The Good, Bad and Ugly from Houston Cougars’ Last-Second Win over UCF

The Houston Cougars somehow got the 30-27 victory over the UCF Knights in the space game in Orlando on Friday night.

UH improves to 8-2 on the season and gets a much-needed bounce-back win to stay undefeated on the road.

Junior defensive back Kentrell Webb made the game-winning interception on UCF sophomore quarterback Davi Belfort in the end zone. Here’s the good, bad, and ugly of this Cougars’ win.

Good: Explosive Plays and Run Game

Houston was down 10-0 halfway through the second quarter and really needed some life offensively. All the Cougars had done until that point was two punts and two turnovers on downs.

UH finally woke up on their fifth drive. After picking up a first down, redshirt junior quarterback Conner Weigman launched a perfect deep pass to senior wide receiver Amare Thomas 64 yards for the touchdown. It was a four-play drive that took up under two minutes and gave the Cougars some momentum.

The energy also went through to the defense. On the very next UCF drive three plays later, junior linebacker Latreveon McCutchin got his hands up and made a big-time interception and returned it 45 yards for the pick-six.

Just like that, Houston was on top 14-10 less than two minutes after being down 10-0. Although two turnovers from the Cougars resulted in them being down 24-17 at the half, those two plays brought UH into the game and gave them some hope for a turnaround in the second half. That eventually happened.

Head coach Willie Fritz praised the team's physicality postgame.

"The kids just played really hard. I challenged them all week. Just very very proud of the effort," Fritz said.

The Houston defense allowed the Cougars a real chance to comeback as they only allowed three points, that too off a Weigman interception. Houston did a great job tackling defensively. UH tied it up at 24 in the third quarter thanks to senior running back Dean Connors. The Cougars never abandoned the running game, and it saved them in this game with Weigman struggling.

Houston had over 200 rushing yards for the game, and Connors was the one who gave them that spark in the running game. Connors had a 25-yard rush on third and three at the UCF 34-yard line and then quickly punched it in himself on a nine-yard touchdown reception from Weigman.

Weigman was eventually the leading rusher on the team with 82 yards on 22 carries. The Cougars’ running game really started to wear out UCF in the fourth quarter. Sophomore DJ Butler had close to five yards per carry, and the 190-lb back kept the feet churning. Butler ended up with 69 yards on 14 carries, and Connors ran for 68 yards on 10 carries.

Houston ran it on 12 out of the 14 plays on the final drive for what was the go-ahead 22-yard field goal from Ethan Sanchez.

Bad: Missed Chances

The Cougars came out of the game looking good offensively, but would stall every time they got a bit deeper into opponent territory. Houston had three drives with multiple first downs but no points to show for it. This included two failed fourth down conversions in plus territory.

UH had a missed opportunity on the first drive, facing fourth and five at the UCF 39-yard line but could not convert.

Additionally, the opening drive of the second half was disappointing. Right when it seemed like Houston had some momentum after a first down, something bad would happen.

Ugly: Ball Security

Much like last week, turnovers were still a huge problem in this game. After having just two interceptions all season, Weigman had four over a stretch of four quarters going back to the West Virginia game. Overall, he threw a season-high three bad interceptions, and the Cougars shockingly muffed a punt again.

Houston in total had four turnovers against UCF and against WVU. Four giveaways were their entire season total until playing the Mountaineers last week. The Cougars had three turnovers just in the first half. This is very unusual and uncharacteristic of a Fritz-coached team, especially one that did not have any issues in the department until last week.

All three of the interceptions were flat-out bad throws, not even through the third quarter. The first one came towards the end of the first frame on a fourth and two play where the pass was behind senior tight end Tanner Koziol.

The Cougars decided to go for it when a 46-yard field goal was on the table to tie the game at 3. It was picked by senior defensive back Phillip Dunnam, who wildly caught all three interceptions in this game, a career high.

Weigman had one turnover in each of the first three quarters. The second one was probably the worst. After picking up a first down, Weigman threw another pass behind Thomas, that Dunnam snagged and took 43 yards to the house. It was similar to his pick-six last week against WVU, where he saw it slightly late.

Cougars fans must have been very frustrated on the third interception that took place when the game was tied at 24 in the third. Houston was driving to take the lead, and Weigman confidently threw a pass over the middle for Thomas, but never saw Dunnam, who was right in front.

Weigman was generally inaccurate, and the pressure would get to him. After that, the Cougars kept it on the ground, and that proved to be a huge reason why Space City won the game.