Texas Tech Opponent Prospectus // Houston Cougars
by Seth C on Jul 20, 2009 10:00 AM CDT
in Texas Tech Football
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2009 Texas Tech Opponent Prospectus
Game 1: North Dakota Fighting Sioux // Game 2: Rice Owls // Game 3: Texas Longhorns // Game 4: Houston Cougars
The Houston Cougars come off of an impressive 8-5 2009 season, where head coach Kevin Sumlin did a fine job leading Houston to a winning record, a bowl win, an exciting offensive team to watch (helped by former Texas Tech coach Dana Holgorsen), all in his first year as a head coach.
Join me after the jump for a closer look at the Houston Cougars.
General Information
| Opponent | University of Houston |
| Nickname | Cougars |
| Location | Houston, TX |
| Enrollment | 28,800 |
| Conference | Conference USA |
| Head Coach | Kevin Sumlin |
| 2008 Record | 8-5 (6-2) |
| Starters Returning/Lost | 11/11 |
| Blogs | UH Athletics with Steve Campbell (Houston Chronicle) Fourth And Fifty (Houston Sports) |
| Links | 2009 Depth Chart |
Statistics
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| Statistic | Houston | Texas Tech |
| Pass Offense | 401.62 (2) | 413.15 (1) |
| Rush Offense | 161.15 (47) | 117.84 (94) |
| Total Offense | 562.77 (2) | 531.00 (4) |
| Scoring Offense | 40.62 (10) | 43.77 (3) |
| Pass Efficiency | 160.03 (8) | 158.76 (9) |
| Sacks Allowed | 2.08 (71) | 1.00 (4) |
| Pass Defense | 238.31 (91) | 242.23 (94) |
| Rush Defense | 175.15 (94) | 140.38 (61) |
| Total Defense | 413.46 (100) | 382.62 (79) |
| Scoring Defense | 30.92 (91) | 27.85 (74) |
| Pass Efficiency Defense | 137.27 (91) | 130.56 (72) |
| Sacks | 1.84 (64) | 2.62 (18) |
| Tackles For Loss | 6.23 (44) | 4.85 (95) |
| Turnover Margin | -0.46 (88) | 0.62 (22) |
Top Returners
| Category | Player |
| Rushing | Bryce Beall (198 / 1,247 yds / 13 TD) |
| Passing | Case Keenum (397-589 / 5,020 yds / 44 TD / 11 Int) |
| Receiving | Tyron Carrier (80 rec. / 1,026 yds / 9 TD) |
| Tackles | Marcus McGraw (103) |
| Sacks | Tyrell Graham (1.5) |
| Interceptions | Brandon Brinkley and Loyce Means (4) |
A Few Things
- Keenum is Special: Graham Harrell was outstanding last year, part of the best passing offense in the NCAA last year, but Case Keenum wasn't far behind and in fact led the NCAA is total offense in 2008. Yep, Keenum is an incredibly special player and if you aren't at all worried about Keenum, you should be.
- Home Field Advantage: In the last decade, Houston is 31-21 at home, which is a winning percentage of 59.1% , good for 74th in the nation, so there's not the hugely decided advantage that you might expect playing at home. As an example, in the last decade, Texas Tech has the 12th best home winning percentage at 47-10 or 82.5%.
- Brothers In Arms: There's a very simple similarity between Texas Tech and Houston in that both have great offenses and weak defenses. Houston was decidedly worse, by 20 teams, last year, ranking 100th in total defense. This is a team that struggled to stop Conference USA opponents (and there are some really good ones), but the Cougars gave up 38 points to SMU, 37 to Marshall, 37 to UTEP and 56 to Rice. That's a lot of points.
- No Pressure: Houston is not returning many pass rushers from last year and Houston's best rusher last year was Phillip Hunt (14.0 sacks; 18.5 TFL) and Tate Stewart (5.0 sacks; 6.5 TFL) sacks. That's a lot of defense that's missing and it's going to be tough to make up and if Texas Tech has success, it might be based on the fact that Houston hasn't found a consistent pass rush early in the season.
- Beall Takes Opportunity: Bryce Beall is the perfect example of a guy that has taken advantage of a situation where (I think) a player was hurt, Beall gets inserted into the starting lineup and was just tremendous for the Cougars, as a true freshman. If you remove the first 4 games for Beall where he didn't start, he averaged over 124 yards a game, including two games where he had 176 (Tulane) and 167 yards (UTEP). The guy can run.
- Stopping the Run: We looked at Houston's lack of returning pass rusher, but the other big defensive issue is Houston's rush defense, where the Cougars gave up over 175 yards a game. The good thing for Houston is that they do return a fairly stout linebacker corp, but the defensive line is rebuilding.
