Eight teams on UH’s amended 2020 schedule played Saturday and without a Cougar game to dissect, we look at some numbers from this year’s (possible) opponents.
But first – This is depressing to see. Will anyone ever again have games canceled postponed that were scheduled 16 hours apart?
Other than Houston, AAC members ECU and Temple have not started their 2020 seasons. The Coogs and Pirates hope to begin this Saturday. Temple will not start their season until (at least) October 10. To compare, USF will could be playing their 5th game that day.
Lean Green – Of the 29 teams that have played two or more games, UNT is dead-last in passing yards given up per game and 95 yards a game higher than second-to-last UTSA. UNT gave up 344 yards to SMU in the air Saturday.
Fun fact: FCS Houston Baptist threw for 480 yards vs. UNT and 572 yards against Texas Tech. That’s, uhhhh, not great. Husky QB Bailey Zappe wasn’t even rated by Rivals or 247 coming out of Victoria East HS.
Back to UNT – The UNT rush defense didn’t look good this week, either. SMU ran for 366 yards on 51 attempts. On SMU’s 34 first-and-ten plays, UNT gave up 372 yards. That’s an average of 10.95 yards on 1&10. Look for Dana & Co. to attack early in each series.
Speaking of the Ponies – Saturday, SMU had a pair of 100-yard receivers, a 200-yard rusher, and a 300-yard passer. Buechele accounted for 5 TDs (4 tosses, 1 gallop). SMU scored 4 times to start the game and had four-straight TDs in the second half. They had 7 TD drives of 70 yards or more and finished with 710 yards.
Speaking of offense – UCF will simply out-athlete virtually everyone on their schedule. Dillon Gabriel is incredible at QB and his top-three receivers (Williams, Robinson, Nixon) are the real deal. Those three WRs combined for 20 catches for 353 yards and 4 TDs in the domination of Georgia Tech.
The Knights are fun to watch.
Art Briles Protege – Against Oklahoma State, Tulsa was penalized as often as any of Art’s UH teams. In year six for Phillip Montgomery, the Hurricane took two delay-of-games on 3rd down (including one coming out of a timeout). In all, Tulsa took 7 penalties on 3rd down (5 offense, 2 defense). How does that happen?
On a drive in the 4th quarter, after an eight-yard gain on first down, Tulsa went false start, holding, loss of 2, delay-of-game, incomplete, sack.
Tulsa had 15 total penalties for 120 yards (in comparison, they ran for 112 yards). They averaged 8 yards per penalty and just 9.2 yards on their 18 completions.
Oh, Tulane – How do you choke away a 24-point lead at home to Navy? Four-straight series of three-and-out for the Greenies in the second half. Tulane gifted the Middies a safety on the next drive, too.
After TU scored their 3rd TD (with 3 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter), they had just 30 offensive snaps for 109 yards. Against the team that was ridiculed for the last two weeks for not tackling in preseason camp.
Tulane completed their first pass of the second half then went 0/7 the rest of the way.
Ooof.
Bearcats Roll – Cincinnati blew out FCS Austin Peay. 10 Bearcats ran the ball, 10 caught a pass, and 27 players made a tackle. It was a full-roster game.
Bulls Rolled – USF was 2/15 on 3rd down vs. Notre Dame. They converted as many third downs as UH had cancelations. The Bulls finished with just 216 yards on 62 plays. Do you think Notre Dame was dialed in on USF OC Charlie Weis Jr.’s offense? Irish fans had to love it.
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