Why Houston Has To Improve Defense To Make Run in Big 12
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It was not a night of celebration for the Houston Cougars.
That’s entirely different for the Texas Tech Raiders, as they put together four quarters of quality football on the road, where tons of fans from Lubbock, Texas, made the trip.
The evening featured several missed tackles, poor coverage, and an injury that forced Houston to put its backup quarterback into the game.
“I thought we tackled extremely poorly,” coach Willie Fritz said. “This is the first time we have had to deal with a loss this season, and we got to self-reflect on what we did well and what we did poorly. Obviously, I did a poor job, and I’m gonna find ways to improve this week.”
Embarrassing Upfront And In Backfield
There haven’t been many times this season when the Cougars' faithful have seen the secondary not play to its full potential. On national television in front of a packed TDECU Stadium, the defense let quarterback Behren Morton post nearly 350 yards of offense in the yard alone.
That simply can’t happen.
If the Cougars want to compete down the stretch in the Big 12 Conference, they are going to clean things up because it was a mess, to say the least.
Morton went 28 of 40 with 345 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. His completion percentage was 70.0 percent, and he connected with some of his top receivers, including Caleb Douglas and Coy Eakin, who combined for 195 yards on the evening. On top of that, Morton found five other receivers for 150 yards.
It was sloppy and disappointing for the home crowd to watch.
On the ground, the Red Raiders accumulated 207 yards of offense, led by the star running back J’Koby Williams, who had 19 touches for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“We certainly didn’t control the running game,” Fritz said.
Defensive back Kentrell Webb led the Cougars on the defense with nine total tackles, five of which were solo. His teammate Marc Stampley Ⅱ was right behind him in the tackling compartment with eight total tackles and seven that were solo.
A disappointing area that the defensive coordinator, Austin Armstrong, would've liked to see a better effort in was creating pressure in and out of the pocket. Houston only had two sacks and two tackles for loss, which can win a team a game, but it is challenging to do.
“I didn’t think we tackled real well throughout the ball game,” Fritz said. “Didn’t play very good leverage.”
With dates against Oklahoma State, No. 25 Arizona State, West Virginia, UCF, TCU, and Baylor, the defense must rise to the occasion when the pressure is applied, as every game for the rest of the season is like a playoff game.
The quarterback competition gets better. The receivers get better. The running backs get better.
What remains in question is how Houston gets better.
Houston travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Saturday, October 11, to take on Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. on TNT and HBO Max.
Kolton Becker is a journalist for Texas A&M Aggies and Houston Cougars On SI from Port Lavaca, Texas. He is a graduate from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural communications and journalism and a minor in sport management. As a former sports reporter with TexAgs and The Battalion, he has covered Texas A&M football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, track & field, cross country, swim & dive and equestrian. In his spare time, he loves to hunt, fish, cook, do play-by-play announcing at high school sporting events, spend time with family/friends as well as be involved with his local church.
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