Houston Beat Oregon State, But One Major Concern Can't Be Ignored
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On Sept. 5, the No. 23 Houston Cougars were able to secure the win against Oregon State in their season opener, 33-20.
Players like quarterback Conner Weigman, wide receiver Amare Thomas and running back Makhi Hughes had a big impact on this game.
However, Houston faces a major concern it must address before the next week of college football starts.
The Secondary
On paper, Houston's secondary looks like one of the best in the Big 12 Conference. Some of the defensive backs are on a preseason award watch list or have received some national recognition, such as Will James being on the Bronco Nagurski Award watch list.
Additionally, in the game, defensive back Javion White sacked Oregon State quarterback Braden Atkinson, which ultimately sealed the game for the Cougars.
The Beavers ran 25 times for only 26 yards, meaning Houston was locking it down in the running game. However, the Cougars still allowed big plays.
The first came when Atkinson threw a pass to true freshman wide receiver Jesse Legree for 71 yards. No Houston defender was near the area where Legree was when he caught the ball. Legree finished with five catches for 136 yards and a touchdown.
Atkinson later threw a 28-yard pass to freshman wide receiver Cynai Thomas to get the Beavers off their own six-yard line. The Beavers' quarterback finished 29 of 48 with 376 passing yards and a touchdown.
On top of that, Houston missed multiple tackles throughout the game that kept Oregon State's drives alive. Head coach Willie Fritz addressed Houston's secondary problems during the postgame press conference.
"I thought our tackling wasn't real crisp," Fritz said. "There were some simple pass concepts, route concepts, that we didn't do a very good job of covering and denying."
Houston's secondary did some good things, like denying the Beavers three times on fourth down and totaling 10 passes defended. However, that unit needs to improve quickly before facing teams that are more talented than Oregon State.
Next week, Houston plays Southern, which could be a good game for the secondary to get in rhythm with the rest of the defense. However, after that game, the Cougars have to go to Lubbock, Texas, to play Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders have a better overall team than the Beavers and present a harder challenge for the secondary. Fritz and defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong need to find a way to improve the secondary and make it play as a unit.
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Micah Clay is a staff writer for the Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a freshman at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Administration. He also works for The Cougar organization. You can find Clay on his Instagram(@mcjosh_btw_podcast)