The Houston Cougars managed to pull off a memorable victory last night against Memphis to remain undefeated and hop atop the Group of Five power ranking this week, but the Cougars will hope for the best when an x-ray on starting quarterback Greg Ward Jr. comes back. Ward will undergo an x-ray on his injured left ankle. For the moment, he is to be considered questionable for Houston’s road game this weekend at UConn.
After the wild win Saturday night, Houston head coach Tom Herman said the injury to Ward was not considered to be a serious one and it was possible he could have returned to the game.
“He got his ankle rolled pretty well. Nothing that I don’t think will keep him out too long,” Herman said of Ward’s injury. “We’ll find more out tomorrow when he comes in. He was out there jogging around in the second half. He would have been ready if something happened to Kyle (Postma), but we figured that Greg’s game is he relies on his feet a lot. That’s his style of play. If his feet are not there, I’m not sure if he’s the best option. So we decided to stick with Kyle, and he came through.”
Kyle Postma filled in for the injured Ward and helped spark a rally for the Cougars with one touchdown pass and a touchdown run. Postma finished the game completing 21 of 33 pass attempts for 236 yards and led the Cougars on the ground with 49 rushing yards. Make no mistake about it. If Ward is healthy, he will be the team’s starter down the stretch as Houston looks to claim a division title and play for the AAC championship, which would very likely send Houston to a New Years Six bowl game.
“Greg is our starter if he’s healthy; that’s a no-brainer,” Herman said. “We’re talking about a guy who has led us to this point. He played really badly in the first half. Some of it was on him, some of it were things that he couldn’t control, but the things that he could control, I didn’t think he played really well. He’s our starter, and he will be if he’s healthy.”
Ward has thrown for 2,176 yards and 13 touchdowns with just four interceptions this season and he has rushed for 810 yards and 16 touchdowns.