Houston 30, TCU 19

A pleasant surprise! Last Friday, the Cougars finally found some offensive momentum in route to an upset of the heavily-favored TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth.

The Good: Starting in place of struggling Donovan Smith, quarterback Zeon Chriss provided the spark the offense needed. He completed 15 of 18 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. Even better, he ran for a 71-yard touchdown late in the second quarter. The UH offense amassed 361 total yards in this game (207 of them on the ground) and did not turn the ball over.

Donovan Smith finally entered the game in the fourth quarter after Chriss got hurt and led the Cougars on a clock-chewing 14-play drive that ended in a field goal. Credit to him for continuing to be a competitor even though he lost his job as starter.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive back A.J. Haulcy pulled down two interceptions. The Coogs forced four Frog turnovers in total. While the story of this game was that Houston's offense finally got on track, The defense's improvement continues be a bright spot to the 2024 season. Through six games last year, the Coogs ranked 114th in total defense. Through six games this season, they are ranked 22nd. 

Kicker Jack Martin scored his first points of the season: three field goals and three extra points. Two of those field goals accounted for UH's only points in the second half and kept the TCU from being able to establish momentum for a second-half comeback.

The Bad: Since losing to Georgia in the 2022 national championship game, the Frogs are 8-10. Head coach Sonny Dykes's seat might be getting warm...

The Ugly: Former head coach Dana Holgorsen now works as a defensive consultant for TCU, even as he continues to collect buyout paychecks from the University of Houston. It doesn't look like TCU is getting their money's worth from him, either, as Ryan explains:

Dana Holgorsen’s job at TCU is to prepare their defense for the opponent’s offense. Who better than Dana to get them ready for UH, right?

Houston scored six times (3 TDs, 3 FGS) against the Dana-prepped Frog defense. That’s the most scoring drives UH has had in Big 12 play, including the nine league games Dana coached last season. The six scoring drives match the combined total from Dana’s last two games at Houston.

What It Means: In addition to breaking the back-to-back shutout streak, the Cougars broke a nine-game losing streak to TCU, stretching back to the Southwest Conference. Until last Friday, the Cougars hadn't beaten TCU at Amon Carter Stadium since 1989.

All things considered, this was a milestone win for Willie Fritz and his team.

The Cougars now have a week off to enjoy the win, heal and prepare before going back on the road to face Kansas at Arrowhead Park in Kansas City. 

The stars at night are big and bright...

Taken at Corinne's aunt's farm outside of Mexia, Texas last weekend. I must say that the "Night mode" on my iPhone 14's camera works pretty well... 

You can choose two out of three

A great diagram:

Tapping the sign pic.twitter.com/JTpiGZCnCm

— How-Sen (@HowSenChong) October 8, 2024

Granted, "successful city" means different things to different people; to me, that means a metropolitan area that is economically vital and a place where people want to live, work and play. 

That means that there are going to be a lot of people traveling around said city, and there are trade-offs when it comes to how people want to travel around. If the private automobile is the preferred method of travel (as it is in most US cities), then there is going to be congestion. 

We can't "build our way out if it;" it just doesn't work that way.

Trust me; I've been in the transportation planning profession for a quarter-century.

Houston 0, #18 Iowa State 20

For the first time since the 1994, Houston's football program has suffered back-to-back shutouts.

The Good: the Cougar defense has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season. They held the 18th-ranked Cyclones to a field goal until late in the third quarter, and to a respectable 20 points for the entire game.  

Brad Towns calls UH defensive lineman Zykeius Strong's breakup of a Iowa State pass in the end zone "the play of the year" and breaks down how Strong as well as other defensive players all did their job to hold ISU to a field goal early in the game. Towns explains: 

In a rough season with many dark clouds and disappointment, these are the small rays of light that get me excited. The defense has shown that it can be turned around and contribute winning plays.

The Bad: Obviously it doesn't matter how well the defense plays when, for the second game in a row, the offense can't manage so much as a field goal. In addition to not scoring any points, the offense could only convert one of ten third downs and was 0 for 2 on fourth down. Donovan Smith had another rough game, completing only 8 passes for 77 yards and an interception.

The Ugly: In the fourth quarter, an Iowa State defender slipped and allowed a UH receiver to get wide open in the end zone for what could have been an easy touchdown. However, instead of seeing the open receiver, Smith threw into the corner of the endzone, where his pass was intercepted. This play exemplifies Smith's struggles at quarterback:

via GIPHY

What It Means: Martin Marroquin counsels Houston football fans to find "realistic expectations" for their team this fall:

Developing a culture is important to success, and having that many new faces means you’re starting from ground zero in every facet, more so with a new staff leading those players. This should never have been seen as an overnight transformation. To compare: Kelvin Sampson started off with a losing season and didn’t get to the NCAA Tournament until year four, and he only needs 13 players to buy in.

Most of the UH fanbase seemed happy to move on from Dana Holgorsen and equally glad to have Willie Fritz as the man to come in and right the ship. And here we are, five games into the new regime and clinging to whatever hope is available.

Outside of the win against Rice, the team has found the endzone just twice in four games, including donuts in the last two outings. Still, I think Fritz deserves an opportunity to establish his culture and build his roster before fans turn away. Even with how poorly things are going. 

Martin's right, of course. Fritz was not going to turn things around in just one season and fans need to be patient and enjoy "the small successes" (such as the defense). But that's going to be hard for the fanbase to do, especially since at this point it seems unlikely that the Cougars will win another game this season. 

Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Fort Worth for a Friday night showdown against the Horned Frogs. Can they avoid three shutouts in a row?