The 2014 Houston Cougars football team overcame the largest fourth quarter deficit in bowl history by defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers 35-34 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. The Cougars trailed 31-6 after a Panthers touchdown with 13:58 left. Kenny Farrow plowed into the end zone to make it 3113 with just under 11 minutes left, and Pitt answered with a field goal to make it 34-13. Houston subsequently scored three unanswered touchdowns in the last four minutes. A two-point conversion put the Cougars ahead with 59 seconds left. The thrilling finish gave the Cougars an 8-5 mark for the season. Cougar receiver Demarcus Ayers now takes us onto the field for the game’s deciding moments, and gives us a peek at what’s ahead for the Houston Cougars football program. What was the bowl game experience like for you as a student-athlete? Overall, the whole bowl experience was awesome. We went out and competed at a high level. We fought a lot of adversity, and had a lot of fun throughout the week. It was just a fun and exciting time for our program. What did the coaches tell you after the score was 31-6? They just told us to keep fighting. The game wasn’t over until it was over. After we got down, we decided that if we were going to lose, we were going to lose giving our all. We weren’t going to lose 31-6 and not put out our best effort. You scored a touchdown on a 4th and 13 play with just under 2 minutes left, to make it 34-27. Tell us about that play call. It was a play we drew up that we like to call, “66.” Normally, we like to run outside guys on fades, but we had a combination switch to where the inside guy had the fade which is the streak route. The outside guy goes underneath. If his guy comes off for me, he’s wide open. If his guy runs with him I’m one-onone coverage. We saw that early on in the game and took advantage of it in the last few minutes. That was just a huge play on fourth down and a great throw by Greg (Ward Jr., Houston quarterback). I just went in there to go get it. You made a nice over-the-shoulder catch. He threw me a great ball and I had gotten great separation on the defender. Being able to know where I was at, I was able to get both feet down and make a play for my team. You were on the field on the winning two-point conversion, a ball Deontay Greenberry hauled in. What was said on the sideline beforehand and what was your role on that play? We said early in the week that if we were in a situation where the game was on the line, we would go for two points. Our minds had already been made up. We had repped that play a lot throughout the bowl practices we had. That was a perfect opportunity with the momentum we had after scoring three unanswered touchdowns.
That play is considered one of the most famous route concepts in the NFL right now. I run in motion before the snap, and I’m trying to get a pick for my outside receiver. I was actually the number one option on that play -- the first read. If the guys jump me, then the corner route should be wide open. Two guys ran with me and that led to Greenberry being wide open. What do you think the turning point in this game was? Kenny Farrow scored an 8-yard touchdown, running over a defender (making the score 34-13 with 10:43 left). I think that brought a lot of energy to the sideline. Guys started to figure that we could really play with these guys. We just had to settle down and make plays when it was our time to make plays. We made enough plays in a short period of time to come out with the win. You have a brother in the military. Did that make playing in the Armed Forces Bowl even more special for you personally? It was a huge honor. This was actually my second time playing in kind of those circumstances. I played for the USA team, when I believe my brother was still doing a tour in Afghanistan. Every time I get a chance to play for him and kind of represent my country, I have a lot of fun doing it. Those guys do a lot for our country and with him being my brother, I just look at it as an honor. He’s a big leader and mentor in my life. I appreciate everything he does for our country and also the things he does for our family and me. He’s really helped me to be at this level that I’m playing at today, with the discipline and expectations that he set for the rest of the siblings, and just being that mentor in my life that I’ve always needed. Anything else that’s important to say about the win over Pitt and the future of this program? I feel there’s a lot of momentum in our program. The year before, we went up against a great SEC opponent, Vanderbilt (in the BBVA Compass Bowl), and we came up short. It was time to get over that hump, and I think it’s just a huge win for our program and gives a lot of momentum going into next season. Everyone’s excited about this upcoming season and playing for Coach Herman. He won the National Championship a couple of weeks ago (as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach). He and his staff bring a great opportunity for a lot of guys in this program. I just want to thank all the fans and the whole Cougar Nation for giving me a great experience my sophomore year and coming out with that bowl win.