Trap Game? Houston Fans Shouldn’t Overlook Underrated Arizona Wildcats
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Houston football looks to become bowl eligible for the first time since the Cougars defeated Louisiana 23-16 in the Independence Bowl in 2022.
The opponent standing in Houston’s way is the 4-2 Arizona Wildcats, who is a much better team than last year, much like the Cougars.
Even with two early losses, Arizona is better than their record shows and Houston opened up as just 1.5-point favorites in Saturday’s matchup.
Why Arizona Will Be A Problem For Houston
Arizona has played good football this season overall and their two losses are to Iowa State, who was ranked at the time, and No. 15 BYU.
The Cyclones dominated the Wildcats by pressuring junior quarterback Noah Fifita all game long and recorded two sacks and two interceptions.
With Fifita being one of the more accurate quarterbacks with a clean pocket in the conference, Houston must get pressure to disrupt Arizona’s game plan and force him out of the pocket.
The Wildcats also controlled most of the BYU game until they allowed a late touchdown and lost in overtime and were just one defensive play away from a ranked upset.
Since the opening line came out and favorited Houston, the Wildcats are now 1.5-point favorites and the Cougars have some clear areas they need to be solid in to win this game.
The first mismatch is Arizona has three running backs that average over 5.5 yards per carry and Houston’s run defense has been subpar this season.
The Cougars rank No. 55 in the country in opponent rushing yards allowed per game and allow just under 143 yards on the ground per game.
Against Rice earlier this season, the Owls ran for 177 yards and a touchdown and the rushing attack was the Owls only way to drive down the field against Houston.
The run defense problem became even more evident in the 35-11 loss to Texas Tech, where the Red Raiders rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns.
Now, Houston is challenged with a talented trio of running backs: senior Ismail Mahdi, junior Quincy Craig and junior Kendrick Reescano.
So far the Wildcats have rushed for 883 yards and seven touchdowns this season and their rushing attack is vital to their success.
Houston’s key to win this game is to make Arizona one dimensional just like Iowa State did earlier this season.
The Cougars need to make sure they tackle well and win the line of scrimmage in order to stop the Wildcats’ rushing attack and also force Fifita to throw on the run.
Fifita is not known for running the ball and only has 60 total rushing yards on the season. Houston will have to disrupt his timing and play strong defense up front in order to reach the six-win mark to become bowl eligible.
Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).