- O-Line Return: Houston is only returning two starters along the offensive line, but are returning their left tackle, Sebastian Vollmer, center, Carl Barnett, and right guard, Michael Bloesch. The penciled in starters at left guard is a sophomore and right tackle is a redshirt freshman.
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Cougars
Kudos to the Cougars for a great season last year. They far exceeded my expectations and I am a fan. I thought it would be a learning year for them with the new coach – Briles had a good year at Baylor too as they exceeded expectations I think.
That said, the worry I have is that Tech won’t respect them. The coogs have a dangerous QB, but he did not play Big12 caliber competition last year. If he gets confident during the game, then he will make it a good game. It happened (lack of respect) last year in the early games. Tech escaped with some wins early that could have changed the season from great to average. The coogs have lost 11 players so they are rebuilding. Tech brings a new QB and also the receiving corps lost possibly the greatest receiver they ever had. Tech has to replace the one of the best tandems at safety they ever had. Maturity at key positions will be an area for Tech to grow this year. If they can, it could be a good year.
As I watched Tech in the final two losses at OK and Miss, I believe they did not grasp reality. In the Sooner game when they were getting their tail kicked, the freshman receiver for Tech in the 2nd qtr catches a TD and celebrates. Whats up with that? The Sooners are dominating you I believe it was 35 7 at that point. In the Mississippi game, you could tell MS was focused and the Tech guys seemed like they thought they were stars or something playing the crowd. Lack of focus and concentration. Celebrate when the clock hits 0. My expectations are lower this year for Tech. I haven’t bought season tickets yet. I am…
UH's game against Oklahoma State last season
was a shootout, with OSU winning 56-37
I could see it being a similar-type game for Tech this season. I think its place on the schedule, following the texas game, makes it a very, very dangerous game for Tech.
Cougars are tough but we prevail
Did a quick review of the Dave Campbell’s TFB mag. write up of the UH Cougars. In a word they are dangerous very similar trap sort of game like the Nevada 09 or UTEP 05 away games. As we have all heard they DCTF – pick them to win. I don’t think it’s going to play out like that … the running game for the Raiders will be potent look for Batch, Jeffers and Crawford to give them a good beat down rushing. Around about 170 plus yards, multiple first downs and 3 x scores on the ground. Allowing T. Potts and the receivers to torch the rather desperate Cougar blitzing defense for another 300 plus yards. (Looks kind like the aTm game 08" in the 4th QTR) Figure the defense to be required to come up with 2 or more goal line stands because Case Keenum will be effective through 3 quarters. Unlike SMU’s QB in 08 – he’s no freshmen. They will take the 5 yard out route patterns – which we give up all the time and we will miss a few tackles. So going onto the fourth period it’s probably TTU 37 – UH 31. Special teamers block a FG and we pull way 49 – 34 for a hard fought win. It’s a classic example of how UH really needs the win but the overall Raiders’ better coaching, better talent,(deeper bench ( O line, D line, LBs and WRs ))and better conditioning of the Raiders prevails.
by centexraider on Jul 20, 2009 7:13 PM CDT up reply actions
I see Tech...
winning this game. Houston will be in it all the way but Tech will rise to the occasion. Keenum is no doubt the biggest threat but I see Ruffin coming up with a plan to overcome that especially if we are coming off a UT loss. Now if we happen to beat UT I worry Tech takes Houston too lightly. In either case I see one of these 2 games as a loss. I see special teams making all the difference for Tech this season.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
If Tech respects Houston, then we will win big. If we don’t respect the Cougs, then it will be a rough game. I’m thinking either a close loss or VERY close win (if we don’t respect them).
On the ultra-scientific scale of my first season of play on NCAA 10 on Heisman
Tech goes 4-1 through this series of games, shellacking the Coogs but getting shellacked in turn by UT. We also lose to Nebraska in Lincoln but beat Okie St in Stillwater (and we beat them really bad if we can restart the game after two completely bullshit random fumbles). That’s as far as I’ve gotten, though.
on a less optimistic note
QB #15 throws INTs like all the time =\
by mojavereject on Jul 20, 2009 6:00 PM CDT up reply actions
is this one of two times during the Opponent Prospectus that you'll see
an offense that outgained Tech last season?
I’m guessing the other possibility is Oklahoma.
yes
Yahoo! Sports has Oklahoma’s total offense at 562.1 Yds/Gm
by mojavereject on Jul 21, 2009 1:14 PM CDT up reply actions
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