Houston coach has best postgame celebration in college football
After beating Utah 17-14 on a last-second field goal Saturday night, a rock concert broke out in the Houston Cougars locker room.
Houston football coach Willie Fritz was hoisted into the air by his team and looked like a stage-diving, crowd-surfing rock star. Well, an aging rock star.
It was an impressive display of athleticism for the 64-year-old Fritz, who has injected a huge dose of energy into Houston's program.
WE LOVE HOMECOMING CROWD SURFING 🌊 pic.twitter.com/HzbI2oFx3Z
— Houston Football (@UHCougarFB) October 27, 2024
After a disappointing 4-8 season that led to the firing of Dana Holgorsen, Houston brought in Fritz to turn the program around. Fritz knows how to win. He went 23-4 the past two seasons at Tulane and has won 210 games in his college career.
Averaging just 14.1 points per game - the worst mark in Division 1-A college football - the Cougars aren't exactly playing pretty football. But they're playing hard, clean and starting to make big plays in big moments.
On Saturday it was junior defensive back A.J. Haulcy who came up with the biggest play, intercepting a pass from backup Utah quarterback Brandon Rose at Houston's 46-yard line with 1:55 left in the game.
The Cougars effectively killed the clock from there, setting up kicker Jack Martin for a game-winning 43-yard field goal on the final play of the game.
Houston won the turnover battle 2-1, won time of possession (31:02 to 28:58) and only committed three penalties.
In fact, Houston has committed just 12 penalties over its last three game, matching the fewest in the nation in that span. Not coincidentally, they have gone 2-1.
"There was a whole bunch of ups and downs in the game," said Fritz after the game. "There was a couple of opportunities for us to score on fourth and goal from the one and we didn't get it done. A lot of guys would cave in during that time, but we found a way to win."
Expect more crowd surfing in Fritz's future.
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.