No. 6 Houston Cougars shut out Lamar Cardinals 42-0

Photo by Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2016 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (September 10, 2016) After a three-hour, 36-minute first quarter lightning delay, the No. 6 Houston Cougars extended their season record to 2-0 with a 42-0 win over the Lamar Cardinals on Saturday, September 10, 2016 at TDECU Stadium in Houston.. After the delay, the game format remained standard, with halftime shortened to five minutes.

Houston struck pay dirt twice in the first quarter; first on a 39-yard quarterback keeper rush by Kyle Postma at the 12:00 mark and a one-yard run by Kevin Justice with 33 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The first scoring drive lasted a mere 1:31 and covered 70 yards in four plays. The second drive last 53 seconds in four plays over 36 yards. After both touchdowns, Ty Cummings added the kicking extra points. Postma was named the starting quarterback prior to game time due to injury complications of Greg Ward, Jr.  which occurred when Houston played Oklahoma on September 3 at NRG Stadium.

Freshman running back Mulbah Car added to the Cougars’ scoring assault with a two-yard run over the right guard for the third touchdown of the game. The score was the Austin, Texas native’s first college-level touchdown. Cumming added the kicking conversion to give the Cougars a 21-0 lead at the 7:33 mark in the second quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, the officials ruled that Houston recovered an onside kick, giving them the ball on the Lamar 18-yard line. Postma engineered a quick drive, scoring in 2:31 on a one-yard run by running back Kevrin Justice. Cumming again score the extra point; giving Houston a 28-point lead with 4:55 left in the first half.

Postma kicked off the second half with his second rushing touchdown of the game; a five-yard keeper to cap a seven-play, 40-yard drive that lasted 3:26. Along with the Cummings extra point, the Cougars took a 35-0 lead with 11:34 remaining in the third quarter. Houston added an additional insurance touchdown and extra point in the fourth quarter to close out scoring in the game.

After the game, Houston head coach Tom Herman spoke with the press and discussed his thoughts of the game.

“Short and sweet, I’m really proud of the entire team for handling that kind of adversity. We do train for that kind of chaos, but for them to sit through what amounted to a three-hour rain delay and then come out with more energy and better play, to be honest with you, after a break was great. Again, hats off to the defense holding them to 73 total yards and 15 yards rushing. That’s tremendous. It got a little sloppy there at the end with our twos and threes and some guys even fours in there, but I’m proud of our guys for handling that.”

Postma also talked to the press after the game; talking about getting the start and the success he had in the run game.

“None of that was really planned. Coming into the game I was going to do everything I could that was going to help the team out. I pulled a few balls from the running back and then just used my feet. Things happened and people were blocking extremely hard and being really physical. and they let me run the ball. It worked out really well.”

The game’s attendance of 39,402 was the fourth highest crowd in stadium history. The win makes the four consecutive win over the Cardinals. The last time the Cougars played Lamar was September 6, 1975 inside the Houston Astrodome, in which Houston won by the score of 20-3. In the all-time series, the Cougars have outscored Lamar 152-41. In addition, the game was the first time Herman has faced the Cardinals. The Cougars finished the game with 511 total offensive yards. The last time Houston reached 500-plus yards (555 yards) was on November 27, 2015 against Navy. The Houston defense set a school record for fewest yards allowed (73 yards) in a game. The old record was 74 against Mississippi State in 1969.

Houston will have a short four days to prepare for their next opponent; a Thursday, September 15 matchup against conference foe Cincinnati on the road. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. CDT with ESPN broadcasting the game.