Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Houston 13, TCU 36

The Cougars' first conference game in the Big XII was entertaining for little while; Houston only trailed by a touchdown at halftime (and it could have been closer if head coach Dana Hologrsen had elected to kick some field goals instead of going for it and failing on fourth downs). But TCU, aided by an inept UH offense, put things away in the second half.

The Good: Matthew Golden returned a TCU kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. It turned out to be the Coogs' only touchdown of the game. 

The Bad: Pretty much everything else. The Cougars were outplayed on both sides of the ball. The offense had by far its worst game of the year, gaining a paltry 266 total yards and a pathetic 41 yards rushing. QB Donavan Smith was intercepted twice and sacked six times. The defense didn't play much better, allowing the Horned Frogs to amass 564 total yards (even as they held TCU to field goal attempts on five of their drives and came up with two turnovers of their own).

The Ugly: This post is brought to you by the number zero. As in ZERO offensive touchdowns, ZERO points scored in the second half, ZERO points off turnovers, and ZERO for four on fourth down conversion attempts.

What It Means: How bad is the Houston offense right now? Ryan Monceaux explains:

UH is averaging 19.33 ppg in regulation. That would put the team 112th nationally (out of 130 teams). Thanks to the two overtimes at Rice Stadium, UH is 94th in scoring. But the fact remains that the offense has scored just 51 points in regulation in the three games. That’s six offensive touchdowns (and three field goals) in three games.

UH has scored over 10 offensive points in only two of six halves this year. In seven of 12 quarters, UH has scored three or fewer points.

Next up for Houston is FBS newcomer Sam Houston State at TDECU Stadium. They better win that one, because I don't see any more wins for the Coogs this season unless something dramatically changes. 

Andy Yanez and Chris Baldwin have more. 


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