensive punch going on the grass on Saturday, November 23, 2013 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas, as they fall to the Cincinnati Bearcats by the score of 24-17.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 7-4 in 2013 and to 4-3 in The American, while Cincinnati’s record to 9-2 with a 6-1 mark in conference play.

The game started off slow for Houston as the Bearcats scored ten unanswered points before the Cougars were able to get on the scoreboard.

Cincinnati scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Brendon Kay to Chris Moore to cap a seven play, 47-yard drive at the 14:32 mark in the second quarter.

They followed up with a Tony Miliano 25-yard field goal with 8:13 to go in the half.

Houston cut the Bearcat lead to three when John O’Korn connected with Deontay Greenbury with a 12-yard pass for the touchdown.

Kyle Bullard’s kick split the goalposts to round out the Cougars’ scoring in the first half.

Greg Ward, Jr. saw his first game action vs.
Cincinnati since Halloween.Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

The Bearcats added another touchdown with under to minutes to go until halftime when Kay again connected with Moore on a three-yard pass.

The Cougars began to rally in the third quarter following another Cincinnati touchdown when Trevon Stewart ran 15-yard for the score after recovering a Bearcat fumble.;

Bullard’s kick was good to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 10 and added a 27-yard field goal five minutes later to take the score to 24-17 to close out the third quarter.

Houston attempted to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter, but was unable to find the goal line.

The statistics showed that Houston could not muster enough offense to put points on the score board.

The Cougars managed only 278 yard of total offense as opposed to the 573 yards output of the Bearcats.

Quarterback John O’Korn was well below his season passing average of 247.8 yards per game with Greg Ward, Jr., seeing his first action since Oct. 31, completed five passes for 74 yards.

He completed 13-of-30 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown with two sacks.

Kenneth Farrow (35) carried the ball nine times for
38 yards against Cincinnati.Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

Kenneth Farrow carried the ball nine times for a mire 38 yards, which was also below his season average of 52.9 yards per game.

Deontay Greenberry had six catches for 64 yards, while Daniel Spencer had five carries for 66 yards.

Defensively, Efren Oliphant tallied 13 tackles, three of them unassisted with Adrian McDonald accounting for nine solo tackles.

Stewart was asked after the game what he did in recovering his sixth fumble of the season.

“I saw the ball and picked it up and scored.”

The Cougars have now lost four games by a total of 20 points as they begin to prepare to face long time, in-state rival, SMU on Friday, November 29, 2013 at Reliant Stadium with am 11 a.m. kickoff.

SMU is currently 4-5 overall in 2013 with a 3-2 conference record.

The Mustangs face off on Saturday evening (Nov. 23) against the South Florida Bulls at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

The Cougars faced USF on Halloween and defeated the Bulls 35-23.