Houston Football: Major Applewhite must show improvement in Year 2

In his second year, Major Applewhite hopes to bring Houston football back to the top of the AAC. Can the Cougar’s talent translate to wins?

Coach Major Applewhite was unable to continue the success of Tom Herman in his first year taking over as head coach of the Cougars. After a 13-1 season in 2015, expectations for Houston football increased dramatically. And in the midst of the early years of the American Athletic Conference, it appeared as though Houston would jump out early as the dominant team in the league. However, after the departure of Tom Herman in 2016, and a sub-par year of 7-5 last season, the Cougars find themselves in the middle of the pack.

This off-season, Coach Applewhite added Kendal Briles to the coaching staff. While Coach Briles is revered as a great offensive mind, his involvement in the sexual violence scandal at Baylor has some questioning the hire. He was not the direct focus of the investigation, but questions regarding his character still abound. Nevertheless, he’s at Houston now. Expect Coach Briles to bring out even more explosiveness in this Houston offense.

Those coaches will need to find a way to improve from an all around medioce 2017 campaign. Here’s how their team stacks up entering the 2018 season.