“He’s not just a leader in our offense, but with our entire football team.”
That is Houston head coach Tony Levine heaping praise on running back Kenneth Farrow during Monday morning’s AAC Coaches Teleconference. And why not? In a season with many ups and downs, especially on offense, Farrow has been the guy the Cougars have turned to to steady the ship.
He cemented his role as Houston’s rock during Saturday’s win against Tulsa. Farrow’s four-touchdown, 116-yard performance caught the eye of more than just his head coach.
Our Offensive Player of the Week is @UHCougarFB‘s Kenneth Farrow pic.twitter.com/osSqM5HHTc
— American Football (@American_FB) November 24, 2014
Farrow helped Houston take control of a game that really shouldn’t have been as close as the 38-28 final score. No Cougar since 2010 has run for four touchdowns. The last of the bunch came with just 3:06 left in the game to put the Coogs up for good.
This was Farrow’s fourth 100-yard game of the season. And it probably isn’t a coincidence that every time Farrow goes over the century mark the Cougars get a win: Grambling State (130 yards on 13 carries), UNLV (113 yards on 14 carries), USF (112 on 22 carries) and Saturday against Tulsa. And, oh by the way, Farrow scored at least one touchdown in each of those games.
Now let’s take a look at some of the losses: UTSA (7 carries for 21 yards) BYU (3 carries for 7 yards), and Tulane (8 carries for 21 yards).
When you go a little deeper into the stat book, you have to wonder why Farrow isn’t getting a few more touches. He is averaging a whopping 5.4 yards per carry, and he’s a receiving threat with 17 catches out of the backfield (6 yards per catch).
For a team that coming into 2014 was all about the pass, it seems that as Farrow goes, so go these Cougars. After Saturday’s game Farrow said the focus on the running game was intentional.
“We watched and we saw the team had success (running the ball) so we got out there and got some good ones early and then we were able to keep it rolling,” Farrow said in the post-game news conference.
Farrow and fellow junior running back Ryan Jackson have become a bit of a two-headed rushing monster. This was the second time this season (UNLV) both backs rushed for 100 yards.
The success of the running game not only helps Houston control the clock, it opens up the offense and keeps quarterback Greg Ward, Jr. from having to be a pocket passer. Against Tulsa, Ward was an extremely efficient 16-for-21 for 227 yards and touchdown. Compare that to the loss to Tulane where Ward threw 45 times and Farrow rushed only eight and you see a theme develop.
“We’ve been running the ball well except for our previous game. The three games prior to the Tulane game, we ran the ball extremely well; it takes pressure off of everything and sets up our offense for throwing it,” Levine said Saturday.
It also helps Houston in the area the Coogs focus most: the turnover battle. Farrow just doesn’t fumble. He’s coughed the ball up once all season, and that was the first game of the year. Against Tulane, the Cougars lost that battle with four turnovers. Saturday it was a complete role-reversal, getting three interceptions while never giving up the ball one single time.
Add it all up and there’s good reason Houston is finding favor with Farrow. Now the Cougars are bowl-eligible and can work more on this “Feed the ball to Farrow” game plan against SMU before the big showdown in Cincinnati to wrap up the regular season.
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