This football team went 9-3. When I step back and think about it, I am amazed. I knew the schedule was set up favorably for a good season, which is why I set my expectation at 7-5. I did throw in a bonus: “But I wouldn’t be surprised if the team ended up 10-3, which includes a loss in the title game.” This team blew past my minimum and was in the hunt right up to the 11th game to reach 10 wins. What started as a joke nearly turned into reality.
Early in the season, the team looked a little rough, but precisely what a team should look like after adding 51 new players and new offensive and defensive coordinators. Actually, the defense looked great from the start; they came out of the gate red hot. It took a lot more time for the new QB to get accustomed to his new offense, with three new offensive linemen, a new RB, TE, and multiple new WRs.
But week after week, you could see growth in the offense. The part that took the longest was the offensive line coming together. Through the first five games, they had allowed the most pressures in the country. But after the Texas Tech game, that offensive line looked like a different unit.
This offense still never really hit its peak, but it was an incredible improvement from game 1, even more so from last year to this year. Below is a snapshot of how much this offense improved from 1 year to the next:
The defense was a concern in the offseason and rightfully so. Texas Tech bought Shiel Woods, and a talented defense lost 3 of its best players to the portal. Austin Armstrong was hired from Florida, and the defense picked up right where it left off. The drop in quality many expected never materialized, and the unit remained the team’s strength.
What is most incredible about this turnaround season is that it was built on Willie Fritz’s first full recruiting and portal class. And on top of that, UH has the second-lowest football budget of all P4 schools. That budget should see a nice little bump next year now that UH will collect its first full share of Big 12 conference payout. But a struggling program that had to rebuild a roster in a year and did it without being able to just throw cash at it bodes well for the future.
That future starts tomorrow, on National Signing Day. As great as the results have been on the field, they have been just as good in recruiting. As it stands, UH is currently ranked #33 nationally in the 24/7 composite and #5 in the Big 12. UH is starting to pick up some flips, including Noah Abebe, the Friendswood OL that switched from Tulane to Houston this morning. You have to be excited for the growth this program has shown over the last year.
The craziest part of all this is that all these improvements can be even better. Even at 9-3, this team never truly played a great game. Recruiting has been great, but there is still room for improvement. If anyone had questions about the program’s direction, Willie Fritz has answered them. He’s brought stability to a program that desperately needed it, and now he’s stacking wins.
