Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Houston 49, Texas Tech 63

The Cougars went to Lubbock and got into an offensive shootout with Texas Tech: a total of 112 points and 1,339 yards of offense were generated. Unfortunately, it was the Red Raiders that outlasted the Coogs, 63-49, to hand them their first loss of the season.

The Good: Houston's offense played well. D 'Eriq King had an excellent game, completing 30 of 51 passes for 431 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 47 yards and another touchdown. Marquez Stevenson led all receivers with 9 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns, and the Cougars rolled up 635 yards of total offense. Normally, 49 points should be good enough for a team to win; however...

The Bad: Houston's pass defense was beyond atrocious. They were dominated by true freshman QB Alan Bowman, who completed 43 of 59 passes for 605 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. When the Red Raiders weren't scorching the Coogs through the air, they were handing off to running back Ta'Zhawn Henry, who had 111 rushing yards for four touchdowns.

It didn't help that senior safety Garrett Davis was injured early in the game, but there's no excuse for the missed tackles, breakdowns in coverage, and poor overall strategy that plagued UH's defense all afternoon long. Lack of depth was a factor; the defense was clearly gassed by Texas Tech's offensive pace and wide-open air assault. But the schemes of defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio was a factor as well.

The Ugly: As good as the UH offense was, it could have been better. Receivers dropped some passes they should have caught. And, while I can probably forgive the Coogs for going for it on 4th and 5 at the Texas Tech 8 instead of kicking a field goal because they were down by 14 points, why would they call consecutive running plays up the middle (which resulted in a three-and-out) when they're still down by 14 points? The Cougars were also penalized 9 times for 68 yards, including a rather stupid personal foul on Deontay Anderson that essentially gifted Tech a touchdown.

But here's what's ugliest of all: In spite of having one of the best players in the country, the UH defense gave up 605 yards (the most passing yards by an FBS team so far this season) and 5 touchdowns to a true freshman playing his second game, and is currently ranked #128 (out of 129 FBS programs) in passing yards allowed and #127 in total defense. This suggests that there is a fundamental problem with the Houston Cougar defense.

What It Means: The first loss of the season is always tough, especially since a win would have been the Coogs' second in a row against a Power 5 school (and a former SWC rival, at that), and would probably have propelled the Coogs into the Top 25.

That being said, the Cougars weren't going undefeated this year, and this one was a likely "L" when the schedule came out. The result does not affect the Coogs' chances at a division or conference title, and they get two weeks to sort things out (a rent-a-win game against TSU next Saturday, and an off week the following Saturday) before they begin conference play.

Ryan Monceaux's take is here. ESPN's recap is here.

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