Houston Rallies To Win Armed Forces Bowl
FORT WORTH, Texas – If Houston wanted to make a statement to incoming head coach Tom Herman, it certainly did so in the most stunning of ways. Trailing 31-6 in the fourth quarter, the Cougars (8-5) stormed back for an improbable 35-34 victory over Pittsburgh (6-7) Friday afternoon in the 12th annual Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
“These kids are tough kids,” Houston interim head coach David Gibbs said. “They’re resilient. And I think Coach Herman is stepping into a great situation. I wanted to make sure, when he turned the tape on, he saw kids playing hard and kids fighting. And, really, that’s what we do. These kids are – they’re special.”
Greg Ward Jr. threw three touchdown passes in the game’s final four minutes for UH, which recovered a pair of perfectly executed onside kicks by Ty Cummings during the chaotic comeback. The 25-point deficit was the largest overcome in any FBS game this season and the third largest in a bowl game ever.
“It was impossible, but we did the impossible,” Gibbs said. “We just kept pecking away and kept after them. Every day, we tell the players it’s a 60-minute game.”
Ward’s 25-yard touchdown pass down the seam to wide receiver Deontay Greenberry with
56 seconds left put the Cougars, who had missed an extra point in the second quarter when kicker Kyle Bullard slipped on the wet turf, down by one. With momentum firmly wearing red and white, Gibbs opted to play for the win, something he had decided to do on the day he was asked to lead the Cougars.
The gutsy call paid off as Ward again hooked up with Greenberry, who went high in the air near the back right corner of the end zone to make an acrobatic catch and give UH its first lead of the game. Greenberry, Houston’s top target all season, also was on the receiving end of an 8-yard score with 3:41 left.
The win capped an impressive 18 hours for the future of the Houston program. Last night, Herman’s Buckeye offense was prolific in a 42-35 victory over No. 1 Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. He now will head to Space City following the National Championship Game on Jan. 12, where he will find many of Houston’s top playmakers back for next season.
Ward, a sophomore who began the season as a wide receiver, finished the game 15-of-24 passing for 274 yards and three touchdowns. The mobile signal caller also rushed 14 times for 92 yards.
In addition, junior Kenneth Farrow, a product of nearby L.D. Bell High School, was named the team’s Most Valuable Player. The bruising rusher scored both UH ground touchdowns, bulling his way in from two yards away in the second quarter and eight yards out in the fourth.
Farrow topped the 100-yard rushing mark (103) for the seventh time this season to become the 24th player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He also eclipsed the 2,000-career rushing yards mark, just the 14th Cougar to achieve that feat.
“It’s just great to win,” Farrow said. “Hats off to our whole team for playing hard all the way through. This was special because it was so close to home. I had a lot of family and friends here, and that made it even more special. Unbelievable.”
Greenberry, who finished with four catches for 85 yards and the two touchdowns, also will be back for one more season.
“It’s all about just never quitting,” Greenberry said. “We just went out there and gave it all we had and left it all on the field for our seniors.”
Houston had 292 yards of offense (237 passing, 55 rushing) in the final quarter. In the first three quarters it accumulated just 37 yards through the air.
Houston’s “Third Ward D,” fifth in the nation in takeaways, was unable to force any turnovers for the second straight game after a nation’s-best 34-game streak came to an end in the regular season finale.
In addition, it yielded a pair of touchdown drives of more than 90 yards that combined to gobble up nearly 14 minutes. However, Gibbs’ crew came up with a must-stop on the final drive. Pitt ran eight plays and had one first down by penalty, but was just 1-for-8 passing as the Cougars held on for the victory.
“We’ve been through so many games ‑‑ I can count six on the top of my head ‑‑ it came down to last possession,” defensive tackle Joey Mbu said. “It could be either offense executing or defense executing. We finally did it. I was crying for real.”
Houston is now 10-12-1 all time in bowl games, including 2-2 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. It is the first school to be a two-time winner in the Fort Worth contest.
After a scoreless first quarter, Pitt led 17-6 at halftime.
“To these guys’ credit, they kept grinding and kept us in the football game,” Gibbs said. “Obviously it was ‑‑ it was a miracle. But we will gladly accept a miracle.”
