I hate to see college football seasons end, but I was ready for season one of the Willie Fritz era to wrap up. After years of kicking the can down the road with mediocre to poor recruiting classes and dubious transfer portal strategies, UH finally had to stop and pay the piper. It wasn’t pretty.
I came into the season not focusing on the wins and losses but on the improvement week-over-week and month-over-month. Much of 2024 was one step forward and two steps back, but in the end, Willie Fritz and this staff got the most out of what this team could offer.
This year’s record of 4-8 looks the same as last year’s 4-8, at least on paper, but I argue it is dramatically different. For one, UH didn’t lose to Rice, making it significantly better by itself. This team also won three games in the Big 12, avenging the home loss to TCU by going on the road and soundly beating them 30-19.
Then, the Coogs posted back-to-back wins at home vs Utah and a ranked Kansas State. These two teams have been near the top of college football for many years, and those two wins point to where this program is headed.
The real sign of hope from this program comes from the defensive side of the ball. Coming into the season, this unit had low expectations. This group lost its top pass rusher in Nelson Ceaser, two more starting interior linemen, Jamaree Caldwell and Chidozie Nwankwo, and its top cornerback, Isiah Hamilton. But that was not an effective defense, finishing poorly each of the two previous seasons. Losing your best players off a bad defense had everyone a little worried.
But Shiel Woods, the new defensive coordinator, didn’t worry about expectations. He picked up the pieces of what was left and got to work. It wasn’t done by bringing in a whole new unit from the portal or signing a lot of four-star guys. The staff made some strategic additions through the portal and focused on building up returning players to be the best they could be.
The first game against it was slightly concerning, but something was different. The missed tackles looked similar to the previous years, but you could see the defense moving to the ball as a collective unit. You could see that things were changing. The game vs. Oklahoma proved what we saw was true: This was a different defense and a brand-new mentality.
As we have repeated all year long, progress is not linear. This defense took some lumps, most notably against Cincinnati and Kansas. But they shined in most games, holding seven opponents to 20 points or less. That is impressive on its own, but it was even more impressive knowing that a poor offense put much more pressure on them. In most seasons through UH history, that type of effort would mean 8-10 wins and a nice bowl game.
By the end of the season, the numbers showed a dramatic improvement over last season. They went from #13 in the Big 12 in scoring defense to #7. They went from #13 in total defense to #2. Nationally, they finished #26 in total defense, #48 in scoring defense, #38 in turnovers gained, and #39 in 3rd down defense.