The similarities between the Houston Cougars and Pittsburgh Panthers, who will face off in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Jan. 2, are pretty striking.
Both teams are coming off of relatively disappointing regular seasons, and each will be led into Fort Worth, Texas by interim coaches. Houston fired head coach Tony Levine on Dec. 8 after he went 21-17 in three seasons with the school. Meanwhile, Pitt head coach Paul Chryst left the Panthers to take the reigns at his alma mater, Wisconsin.
In need of permanent replacements, both schools tapped high-profile Big Ten assistants and the last two winners of the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in the country.
The Cougars hit a home run with their hire of Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman, who will join the team whenever the Buckeyes’ run in the College Football Playoff comes to an end. Pittsburgh, who will be on its fifth head coach since 2010, lured Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi away from East Lansing to try and jumpstart a program that is stuck in a rut of mediocrity.
But before these new coaches come in, these two teams will square off for the first time since 1997 at Amon G. Carter Stadium, where the Cougars will try to get the AAC back on track with a bowl victory over a Power Five opponent.
The conference, which has a total of five representatives in the postseason, got off to a good start to the bowl season when the Memphis Tigers outlasted the BYU Cougars in double overtime in the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl. Though it was a momentous occasion for Memphis, who reached a double-digit win total for the first time since 1938, the win was marred to some degree by an ugly brawl at the conclusion of the game.
Since the Tigers’ triumph, AAC teams have lost both bowl games they’ve played in. North Carolina State knocked off UCF in the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl on Dec. 26, and Cincinnati fell to Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl the following day.
With games remaining for Houston and East Carolina, the AAC could still finish with a winning bowl season, but it all starts with the Cougars. The conference has already had a solid start to the offseason given Houston’s hiring of Herman and Chad Morris’s arrival at SMU, but finishing the bowl season on a strong note would be a nice statement for the AAC.
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