The Sleeper College Football Team Dominating on the Field and in Recruiting

There's hearsay, and there's truth. There's rumor, and there's fact.

The hearsay: Houston Cougars head coach Tom Herman would be the prime candidate to take over head-coaching duties at (fill in the blank for roughly a dozen coaching openings expected to happen before the 2016 season).

The truth: Herman has the Cougars as a relevant football team among the college football giants.

There's a good chance the Cougars won't get an opportunity to play in the College Football Playoff tournament—and that's a shame. Consider Houston the best team many haven't paid attention to. Herman, in his first year as head coach, has the Cougars at 10-0 with two very winnable regular-season games remaining. Houston is college football's lone-ranked unbeaten representing non-Power Five schools.

"If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I don’t understand the college football rankings and why they have them so early because there's so much football left to be played," Herman said after Houston's 35-34 come-from-behind win against Memphis. If you get caught up in that, then you're probably doing yourself a disservice as a team.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

"We don't care. We don't talk about them. They matter none to us, because we know that if we win our conference championship, then we’re going to play in a New Year's Day bowl game. Again, our goal was not to be 10-0 after 10 weeks. We never set out to do that. Our goal was to win our conference, and by winning [against Memphis], we've taken one step further on our journey."

Impressive. Even more impressive when you see the roster present and future.

Roughly 80 percent of the members on the current roster are from the state of Texas. More than half of those members are from the greater Houston area. Recruiting the players in the general vicinity has been a priority for Herman and his staff with the 2016 class.

Need proof? The 2016 class has 18 commitments, and more than half of them are within a 50-mile radius of the Houston area. The Cougars' latest pledge is 4-star wide receiver Courtney Lark, who is from Bellaire, Texas, which is located a couple of miles from the Houston campus.

The team is currently ranked No. 32 in the latest 247Sports team rankings for the 2016 class. And with the opportunity of landing a few other standouts before February's signing day, the Cougars could finish in the top 25 nationally.

With every Houston commitment, the #HTownTakeover hashtag is seen from a variety of people supporting the Cougars. And keeping the studs of the greater Houston area close to home is the objective for as long as Herman remains the head coach.

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And again ... this graphic never gets old. #HTownTakeover pic.twitter.com/vvLXQGn1fc

— #HTownTakeover (@UHCougarFB) November 15, 2015"

"Within 30 miles of our campus, there will be 60 guys that are good enough to play high-level Division I football," Herman told ESPN's Jeremy Crabtree. "If we can get about some of them, we'll be just fine.

"... There's no place like Houston high school football. From Westfield to The Woodlands, from North Shore to Katy, to Manvel to Pearland, this city is amazing. You take the 20 best teams in Houston, and I'll put them against the 20 best teams [from] anywhere in the country."

Recruiting against the traditional in-state big dogs has been solid as well. In a world where Houston battles for players against Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech, the Cougars have managed to land 5-star defensive tackle Ed Oliver. Lark decommitted from TCU on Nov. 2 and chose Houston nine days later. Still on the board are 4-star defensive tackle Ross Blacklock, 4-star wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland and a few other 2016s strongly considering playing for Herman next season.

"I enjoy my time at U of H. Every time I go, they show me love," Oliver told 247Sports' Shea Dixon in April, a month before he gave the Cougars his verbal commitment. "I like it because my brother [Marcus Oliver] is there, and my old head coach [Corby Meekins] is there.

"Anybody who asks me, 'Why Houston?', they've got to look at the big picture before they look at the schools, because what we could do at Houston is crazy."

We may not see Houston playing for a national championship, but don't be surprised if more and more Houston-area players choose to wear the Scarlet Red and Albino White to support the city they've represented throughout their childhoods—particularly if the program continues its ascension—and especially if Herman deflects rumors of his departure to another head-coaching position. 

The #HTownTakeover is a real deal.

Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. All player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings. Follow Damon via Twitter: @DamonSayles