Let me take you back to a few weeks ago. I wrote a season preview on the Coogs. In that preview, I said the offense should be much better than last year. I gotta say, I could very well be wrong. Let me give you my reaction to Houston’s Week 2 matchup against Rice and preview the upcoming game against Colorado.
The Good: Well Houston’s defense picked up where it left off last week. Holding Rice to a total of 205 yards and only two scores. Although they did struggle with the run at some points, they seemed to adjust well after those drives and came back to stuff them in later possessions. Houston still had quality secondary play, with a Pick 6 and holding Rice to 51 yards passing. They still did give up 154 yards on the ground, so there is definitely room for improvement on the run D. However, the defensive front looked really good whenever Jenkins dropped back, constantly putting pressure on him and getting him out of the pocket.
Also Good: Connors and Conner (C^2) seem to be lethal in the back field. Weigman, despite his O-Line folding like Prescott in the playoffs, had a good day, completing 15/22 of his passes with a touchdown and 188 yards through the air. He also had a touchdown with his legs. Connors had 154 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns against his former school, all of this in spite of the Rice student section yelling “F*ck Dean Connors” every carry he got. Stephon Johnson also had a breakaway touchdown after torching the Rice secondary. Koziol also looked really good in his second game with the Coogs, definitely going to be a great target for Weigman heading into conference play.
The Bad: Everything else. O-line was still atrocious, Weigman seemed to be under constant pressure, and he had to get out of the pocket quite a bit. However, on the positive side, they seem to be getting their shit together as time moves along. The difference in protection between the first half and second half was fairly large. Offense seems to be streaky, only scoring 7 in the first half, and barely scoring at that. That is not going to be a recipe for success. I knew there could be issues with the offense when we only scored 27 on SFA, but that was a whole other level of terrible. As the guy sitting behind me said “I’d rather watch Iowa!” I do think the offense will get better, especially the O-line, but I’m definitely concerned for the matchup with Colorado if they keep the form they are currently on.
The Preview: It’s Priiiiiime time in the H. The Buffs and Deion come into TDECU this Friday. The matchup will be broadcasted on ESPN. Their offense seems to be as deplorable as ours, so expect this to be a tough defensive matchup. Sincere Brown is their #1 target, he had 120 of the 157 yards through the air against Delaware. They only almost got out gained by Delaware as well. Vegas likes Houston (-4.5) and so do I. If the O-line can be halfway competent, and we manage the run game well, the Cougars should win this one. The only question in my eyes is: by how much?
Stats from ESPN, odds from ESPN, feature image from Houston Chronicle
Written by Jack Harper. X: @jackharper_11
