Houston had enough moments to make Friday night feel like a statement, but not enough to finish the job. The Cougars dropped their Big 12 opener to Texas Tech, 28-26, in a game that left Willie Fritz pointing to the details that swung it away from his team.
Fritz didn’t sugarcoat the result after the loss. He praised the way Houston competed, but said the Cougars left too much on the field against a quality opponent.
“Really proud of the effort that our guys put forth. We played extremely hard and in a bunch of areas we can improve,” Fritz said in his opening statement.
“We just didn’t play as well as we were capable of playing. We gave up some big plays,” Fritz said.
For Fritz, the missed chances were just as important as the breakdowns. Houston settled for field goals on a promising opening drive and again after reaching the red zone on a second-half third-and-one. Those empty trips loomed large in a one-score game.
The defensive issues were spread across the night. Houston had stretches where it held up against the run and tackled cleanly, but that consistency didn’t last. Fritz also pointed to coverage busts and communication problems that let Texas Tech get loose behind the defense.
“We had a couple of busts where they got behind us. We’ve got to have great communication. We do a lot of stuff on defense, and if one guy is off on the point of attack, then we got problems,” Fritz said.
He also mentioned the stop-and-go routes that created trouble for the Cougars, along with missed tackles that allowed the Red Raiders to pile up extra yards after the catch. Fritz said Texas Tech’s running backs were effective, but Houston still had chances to finish those plays and didn’t.
The tackling, in particular, stood out as an issue that carried over from the opener. Fritz said some of the misses were on “fairly easy ones,” and that the Cougars simply failed to get enough hits down when they were in position to make the stop.
“When you play a game like that against a quality opponent, you got to play well and we played okay, not our best,” Fritz said.
Another moment that drew plenty of attention came on Houston’s two-point conversion attempt involving senior quarterback Conner Weigman, who came up inches short before stretching the ball over the goal line. Fritz said the intended target didn’t separate well enough, forcing Weigman to scramble.
“The guy we were going to didn’t do a very good job of getting open, and Conner was forced to have to run,” Fritz said. “We thought we were getting a good look for that call.”
Houston also believed it had a case for the ruling to go its way, though the officials did not see it that way.
“We thought there was a chance his knee did not touch, but they didn’t see it that way,” Fritz said.
Even in defeat, Houston showed enough fight to keep its No. 25 ranking intact. But Fritz made clear the margin in a game like this is thin, and the Cougars didn’t give themselves enough room for error.
“There were some good things we did, but when you play a close ball game like that, you have to be close to error-free, and we did not,” Fritz said.
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