SI Preseason Top 25 - #20 Houston

https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/08/07/rankings-preseason-top-25-polls-clemson-alabama

20. HOUSTON COUGARS

Last year: 7–5 (5–3 AAC); Lost to Fresno State in Hawai’i Bowl

SI Top 100 players: One: DT Ed Oliver (No. 1)

X-Factor: D’Eriq King bounced between receiver and quarterback until last season, when he took over for QB Kyle Postma at South Florida and led Houston to a win. In his four starts as a sophomore King completed 65.8% of his passes and averaged 9.4 yards per attempt while rushing for eight TDs. He looked like a faster version of Greg Ward Jr., the former Cougars QB whom King revered as a teen at Manvel (Texas) High. King spent the offseason learning new coordinator Kendal Briles’s scheme, which doesn’t require that the QB be a great runner … but if he is it’s tough to stop. The last QB as athletic as King to lead an offense—Baylor’s Robert Griffin III—won the Heisman. — Andy Staples

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Woah…nice…someone’s paying attention.

3 spots back of UCF, 1 spot back of Arizona, and 2 spots ahead of the school in Austin.

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Ok now we are talking.

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Oh look…Coogs get their 2nd SI cover athlete in 3 years.

Big Ed is on one of 4 regional covers…magazine will hit stores next week.

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1026818563305291777

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“Khalil Tate: Hand Him the Heisman” The last Heisman winner to come to TDECU got sacked 11 times. 3 or 4 of them with Ed on the Bench. Put the ball down!

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Tate is one of the cover athletes as well:

Others are Wisconsin and Clemson


Can’t speak for anyone else but seeing that cover makes me a bit, well, emotional. I can’t help it. Lol

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He won’t even be the best QB in TDECU on Sept. 8.

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I get emotional too but for a different reason, I’m superstitious and believe the SI cover jinx happens too often.

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I believe Tate will have more rushing yards and King more passing yards. Arizona probably doesn’t have their own version of Ed Oliver and we are at home, so King should look like the better QB that day for sure.

This can’t be right. We are rated higher than Texas and Texas A&M? I can’t believe that. Tom Herman checks fluid levels and Jimbo wears cowboy boots. That clearly makes them better.

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If Tate has more rushing yards, it’s because our RBs were able to get the job done on the ground and I’m ok with that. Everything I’ve seen about Tate is that he’s a terrible passer, which is why I question any publication that thinks he’s a legit Heisman contender as a QB. My prediction is that the Coogs’ front 7 will destroy Tate’s Heisman chances 2 weeks into the season.

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Why would you think a guy that averaged 9.2 yards per rush and over 100 yards per game last year, wouldn’t have more yards rushing than King even if the Houston RBs struggle? It’s not like King is going to be running the option all game long.

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Shhhh

Tate is no Lamar Jackson and we did pretty good against him. Finally someone is paying attention to our talent.

I just don’t see how it’s in our best interest as fans to show little respect to other teams and their players before we play them. 2016 for example. Instead of saying Mayfield and Jackson were overrated, wouldn’t it be a more positive thing to say they were great QBs but our defense was better? To each their own I guess.

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Astros busted that bad boy forever.

image

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This is going to be a special year. I think we have the right personnel (coaches and players) in the right places to do something special.

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That Louisville O-line was awful. Orlando totally exposed them and never let off the gas. How is Arizona’s O-line?

Vs Jackson we had a DC who was always in attack mode. Our current DC plays to not give up the big plays, which to me, is another way of playing not to lose instead of playing to win.

Honestly, I talk smack about the teams we face, but Arizona worries me because of Tate and because of our DC’s philosophy.

So maybe instead of our shutting Tate down, the game ends up being a high scoring barn-burner with the last team on offense winning.

Or maybe Ed says, “the hell with this.” and takes over.

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