December 28, 2021
Dana Holgorsen gave his players big smiles and hugs to celebrate UH Football’s Birmingham Bowl win over Auburn on Tuesday. | Steven Paultanis / The Puma
Aside from those inside the walls of the Houston locker room, the 2021 Cougars football team had been heavily challenged as there was general consensus that the third year of the program under head coach Dana Holgorsen was another year of defeat.
After 31 unanswered points in the second half in an opening season loss to Texas Tech, those outside voices criticizing Houston reached an all-time high, with many calling for a complete change within the program from head coach to find a new starting quarterback.
But one player-led meeting After the first training session after losing the season opener, the course of the season changed.
UH began stringing win after win until the streak hit 11 games.
Despite the success, the UH players still felt like they were being overlooked and not getting the respect they deserved week after week.
Linebacker Donavan Mutin, a team captain and the vocal leader of the defense, expected more of it when the Cougars headed for Birmingham, Alabama, to take on an SEC pile in Auburn.
“People doubt us at the conference. We’re going to play Big Boy Football (against) a big SEC (opponent), we can only imagine what people think we’re going to do, ”Mutin said the week before the game. “As I said earlier this year, it stays true, it still sounds true. We don’t worry about that. You take care of the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves. “
But like the whole season, UH drowned out the outside noise and let their game on the field speak for itself on Tuesday afternoon.
The Cougars defense held up like the whole season and caused problems for the Auburn offensive all afternoon even without cornerback Marcus Jones and defensive end Logan Hall.
Quarterback Clayton Tune made plays when he needed both through the air and with his legs.
Tank Dell came up with big catches after big catches, covering 150 yards in 10 receptions.
Senior walk-in receiver Jake Herslow brought in the game-winning touchdown pass and added another chapter that Holgorsen called “one of the best stories in college football”.
“We compete and we are hard to beat and we are hard to beat because we can be so consistent for 14 weeks,” said Holgorsen after the game.
The Birmingham Bowl win 17-13 was the icing on the cake for Tune, who carried the sour taste of the 2020 season in his mouth all year round.
“This was kind of a revenge tour to end the season we had and end it with a bowl win,” said Tune.
With the win, the UH soccer team cemented their legacy on historic territory in 2021, joining the 2011 and 2015 teams as the only team in program history to win more than 12 games.
“Winning this game made this 2021 University of Houston soccer team a great soccer team,” said Holgorsen. “There have only been a few teams (in UH history) that have won more than 12 games, have won more than 11 games, and this is one of them. I am very proud of this team. “
While the 2021 season marked the turnaround for the UH soccer program, Holgorsen and the members of the program believe this is just the stepping stone to better things for Cougars in the years to come.
Holgorsen noted that Cincinnati has run 22-1 since winning the Birmingham Bowl two years ago, and the Houston head coach believes that with a win that he cited as a drive for 2022, his team will be able to to do the same.
“We are well on the way to doing something special,” said Holgorsen.
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