Houston 19, Arizona 16

It wasn't pretty, but it was a much-needed win to start the season.

The Good: Ed Oliver took up where he left off, disrupting offenses and pressuring quarterbacks. He had eight solo and three assisted tackles in spite of being double-teamed for most of the evening. The defense also scored a safety, and safety Garrett Davis intercepted Wildcat QB Brandon Dawkins late in the game to secure a win. Wide receiver John Leday broke off an 81-yard kickoff return to set up Houston's second touchdown.

The Bad: Although it was good from Houston's perspective, Arizona QB Dawkins was exceptionally bad. He had poor accuracy, his bumble of a snap led to the Cougars' safety, and he missed a wide-open WR in the endzone in the second half that would have put the Wildcats ahead. Truth be told, if Dawkins were even an average quarterback, the Cougars probably would have lost this game.

Also bad: the Cougar wide receivers' inability to block on screen plays, the secondary getting burned on several passes, quarterback Kyle Allen throwing two interceptions (although one was the result of his receiver slipping), and new UH kicker Caden Novikoff's miss of an easy field goal.

The Ugly: The Cougars were penalized ten times for 110 yards. Although some of those penalties were rather ticky-tack, it was nevertheless emblematic of a sloppy game. Although Kyle Allen had a respectable performance (completing 25 of 32 passes for 225 yards and a TD), the offense was clearly out of synch and didn't score any points after halftime. Playcalling was particularly ugly, at times bordering on absurd; the Cougars had a decent running game, but several times on third and short they abandoned the run in favor of bubble screens and sideline routes that didn't work. One time they even tried to run the option - to the short side of the field!

Truth is, the game was ugly all the way around. Arizona is not a good team and head coach Rich Rodriguez is probably out of a job at the end of the season.

What it means: I’m willing to look past this week's sloppiness, because the end result was a win, on the road, against a P5 school (albeit a bad one). The Cougars were dealing with siginifcant distractions and interruptions because of Hurricane Harvey, and they were playing their first game of the season with a new QB and coacihng staff. But significant improvement is going to have to be made if the Cougars are to have a winning season. Furthermore, if this is the type of placalliyng we can expect from Major Appllewhite and his staff, then we may be in for a long, frustrating season.

Houston's game against UTSA, which was postponed due to the hurricane, will not be rescheduled this year, which means the Cougars will only play 11 games in the 2017 regular season.