Running back Ryquell Armstead carried 30 times for 210 yards and a conference-record six touchdowns, and the Owls rolled up 312 rushing yards in a 59-49 victory before a chilled homecoming crowd of 30,862.
The loss, UH’s second in row, dropped the Cougars (7-3, 4-2) into a tie for first place in the American Athletic Conference West Division with SMU (5-5, 4-2) and Tulane (5-5, 4-2). Temple (6-4, 5-1) is a game behind Central Florida (9-0, 6-0) in the East.
3. D’Eriq King continues to impress
King’s five TD passes gives him 35 on the year, which compares to 16 scoring passes by all UH quarterbacks in 2017. Including his TD run Saturday, he is responsible for 48 TDs this year, breaking the American Athletic Conference record of 45 by McKenzie Milton of UCF in 2017. It’s tied for fifth with Case Keenum (2009) in UH annals. His 10-game streak with at least one rushing TD is the nation’s longest active streak in that category. He will, however, likely rue Saturday’s three turnovers more than he celebrates another game’s accomplishments.
OFFENSE
• The Cougars have scored in 234 consecutive games, dating back to Sept. 23, 2000, at No. 5/5
Texas. Head coach Major Applewhite saw time at quarterback for Texas in that game.
• Houston finished the game with four scoring drives of less than two minutes. On the season, the
Cougars now have 38 such scoring drives. By comparison, the Cougars had just 18 scoring drives
under two minutes for the entire 2017 season.
• Houston’s 49 points in the contest gave them 61 consecutive games of at least 10 points.
• Houston has now scored 40 or more points in nine games this season.
• Houston has scored in 38 out of the 40 quarters it has played in this season.
• With 527 yards of offense, Houston has eclipsed the 500-yard mark in seven games this season.
The Cougars have had 19 games since 2015 with 500 or more yards.
• Houston made six trips to the red zone in the contest and scored touchdowns in each.
DEFENSE
• Junior defensive back Bradley Mbu recovered a Temple fumble on a kickoff return. The Cougars
have now forced 164 turnovers since 2013, the most among FBS schools.
• Houston has forced at least one turnover in each game this season.
• The Cougars have forced a turnover in 14 consecutive games dating back to the 2017 season, the
third-longest streak in the nation.
Limbo lower now…
Patrick, thanks for the reminder. Our offense played lights out. Had special teams not been in la-la land at the start of the game things might easily have turned out differently.
Yes we scored 49 points but had drives stopped with 2 fumbles, an interception, and numerous “administrative” penalties. That’s not playing lights out, imo.
What makes me so mad is that most of Armstead’s runs came right up the gut where Ed wasn’t playing. Not mad at Ed but at Coach No D who made not one single change in how to defend what was obvious from the first quarter that a 3 man rush with EO was not going to stop any runs up the middle. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over then clearly in regard to football defense our DC is insane or just plain not understanding of what he needs to do to stop those runs.
Defense wins championships period, scoring over 30 points a game should be enough to win ALL our games, with our offensive output no reason to lose even 1 game, give me a lockdown defense with Briles offense and see what happens
Sounds great and I am all in but we must be willing to be patient. We do not have the defensive depth and frankly talent (even if we were healthy) to field a lock down D in tandem with our current offense. Maybe only Bama can do that. Anyway, it will take patience while we recruit and develop the players. This also means that we need better defensive coaches and that we have to be willing pay the price to keep a coaching staff more than 2-3 years while this powerhouse is being assembled. Too many fans today have the attitude that “we must win now” though. Seldom realistic for any G5 program though.
There are no asterics when your offense scores 49 points. It doesn’t have to be perfect. As for the interception it followed a desperation pass as time ran out. The defense that can’t win with 49 points is the problem along with special teams that was sleep walking to open the game.
Even with all that, without the fumbles and dumb offensive penalties, we maybe pull it out. The loss was a team effort, just like SMU.
If you score 49, you should win. The offense wasn’t perfect but plenty good enough. The defense owns this one almost all to itself. The sad part is this is the second time we’ve scored 49 points and lost.
We need to not score 49 points then. Kick a field goal or something 
Yep, Fleming was getting pushed halfway to the sideline on multiple plays and was struggling to get up after a number of them. Was surprised they kept him out there for so long.
That’s the thing, Orlando would sometimes like Ed up with 4-5 LBs during his freshman year just to give teams a different look. We have a ton of LBs on scholarship, use them. Try something different. Either that, or CMA needs to just onside kick every kickoff.
For sure. Nevertheless, it is a team game and our O had opportunities but couldn’t capitalize. Perfection is a high bar, but the O didn’t need to be perfect, just less careless. Defense, well, it should have been better. I wasn’t able to make the game and gave my tickets to a friend. Tell me, did CMD use any run blitzes to try to help out the obviously over-matched D-line? The radios announcers didn’t mention anything about run blitzes.
### King worth the hype
All last week, the Owls talked about how dangerous Houston quarterback D’Eriq King was, and the junior lived up to the billing. King entered the game leading the nation in points responsible for per game (passing and running), an average of 28.2. Against Temple, he was responsible for 36 points (not counting the PATs) with five touchdown passes and one rushing score. He completed 28 of 46 passes for 312 yards, the five TDs and one interception, and rushed for 125 yards and the score on 19 carries.
Yes, he missed a few throws, but the 5-foot-11, 195-pound converted wide receiver was electrifying. Temple often appeared to have a good angle on him, only to see King slip away.
The best thing from Temple’s perspective is that they won’t have to deal with King next season, unless both teams reach the American Athletic Conference championship game. After this year, Houston will be off the Owls’ cross-division opponent list until 2021.
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