Houston goes into tonight’s game in Corvallis, Oregon, as a big road favorite. With UH at 3-0 and facing a Beaver team that’s 0-4, the line makes some sense to the outside world. We will learn a lot about this team tonight – more than we did from the Colorado game. This is a tough spot for the Coogs for a few reasons:
Facing an 0-4 team on their home field on national TV on a Friday. This is the spot where weird things happen.
UH had a 4.5-hour flight to Eugene and will bus from there to the Oregon State campus today (approximately 45 miles). It’s the longest flight for a regular-season game since going to Oregon in 2007.
The players have been bombarded with non-stop talk about Texas Tech all week. Do I think that’s major? Not really, but students on campus, people on social media, and the Athletics Department are building up the Tech game prematurely. Players can’t help but look ahead some.
The players have also spent the last two weeks getting patted on the ass for the Colorado win. The coaching staff tried to keep things standard, but college kids are going to be college kids. I think we’ll have a good sense of how focused they are early in the first quarter.
Last year, UH was bad after the two off weeks, both of which were on the road: the drubbing at Kansas (Arrowhead) and the Arizona game.
It’s a late game on their bodies – a 9:30 kick is tough. Last year, the Coogs kicked off in Tucson at 9:15 CT. That was a different team, but a horrific showing: 3 points, 3 turnovers, 2/17 on 3rd and 4th downs.
This team is still learning how to win. They can sure take a big step tonight, though. They have to keep doing what they’ve done: limit turnovers, don’t miss tackles, win special teams. UH is going to turn the ball over eventually, but they cannot afford a 2-3 TO game on the road here.
I think UH can (and should) win this game, but there’s a lot of stuff going against them. Any win is a good win tonight.
Weird fact: Willie Fritz’s teams have played road games coming off a bye the last six times (since 2018). The last six times Dana Holgorsen and Major Applewhite had a bye week as the head coach at UH, they played five of those times at home.
UH has never played in Corvallis. In 1960, Coach Hal Lahar took his team to play Oregon State College at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, where the Beavers played up to half their home games in that era.
OSC ran the single wing, and UH was at a loss for how to stop it. They scored on their first drive in just four plays and added a two-point conversion. UH lost a fumble on their first snap, and OSC QB Terry Baker threw a touchdown pass four plays later. Baker then threw for another two-point conversion, and it was 16-0 after five minutes.
Two years later, Baker would win the Heisman and then lead Oregon State to the Final Four. He’s the only person to ever accomplish that.
