Hello Coogs,
Year one of the Applewhite experience was interesting yes?
Of course, your stated goal of dominating the American Athletic Conference and gaining entry into the P5 seems to be just a little further off than you thought. Not that you had a BAD season, quite the contrary, but it's not the domination that you envisioned when you moved to the (then) Big East with the hopes that you would be able to beat the USF's and UCF's of the world.
Again, I'm not a fan, nor am I inherently against you. I'm just a schmuck who blogs in the Houston area so I thought you might, or might not, want to read some initial thoughts from a local whose not either a UT-Austin, or aTm fan.
With that said, let's take a look at a few things.
1. The book is still out on Applewhite.
I don't think he did a BAD job coaching this year, but the question of why it took him and his team so long to realize that King should have been the guy at QB all along is puzzling. With the offense you are running a mobile QB is almost a must, and neither Postma or Kyle Allen were never going to be those guys. In fact, I hate to say this but Kyle Allen is not a good QB, and his starting at ALL was almost as bad as the Texans decision to start Savage over Watson. It's fair to ask yourselves that question when looking at the season.
2. Those bad losses will haunt you.
Just like in the Herman era, the Cougars ability to pull a loss from the jaws of victory sting. Losing to bad teams from Texas Tech, Tulsa and Tulane has to sting, and the inability of your defense to stop Memphis should sting even more. At this point it's a good thing that early season game vs. UTSA was cancelled because you might have lost that as well.
This continues a recent trend of the Cougars winning bigger games that they're not supposed to win and losing games where they should dominate. That has to be something Applewhite fixes going forward. Memphis is a coin flip either way, they're a good team, but the other losses, had they been wins, might have placed you in a position to win the American and go to a New Year's 6 bowl game (again). You're not in a position to miss out on opportunities such as that.
3. Let's talk talent.
You have some DUDES on this team Houston. We all know about Oliver but Nick Thurman, Matthew Adams, Duke Catalon, Mulbah Car and your two WR's (Linell Bonnar and Steven Dunbar) are next-level talent guys. You've basically wasted the Sr. season of the latter two, but with the others you still have a window (minus Adams) to achieve great heights.
There's no reason that a team with the type of talent Houston possesses should have 3-4 loss years. Except coaching.
Now, granted, this was Applewhite's first year and some things changed from the Herman program which is natural. I would have expected struggles in the first of the year (see: South Florida) but I would have expected the team to pick it up significantly by games 3 or 4. This SHOULD have been a team that challenged for the AAC championship. You might want to be more than a little concerned that it did not.
This is not to say that Applewhite isn't the right guy. The truth is you don't know. But I do think you'd be right to get worried after next year if the results stay the same. Also, if recruiting starts to fall off. Still, give Major some time and see what happens. You should be in contention for the AAC title almost every year. You haven't really been there for two-years straight now, mainly due to bad losses to inferior teams.
You have a right to expect that.
Good luck in your bowl game.
Sincerely,
Cory
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