Tom Herman has an idea of what he’ll see if No. 15 Houston beats No. 3 Oklahoma at NRG Stadium on Saturday.
Or maybe what he won’t see.
“If we beat Oklahoma on Saturday, (AAC commissioner) Mike Aresco is not going to jog out to the 50-yard line and hand us the American championship trophy,” Herman said on the American Athletic Conference teleconference Monday.
That’s the No. 1 goal, according to Herman. Win the American Athletic Conference.
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He insists nothing out of the ordinary happened inside the program the last time Aresco handed him an AAC championship trophy or the corresponding Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against Florida State.
The Cougars capped off a 13-1 season in Herman’s first year and are in a position to take advantage of a tone-setter for the entire season against the Sooners. Install didn’t begin until two-and-a-half weeks into fall camp. No big deal, right?
“We don’t let any outside influences, chatter, noise, any of that stuff, infiltrate our culture,” Herman said. “Our kids have done a great job insulating themselves from all of that chatter because at the end of the day, that’s all it is,” Herman said.
That chatter is in their face now. Students are already outside NRG Stadium. Herman says the pizza’s on him.
Great to see over 1,000 students camping out to get tickets to the OU game. #HTownTakeover . Pizza is on me. #GoCoogs pic.twitter.com/3rRTXo8FbQ
— Coach Tom Herman (@CoachTomHerman) August 27, 2016
"We've created a monster and you have to feed the monster,” Herman said at his press conference.
From the outside, it’s almost impossible not to think about what happens if the Cougars knock off the Sooners in the opener. In rapid-fire order:
—Houston beats the defending champion in a conference it wants to join.
—Houston gives the Group of 5 a chance to crash the College Football Playoff.
That’s it. We could say what it means for Herman, but that part we know. He’s the hottest coach in the FBS right now, and with good reason. This is how it felt watching Urban Meyer at Utah, yet Herman will tell you he has no designs on leaving Houston. He addresses that with the truth.
“I like winning,” Herman told Sporting News this spring. “I think the resources and the ability to win here is as good as anywhere in the country. The path to a New Year’s Six Bowl game is more attainable at Houston than some mid-level Power 5 schools.”
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One win against Oklahoma, however, would put Houston in position for a run to the College Football Playoff, but it’s by no means a guarantee. That one win is never enough.
“At the end of the day that one game is not going to make or break or define our season,” Herman said.
Boise State’s been down that a road a few times. The Broncos beat No. 14 Oregon in 2009 and went undefeated. That got attention, which set up legit title shots in 2010 and 2011 in the BCS era.
In 2010, Boise State had that one big win against No. 6 Virginia Tech. That was undone by a loss to No. 19 Nevada later in the season.
In 2011, Boise State had that one big win against No. 22 Georgia in the Georgia Dome, no less. That was undone by a loss to No. 24 TCU.
The Broncos went 50-3 from 2008-11 and never got that chance to play for it all. That’s life outside the Power 5 conferences, even in the four-team playoff era. Chris Petersen eventually left for Washington, where his path to the playoff is pretty clear this season.
If Houston loses, one has to wonder if that’s the path Herman eventually takes. That one loss always weighs more than that one-big statement win.
Houston was 10-0 and ranked No. 13 when it lost to UConn last season. It takes a long time to get there, even if Herman seems like he got there at Houston overnight. That’s why
Herman isn’t treating this like a Big 12 audition or a one-game playoff. That doesn’t mean he won’t notice the difference between last year’s Chick-fil-A Bowl.
“Florida State outnumbered us at the Peach Bowl by 10-15 thousand,” Herman said. “But Atlanta is a short drive from Tallahassee. I would hope we would could at least even the crowd out.
“We know a lot of Sooners will travel well from wherever in the country, and there are a lot of Sooners here in the city of Houston,” he continued. “But it will be another step in the right direction toward our alumni, our fans, our students and the city of Houston and their commitment to the home-town college football team if we could even the numbers out.”
Get it as close to 50-50 as possible and take a swing.
Not a bad outlook. That’s why Herman is different.
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He’s candid. Open. Honest. That stands out in an era where several schools would rather close doors unless there’s tangible (or financial) benefit. Herman eliminates that chatter with transparency, but inside and outside, and his players know it.
“It’s water off their backs or however that saying goes because they know if something happens, they’re going to hear it from me,” Herman said.
It’s not weird at all. It works at Houston right now.
About that chatter. They’ll get a chance to respond to all that against the Sooners. It might be just one game in a lot of ways, but there’s something even Herman can’t deny, even if nobody comes jogging across the sideline.
It’s still one hell of a statement on many levels if the Cougars get this win.
