Houston Readies for Regular-Season Finale
BY Garrett Ross | 365 Sports
For the third time this season, Houston laid an egg at home in Big 12 play. The Coogs found themselves down 14-0 to TCU on Saturday and couldn’t overcome the deficit, despite forcing four turnovers.
Houston’s offense remains its Achilles heel. Conner Weigman did everything in his power to push the Coogs the distance, finishing the game 15 of 29 for 161 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 114 yards, but it wasn’t enough. The Frogs did an excellent job of taking away Tanner Koziel and forcing Weigman to hope that Amare Thomas could get open.
The rushing attack is nonexistent at this point, with most of the backfield out with injuries. Dean Conners rushed for 75 yards, but over 50 of those yards came via a single run. His eight-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was set up by the second interception of the game for Will James, who was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.
Conners contributed in the passing game, finishing with five receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. Thomas was held at bay for the majority of the game, finishing with five receptions for 72 yards and one touchdown. Like Conners, Thomas’ 15-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter was because of a Will James interception.
Head coach Willie Fritz discussed the offensive woes that plagued the Coogs on Saturday.
“TCU ran a little bit more kind of a soft zone than we anticipated and hadn’t shown that a whole lot. We did a good job with check-downs to the backs, and that’s the reason why we had quite a few of those throws during the ball game. The first drive we came out and we ran a reverse and we ended up converting on a fourth and one and moved the ball a little bit but obviously not points,” said Fritz. “Second half, I was disappointed. We were receiving the second half kickoff and we got a penalty, got behind the eight ball and didn’t get any points off of it. Same thing defensively, their first drive they kind of drove down the field, fast tempo, and you prepare for that all week but it’s different when you get in the game after that point in time. I think we settled down and played pretty darn well but yeah, you always want to start fast and that certainly gives you an advantage and gives you a bunch of confidence.”
The most baffling aspect of the loss was Ethan Sanchez’s unreliability. After gaining notoriety as one of the best kickers in college football, he missed two clutch field goals down the stretch.
With an opportunity to tie the game with 46 seconds remaining, Sanchez pushed a 38-yard attempt wide left. Fritz discussed Sanchez’s confidence this week heading into Baylor.
“He’s doing great, he has got a ton of confidence,” stated Fritz. “I say it all the time about quarterbacks, they get too much credit sometimes, and sometimes get too much criticism at other times when there’s 10 other people involved. Sometimes it is the same with kickers. He has had an outstanding year for us. Ethan will bounce back, and he’ll do great this week.”
Speaking of the Bears, Baylor enters this game off another embarrassing loss to Arizona, 41-17 in Tucson. The program is on life support following Athletic Director Mack Rhoades’s resignation over questionable personal decisions.
The Rhoades fiasco made it difficult for Baylor to move on from head coach Dave Aranda. Baylor needs to defeat Houston to become bowl eligible, which makes this game dangerous for the Coogs.
Baylor’s offense can put up some numbers, so the Coogs can’t attempt a shootout, or they will lose. Weigman should be able to run all over the Bears’ lackluster defense, but Houston’s defense has to be able to eliminate the big play capabilities of Baylor tight end Michael Trigg.
“Baylor is really talented. They’ve got an excellent quarterback, one of the top guys in the league. Huge offensive line, really big guys. They’ve got a couple of brothers who play left guard and left tackle that are very good players and big guys, but they’re big across the line,” said Fritz. “They have a huge tight end who is a big threat, Josh Cameron, out on the perimeter, who originally came there I believe, as a walk-on. Loaded offensively, defensively they’re big too. They got a big defensive line and I believe they got the number one punter I know in the conference but maybe in the nation right now so good and solid in the kicking games. It is a very, very talented group.”
Kickoff between the Coogs (8-3, 5-3) and Baylor (5-6, 3-5) is set for 11 am on Saturday at McLane Stadium, and the game will be televised on TNT with JB Long and Mike Golic Jr. on the call.
Bowl Projections
ESPN analysts Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach dropped their latest bowl projections, and here is where the duo sees the Coogs going bowling.
Bonagura
Houston vs Miami
Pop-Tarts Bowl
Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
3:30 p.m., ABC
Schlabach
Houston vs Kentucky
Kinder’s Texas Bowl
NRG Stadium (Houston)
9:15 pm, ESPN