Major Applewhite grew up in Baton Rouge, La., just four hours away from Houston’s campus. He was watching as a teenager when his hometown Tigers barely survived their first encounter with the Cougars back in 1996, rallying from a 34-14 deficit for a 35-34 win.

“I’ve always felt Houston is a great program with a great winning tradition,” Applewhite said. “I’m watching Houston score 80, 90 points and the quarterback is throwing 11 touchdowns in a game. I’ve always had tremendous respect for this program.” 

When he arrived at Texas, he saw Rice on the schedule almost annually, but never Houston. It didn’t take long for him to learn why that was the case. 

“Oh, Houston’s a threat,” Applewhite said.

There’s nothing wrong with going 7-5 at most places. At Houston, though, Applewhite knows year one wasn’t good enough. 

For a program that, since 2005, has won 10 games four times and missed a bowl game just twice, meeting expectations is never easy. Also, the last guy to go 7-5 at Houston got fired. 

So, you know, no pressure.

Applewhite arrived at Houston in 2015 and helped Tom Herman win 22 games, a major bowl game and a conference title in two seasons before being hired at Texas, Applewhite’s alma mater. So, he’s done more than seen the Cougars succeed and look the part of an elite team. He’s helped them do it.

“We inherited a really fast car in 2015,” Applewhite said. “There were a lot of great players on that roster. There were two guys off the bat who were going to be first-round picks in Tyus Bowser and Will Jackson.”

Now, 2018 is about getting Houston back to full speed. Applewhite is looking to new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles to help him do it. He helped his father, Art Briles, build and maintain one of college football’s best offenses at Baylor before a sexual assault scandal cost both of them their jobs. He spent 2017 fueling Florida Atlantic’s offense under Lane Kiffin, averaging over 40 points a game on the way to a conference title.

Applewhite and Briles will have to win without last year’s top two receivers, a quarterback in D’Eriq King who has just four career starts and no running backs who have more than 400 yards or 100 carries in a season.

The good news is the other side of the ball features the best player in college football, defensive tackle Ed Oliver. He’ll have plenty on his shoulders as one of just two returning starters in the Cougars’ front seven.

“They key is getting great players. We’re confident in ourselves as coaches, but you’ve got to have great players,” Applewhite said.

Houston’s four-year-old, $128-million home, TDECU Stadium, still has a banner advertising the H-Town Takeover hovering over the field. The slogan, popularized during Herman’s blazing two years as UH head coach, still holds true for Applewhite’s hopes to continue building a tradition of entertaining, winning play. It’s not a complex formula: Acquire the talent and develop it. That’s a more realistic goal at Houston than at nearly every other Group of Five campus, despite just three conference titles in a variety of leagues since the Southwest Conference crumbled.

“I’m looking forward to year two and building this thing the right way and winning games,” Applewhite said. “You always have a chance to be in it with the right kind of kids and right kind of coaches.”

The legacy of Bill Yeoman, Art Briles, Kevin Sumlin and Tom Herman shows how great Houston can be, and Herman proved that even in today’s era of college football, it’s not necessary to go much further than the city limits to build a team capable of competing with anyone in the sport. 

Applewhite’s aim is simple, even if the path can prove complex and difficult: Make Houston dangerous again.