After a victorious start for the Houston Cougars against their most-awaited challenger of the season, the Oklahoma Sooners, UH entered its first home game ready to prove it is not a fluke.

Despite a 3.5-hour delay early in the first quarter due to nearby lightning, UH demonstrated its dominance even without its injured starting quarterback, Greg Ward.

Coach Tom Herman explained the decision not to start Ward, who suffered a minor shoulder injury in the Oklahoma game.

“Had we played a conference game- you know- I think we would’ve probably accelerated his recovery as best as possible, but we knew this was coming,” Herman said. “We knew we were gonna have to get ready for a short week on the road and felt it was in his best interest to get more treatment and more rehab today rather than go out and bang around.”

The game lasted a total of 6 hours and 18 minutes, where Lamar failed to put up any points in a 42-0 defeat.

In the first quarter, Lamar won the coin toss to receive, but was unable to complete a first down.

UH quarterback Kyle Postma ran the ball for a 39-yard touchdown in Houston’s first drive, with 12 minutes remaining.

The game remained 7-0 until lighting was spotted near the area at 11:36 am, where the players retreated to the locker room.

Herman commented on what the players did during the three-hour delay.

“The first 20 minutes, it was coaches coaching their guys and making any kind of adjustments,” Herman said. “Then from there, it’s just sit and wait, and we let them put their headphones on, take the tape off and, after you realize it’s going to be more than just  30 minutes- get the pads off relax, treat it like a pregame, eat. We had chicken sandwiches delivered and peanut butter and jelly and also all kinds of snacks and hydration for them, and when we got the call to go back out we were ready.”

During this time many fans had abandoned their seats because of the long wait and light rain; several did not return to the game. The estimated attendance at the start was 39,402.

When the game resumed at 3:12 pm, Lamar came back to score their first first down. However, they did not manage to score.

“Hats off to the defense, holding them to 73 total yards and 15 yards rushing was tremendous,” Herman said.

By halftime, the Cougars were leading the Cardinals 28-0, with UH accumulating 321 total yards while Lamar had only 56.

Halftime had been announced to be five minutes due to the delay, but the referee put eight minutes on the clock.

The second half continued as the first: with a relentless drive and defense by the cougars. Postma had his first career 100-yard rushing game, along with running backs Kevrin Justice and freshman Mulbah Car- the first time three Cougars had exceeded 100 rushing yards in a game since 1974.

Despite a very good score, UH did not leave the game unblemished. Postma threw an interception, kicker Ty Cummings was wide on a field goal and they got off to a lethargic start.

But they ended the game, 42-0 without their star quarterback and with new players having a chance to be on the field.

The Cougars now have to prepare for this Thursday’s away game against, 2-0, Cincinnati. Not only is this a conference game, but it will break one of the competitor’s winning streak. This will be nationally televised, and will either attest to the strength and prestige that UH has amassed thus far, or it will crumble its image.

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