Fight for Red and White

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The AP delivers in-depth college football game coverage, highlights and the AP Top 25 Poll.

Clemson's shaky performance against Troy earns them a drop from #2 to #5, but UH stays where they were last week after a dominating performance against a seriously outclassed Lamar.

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Nice leap. OU drops to #14.

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Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr., who missed Sunday's practice because of an injury to his throwing shoulder, had an MRI that showed "no structural damage," coach Tom Herman said Monday.

I expect Ward to get a lot of rest this week either way.

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A kick-six helped Houston surprise Oklahoma. Here's the inside story of how it happened.

The whole game was amazing, but the Kick 6 was ridiculous.

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Tom Herman's 610 AM Ban is Hilarious and Justified: Coach Stands Up to Anti-UH Radio Giant

from former CultureMap Houston sportswriter Chris Baldwin

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Oklahoma vs Houston comic cover. Thanks, ESPN.

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A Group of 5 team with Power 5 dreams, the Cougars, -- ranked No. 11 in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25 -- might be positioned better than any any team ever has been to make a run at real national glory from outside a traditional power conference.

ESPN: Houston begins what it hopes is an historic journey

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After Thursday's win over Cincinnati, we're still keeping half an eye trained in Houston's general direction. The Cougars are now 22-8 with splits against SMU, UConn, Tulsa, Temple and the aforementioned Bearcats. They also have the classic resume of a team that got good ahead of schedule. (The atrocious nonconference schedule is the telltale sign.) It would take a remarkable conference tournament push for Houston to get on the bubble, let alone get in, but at this point, we're not in the business of doubting Kelvin Sampson's team.

From ESPN's College Basketball Bubble Watch

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No. 12 Houston Baseball used a four-run first inning and home runs by Clay Casey and Jacob Campbell in Sunday's 10-3 win to earn an Opening Weekend sweep of Villanova at Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park.

UH sweeps Villanova, outscoring them 27-4 in the three game series. Next weekend the Cougars take on TCU, Arkansas, and Texas Tech at Minute Maid.

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Cataloging the poachers

Every year I try to make a list of the places where the recruits that got away wound up. UH made 123 scholarship offers this year, meaning that about 100 players UH would have taken went someplace else. Here's a list of those schools. The poachers reference is from here.

The takeaway is that out of 133 offers, UH lost only 13 recruits to non-Power 5 schools. Amazing job by the coaching staff.

Texas (11)

Texas A&M (9)

Baylor (5)

Oklahoma State (5)

TCU (5)

Texas Tech (5)

SMU (4)

Arizona State (3)

Kansas State (3)

LSU (3)

Northwestern (3)

Ole Miss (3)

Alabama (2)

Arkansas (2)

Kansas (2)

Memphis (2)

Oklahoma (2)

Tulsa (2)

Boise State

Cincinnati

Colorado State

Florida

Florida State

Illinois

Louisiana Tech

Minnesota

Mississippi State

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

Tennessee

Tulane

UCLA

Utah

Washington

Washington State

West Virginia

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The Cougars signed the nation's 30th-ranked recruiting class, the highest finish ever for a school outside of a power conference (Power 5 currently or BCS previously). Houston also became the first non-power conference program to sign a five-star recruit since ESPN began ranking recruits in 2006.

How Houston Cougars engineered 2016's recruiting upset

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Houston finished #8 in the country this year with an average recruiting ranking of 70 over the past 4 years

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In the feral wilds of recruiting, the University of Houston rebuffed most of the poachers. So that’s something.

The poachers aimed at Houston football recruits, but Tom Herman fought them off

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Former Texas high school coach Corby Meekins helped Houston land five-star Ed Oliver in the 2016 class. Meekins, like several other in the state, has become an inside man for state recruiting.

Lots in there about Houston assistant Corby Meekins.

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Amid all the typical fanfare over the established, top programs on signing day, don't lose sight of the work being done by Tom Herman and Houston, who established a new standard for what non-Power 5 programs can accomplish on the recruiting trail. Five-star defensive tackle Ed Oliver became the first five-star player to commit to a non-Power 5 school during ESPN's era of star ratings.

The 10 most important things to watch on signing day 2016

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Review of the 2016 recruiting class

As I have done in many years, I'll run down the folks in the recruiting class based on the other schools that offered scholarships to the players in the class. I feel like the best way to rate the class is to look at the other schools we beat out for the players, and this year, we beat out some truly top flight programs.

Here's a link to the signees at ESPN.

Ed Oliver (DL) - OU, Alabama, LSU, Baylor, Texas, Notre Dame, everybody else

Na'Ty Rodgers (Juco OL) - Arizona State, Ole Miss, Missouri, West Virginia

D'Eriq King (QB) - Cal, Baylor, UCLA, Michigan State, Clemson, TCU

Courtney Lark (WR) - Baylor, Nebraska, TCU, Nebraska

Mulbah Car (RB) - Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa State, BYU, Texas Tech

J.J. Dallas (Juco CB) - No other offers

Marquez Stevenson (WR) - Miami, Nebraska, Mississippi State, Baylor, Utah

Collin Wilder (S) - Duke, Northwestern, Texas Tech

Bowman Sells (QB) - Clemson, Ohio State, Iowa

Keith Corbin (WR) - Colorado, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, TCU

Terrell Williams (Juco S) - West Virginia, Iowa State

Keenan Murphy (OL) - Colorado, Texas Tech, Missouri

Dixie Wooten (OL) - Baylor, Miami, Illinois

Terry Mark (WR)

Aymiel Fleming (DT) - Colorado State, Nevada, SMU

Hasau Glasgow (DE) - Louisville, Nevada, Memphis, SMU

Patrick Rosette (S)

Javian Smith (CB) - SMU, Fresno State

Ka'Darian Smith (CB) - Fresno State, Rice, SMU

Braylon Jones (DL) - Air Force, Army, Navy

Really impressive number of recruits with offers from Power 5 schools.

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Houston officially lands highest-rated recruit in program history

If you think Tom Herman's momentum in Houston is limited to on the field, you'd be sorely mistaken. Ed Oliver is a five-star defensive tackle who committed to Houston last June. Ever since, a signi...

Amazing class to build on an amazing season.