Losing the starter is never a good thing, but it appears that Houston is equipped with adequate reinforcements. Houston forced five turnovers, three of which were interceptions from Lynch, in the 28-24 win over Memphis last season. The Cougars also had a safety in the game.
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Memphis regained possession with 1:27 to go, and Lynch quickly led the Tigers into Houston territory.
“Gutsy. He’s a pretty unflappable kid”, Herman said. Postma really got the drive going with a attractive broken play that he turned into a long run. To make matters worse, Ward, who entered the game with 2,116 passing yards, 829 rushing yards and 29 total touchdowns, went down with an ankle injury.
Any Cougar fan who has watched their team this season has seen just how superb they are despite last week’s torching of the secondary for 537 yards by Cincinnati’s quarterback Gunner Kiel. UH Head Coach, Tom Herman, was asked if he knew what he had in Postma, and he said, “Yes, I did”. We couldn’t do anything in the first half offensively.
University of Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr. did a few light jogging at Sunday evening’s practice. “We still prepare the same, and we prepare hard in practice, so it’s just another week. Memphis is a great opponent, and we’re ready”.
Tevin Jones helped put the Tigers up by 20 once again at 34-14 thanks to a perfectly run option play that gave him his first rushing touchdown of the season. The Buckeyes have won 16 straight road games.
“We don’t necessarily control our own destiny in the league race, but we can still be a factor in it”, Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. “I appreciate the questions, and it’s not to be standoffish, but in our program, where you are after nine games matters not”. It’s the complete season that matters.
The early scoring for Memphis was keyed by a Jake Elliot made 41 yarder quickly followed with a Paxton Lynch find of a wide open Alan Cross for a easy 38 yard touchdown.
The Houston Cougars are tied for the lead in the West Division of the American Conference with Navy and Memphis is one game behind making this the biggest game of the year for the Cougars. The Cougars did intercept Kiel twice and recovered a fumble. In the win, the Cougars added to their nation-best 25 takeaways after turning out three against the Bearcats.
WARD VS. LYNCH: Although they won’t line up against each other, the quarterback matchup is intriguing.
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But Memphis responded, pushing the lead back to 20 by moving 68 and then 66 yards on its next two touches for a pair of rushing touchdowns.
