Houston Football: 3 takeaways from Birmingham Bowl win over Auburn

Dec 28, 2021; Birmingham, Alabama, USA; Houston Cougars wide receiver Nathaniel Dell (1) is tacked by Auburn Tigers linebacker Cam Riley (35) and Auburn Tigers safety Donovan Kaufman (1) during the first half of the 2021 Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports /

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Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen during the trophy presentation after defeating Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday December 28, 2021.Bham26 /

1. Dana Holgorsen is building something special at Houston

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t the biggest believer in Dana Holgorsen at Houston after just one season. The former West Virginia coach went just 4-8 and watched as D’Eriq King transferred away from the program after opting out of the remainder of the season after four games.

It seemed like everything was falling apart and he wasn’t going to last long at Houston.

In 2020, he went just 3-5 with a New Mexico Bowl loss. It wasn’t pretty and that made Houston just 7-13 in two seasons with the Cougars.

Fast forward to the conclusion of the 2021 season, and Holgorsen has completely turned things around. In his first full season with his own players, he went 12-2 with a Birmingham Bowl win over Auburn and that’s the type of season that can change a program.

Beating Auburn and coaching well down the stretch to finish off a comeback just goes to show that players are buying in and he’s building something special. I was wrong about Holgorsen.

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