Houston football hired Major Applewhite to continue the successful habits of the Tom Herman era. Just two years in, the administration decided that experiment was a failure.

The Cougars lost multiple bad games down the stretch, capped off by an embarrassing 70-14 loss in the bowl game. They lost their starting quarterback before the end of the year, and made more headlines for Applewhite and Ed Oliver’s spat over a jacket than anything on the football field.

Now, Houston heads into a new direction under head coach Dana Holgorsen. We’ll have to wait and see whether it was worth it.

Here’s our full postmortem and review of the 2018 Houston Cougars football season.

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Houston Cougars Season Recap

Final record: 8-5, 5-3 American

Head coach: Major Applewhite (15-11, all at Houston)

Coordinators: OC Kendal Briles, DC Mark D’Onofrio, ST James Casey

Offensive MVP: QB D’Eriq King

Before getting hurt against Tulane in the penultimate game of the year, King looked like a legitimate Heisman contender. In just 10.5 games, King compiled 2,982 passing yards, 674 rushing yards and 50 total touchdowns. His touchdown mark was good enough for No. 3 in program history, even though he missed the bulk of three games. King is in line for a dominant senior season.

Defensive MVP: LB Austin Robinson

The obvious answer to this question is the best defensive player in Houston history, Ed Oliver. But with Oliver sidelined for five games, Robinson quickly stepped up and had a strong season. The senior led the way with 127 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and six sacks. He also had five pass breakups, three quarterback hurries and two forced fumbles. Robinson was a huge bright spot on an otherwise disappointing defense.