Analysis: Why Houston could be a Big 12 Conference trap game for TCU football
For a second straight week TCU faces a team with a lackluster record. But just like the Kansas Jayhawks, the Houston Cougars are more than capable of making Friday night’s battle a test for TCU.
If there’s one way for the 1-4 Cougars to make things interesting, it’ll be with their defense which has played hard despite receiving little to no support from one of the worst offenses in the country.
Houston is sixth in scoring defense in the Big 12, fifth in total yards allowed and also has the second best passing defense in the league. It’s a defense that is more than capable of mucking the game up enough to give the offense a chance to hang around and Sonny Dykes is expecting a massive challenge for the offense on Friday.
“I’m impressed with how hard they’re playing,” Dykes said. “They play hard regardless of what’s going on in the game... they play really good defense and they’re very good statistically, defensively. They’re not giving up any points.”
Opponents are averaging less than 21 points per game against Houston, which is extremely difficult to do in the modern era of college football that features so many explosive offenses.
The most impressive performance by the Houston defense came in Norman, when the Cougars pushed the now SEC Sooners to the brink and likely altered the career of former five-star quarterback and Denton Guyer alum Jackson Arnold, who was benched a few weeks after the 16-12 win over Houston.
“Look at them against Oklahoma, they kind of dominated that football game,” Dykes said. “They kind of dominated the line of scrimmage. They’re a very capable and a very dangerous team.”
Houston outgained Oklahoma 318-249 that night in Norman as Arnold was picked off once and threw for just 174 yards. The run game wasn’t much better as the Sooners were held to just 75 yards on 2.9 yards per carry.
For full context this isn’t the Oklahoma offense from the Lincoln Riley era or even from last season when the Sooners had Dillon Gabriel, but it’s still noteworthy that Houston was able to go into a hostile environment in Willie Fritz’ first season and stand tall with one of the more talented rosters in the SEC.
The Oklahoma game didn’t just show how dangerous Houston’s defense is, it also summed up what’s gone wrong for the Cougars this season. Despite out-gaining Oklahoma and winning the battle at the line of scrimmage, Houston lost the turnover battle 2-1 and also gave up a safety late in the fourth quarter.
“They’ve had some bad things happen to them on offense,” Dykes said. “It seems like any time they get a big play, any time they string together a drive, it seems like there are a lot of turnovers. They’ve just kind of had some things happened to them that negatively affected their ability to score points.
“But when you put on the film and watch them, they’re good, they do some great things.”
Considering where Houston ranks across the board offensively, it’s a bit of a stretch to say they do great things, but it’s Dykes’ job to talk Houston up in order to keep his players motivated. This is a dangerous trap game for TCU with the bye week coming up and then a likely top-25 showdown with Utah on the road that could change the outlook of the Horned Frogs’ season.
But before TCU can get to the point, they must handle their business against a Houston team that has already shown it can play toe-to-toe with more talented rosters.
