That was not an impressive performance. UH didn’t come ready to play. The secondary was particularly bad. I’m not an Applewhite guy at all, to me it just didn’t seem like he had them prepared. I did like the offense at least, and there is plenty of time to improve, but Houston can’t be particularly thrilled with that effort overall.
Rice came out to play and we looked like we were in scrimmage mode making mistake after mistake in all phases and in particular on special teams and the secondary in the first half. Glad to see offense come alive in the 2nd half. I don't think that we have to be worried about cracking the top 25 in the next couple of weeks but if we learn from this game we have an easy schedule and still could end up in the polls later in the year. I was not expecting Rice to play us this closely. I am still not decided if Rice is dramatically better than they were last year or if we were a combination of flat and not being as good as I was hoping we would be this year.
Rice having a game under their belt was a big factor for the 1st half. They were at home, so I had no doubt they'd start strong. Rice is somewhat improved. The Coogs needed a chance to get to game speed and new additions on the same page. Plus lady luck was all Rice in the 1st half. If Coogs are cracking top 25 this season, the defense has to get into lock down mode because the offense is going to struggle with TOP all season. Hopefully King continues to light up the WR and then eventually teams game plan for air attack and the running game can shows us some talent. Everyone that wanted to fire Major in the 2nd quarter of the opening game is clueless. He isn't the perfect coach by any means however always excepting a blood bath isn't rational. He needs time to grow as a head coach. I really felt this game was never in doubt. Next week will be a much tougher task.
It looks like the oddsmakers have Houston picked to lose their next two games against Arizona and Texas Tech. I will be watching Arizona tonight on ESPN to see how they look against BYU. TTU didn't fare too well today against Ole Miss and they were playing at home like they will be against us. Oddsmakers at ESPN give Arizona a 64% chance to beat us at our house and they also give TTU an almost 80% chance to beat us in Lubbock. If we win those two games and at least one of them convincingly then I think there is a very good chance we get into the discussion of being in the top 25. I think we are capable of winning both games. If that happens we could run the table. Still a lot of questions for this team going forward.
You are way more optimistic than I am. Even if Coogs get the great start at 3-0 I am concerned for the division still. Winning the AAC is the goal to me and it's about 50/50 to me. We'll see, let's just watch the Coogs improve each week and by the end of the season be ready to upset a bowl. I thought 2011 we'd run the table and it was so close till Sumlin lied. I was on the 30 yard line looking at that team playing flat with the 'ship on the line. That said I want this Arizona match up bad. I will watch a little Sumlin tonight too.
you are correct. They did play at a neutral sight. They also are more than likely going to be without their starting QB for a bit. In any event I think we have a better chance to beat them than 20%. I am sure the odds will change quite a bit between now and then esp if we have an impressive win against Arizona which I am expecting.
We can do it. We need to clean up a few things. Looked impressive in spurts offensively. Our running game definitely needs improvement. As does our pass rush and pass coverage. I am looking forward to the game next week against Arizona. I think we will all have a better idea how good this team is after next week.
Well, at least we finally answered the question about what happens when a cougar comes across a random bowl of rice in the jungle. He eats it for dinner. Overall hard to make anything of what happened out there except that the 2nd half represented what a team with superior speed should do. You run, you get open, your qb hits 'em. That at least resembles offense of the recent past. It's simple Cougar football. And I haven't seen that in a few years.
Not at all encourged by todays performance. I am going next week. Hope we dont get thrashed. Zona probably woulda thrashed us today.
One other incentive for thrashing Arizona next week: Kevin Sumlin. Would love to see Houston give his team a real ass whipping. The only other former coach I would rather beat more would be Tom Herman. I wish we would play them every year. They did not look so hot today against Maryland. I read somewhere that the only team thought to be better in Texas than U of H thus year was TCU. Before today UT was ranked 23rd sure to drop out of top 25 after their loss today.
If this team isn’t motivated in our home opener to beat an old coach who left, Applewhite is confirmed crap. I wouldn’t need to see anymore from him. If we look like **** and lose that game, I am completely on board with UH cutting ties right away. I know it sounds extreme but I don’t like that longhorn coaching the Coogs to such mediocrity. WTF 27 points to Rice???? You better beat Arizona mother****er
Watching the first half of the Arizona - BYU game although Arizona has a decent QB I think U of H can take them. BYU up 7-0 halfway through 2Q. The game against Arizona is going to be big for us. It would be demoralizing and embarrassing to our coaching staff our players and our fans to allow the traitor aka Kevin Sumlin to beat us on our home field. On the other hand if we win, and I think we will, it will be a big lift for our team. As long as we don't have a performance anything like we had in the first half of today's game against Rice. I thought for a while I was having flashbacks and Tony Levine was still head coach of our team. That was an awful first half against Rice.
With Arizona getting beat by BYU last night 28-23 spoiling Sumlin's debut as head coach oddsmakers now have Houston with a 45% chance of winning. I think their odds will continue to improve before game time.
