Houston’s second game of the season should tell the Cougars a little more about themselves, even if Southern isn’t likely to force the issue. After a 33-20 win over Oregon State, UH gets the SWAC’s Southern at TDECU Stadium in Week 2, and the matchup doesn’t figure to answer the bigger question of what kind of team can actually beat Houston.
If anything, the Jaguars might provide a useful test in a different way: by showing the Coogs how to beat themselves if the game turns messy.
One of the biggest things Houston has to clean up starts on defense, where Week 1 didn’t have the kind of edge Willie Fritz was probably hoping for. The tackling in particular stood out, especially at the third level.
That may not have been a total surprise, given that Fritz’s staff didn’t put much live tackling into fall camp. Now that the season is underway, the hope is that a week of practice did more to sharpen that part of the defense than a meeting with one of the lower teams in the SWAC from a season ago could.
The secondary also left room for concern against Oregon State. Whether it was a motivation issue or a focus issue, the Cougars didn’t look like a group that met the moment cleanly.
Houston could have come away with three interceptions, but the ball simply wasn’t caught. Add in a handful of blown coverages on short, simple routes, and the result was a rough afternoon against the pass.
That kind of looseness won’t hold up for long, especially with Texas Tech waiting in Lubbock next week and a receiver room that brings elite talent.
Houston’s problems weren’t limited to the back end, either. The Cougars were flagged 10 times for 65 yards in Week 1, and that kind of penalty count is hard to live with for a team with Big 12 contention in mind. The offensive line had some issues as well, which is at least understandable with several new pieces being worked in.
For now, those mistakes can be chalked up to early-season rust. Fritz isn’t hiding from that reality, but he’s also not treating it like anything permanent.
“We’ll get a lot better. There are a lot of correctable mistakes that we made, and we’re going to get better.
Everybody has a goal of getting better from Week 1 to Week 2,” Fritz said. “We’ll learn some valuable lessons.”
In Other News...
Houston Offense Faces One Big Test In A Game It Should Control
Week 2 should give Houston a chance to settle in and sharpen its offense against Southern, with the Cougars entering as the clear favorite in a game that, on paper, ought to be controlled from the start. The setup points to a ground-heavy approach, with the offensive plan likely built around keeping things simple, staying ahead of the chains and giving the staff a chance to see how the pieces fit when the game script leans heavily their way.
Amare Thomas is among the players who could benefit from that kind of environment, while Conner Weigman remains a key figure in how Houston wants to manage the offense. Keisean Henderson also sits in the picture as a young quarterback option the Cougars would like to evaluate more closely, and a lopsided game could create the kind of opportunity that tells Houston more about where it stands as it looks beyond Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Cannot Afford A Sloppy Night Before Big 12 Play
Houston gets its last tuneup before Big 12 play when it hosts Southern at TDECU Stadium on Saturday night, a game that should look like a clear mismatch on paper but still carries real weight for the Cougars. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+, and after opening the season with a win, Houston enters the week with a little momentum and the kind of spotlight that comes with being in the rankings.
Southern arrives with first-year coach Marshall Faulk and a 1-1 record, which gives the Jaguars enough early-season traction to make this more than a routine walkthrough. For Houston, the bigger issue is execution. A clean, businesslike performance would let the Cougars turn the page toward conference play with confidence, while any sloppiness would linger a little longer than it should for a team trying to set its tone for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]