Tigers Takeover H-Town
The Tigers take their #25 ranking into Houston Thursday night. The game was definitely a battle of the emotions. The Tigers are riding a high from knocking off a previously undefeated Navy team and the Cougars looking to redeem themselves after their loss to Tulsa. Of course trash talk takes place on the field and in the stands. However, the amount of foul comments coming from the Cougar fans made this game even more intense.
During the first half, the Tigers kept shooting themselves in the foot. Mistakes and missed opportunities sent the Tigers to the locker room trailing 0-17. The first half of game was just hard to watch, especially when you know what this football team is capable of. At one point it felt like the running game was taking place on a treadmill, feet moving but wasn’t going anywhere. The Tigers rushed the ball only 30 yards for the game. Houstons 239 rushing yards was not enough for them to secure a victory.
The Tigers had a chance to put at least three points on the board before halftime but Major Applewhite had different plans. Riley Patterson steps up for the 52 yard field goal. At this point Houston still had all of their first half time outs. Applewhite used the old “ice kicker ” trick to exhaust all of his timeouts. Patterson is then forced to try to make a 52 yard field goal four times in a row. he made two and missed two.
After the game Coach Norvell said that at halftime he could see it in his guys eyes that they knew that they could come back and win the game.
The team exercised unwavering focus in the second half to come back and win the game. Only they know what they are truly capable of so maybe they don’t doubt themselves when they allow themselves to end up in lopsided games.
Even though Riley Ferguson managed to continue his streak of at least one interception per game this season, he managed to put together six consecutive scoring drives in the second half. Earlier in the week Ferguson said that he liked coming into hostile environments and quieting the noise. It took all 60 min of the game for The Tigers to not only quiet the noise but to shut them all the way up.
Coach Norvell has stressed the importance of the Tigers playing with more discipline and keeping penalties to a minimum in order for them to be successful. Tonight they did just that with only two penalties and a total loss of ten yards. It was obvious that the Cougars were getting frustrated by watching the Tigers comeback from a 17-0 first half deficit to officially come back and win the game. Eight penalties for a total of negative 87 yards was a result of the defense being worn down and playing with a lack of discipline.
With this win the Tigers are officially bowl eligible. The Tigers have a week and a day to recover and prepare for their next game against Tulane at the Liberty Bowl.