Why Houston’s Offense Didn't Have Much Room To Breathe vs. Arizona

Houston was in another tight game at TDECU Stadium, where coach Brent Brennan prepared the Arizona program to take on coach Willie Fritz’s roster.

Both quarterbacks had shown positive strides in the first half, with time of possession being a significant key to momentum, and tempo favoring each team. The Arizona QB Noah Fifita started extremely hot with two touchdowns to start the morning, but the Houston defense got its act together and allowed its offense to stay on the field, where Conner Weigman got to work with two touchdowns of his own.

At halftime, the Wildcats controlled the time of possession, holding the ball for over 17 minutes and excelling in the passing game. There were over 170 passing yards at the break with nine different receivers hauling in receptions, which forced the Cougars’ defense to make adjustments.

Due to the dynamic play calling and the involvement of many weapons, Weigman and the offense found themselves in situations early where they had to keep up with Arizona's tempo, or the pace of the game would catch up to them.

Luckily, the play calling from offensive coordinator Slade Nagle allowed for the run and pass game to explode and have a nice outing. The Cougars finished with 396 total yards, led by 232 yards on the ground, but they struggled defensively, giving up 381 yards.

Defense Staying On The Field

Fifita was studied intensely by coach Fritz and the rest of the staff over the past week after Houston’s game finished early. Fritz was able to find time to catch the end of Arizona’s overtime loss to BYU last weekend and spoke about how athletic Fifita was.

On the Wildcats' first drive of the game, Fifita quickly displayed how, in the blink of an eye, his offense could score touchdowns and keep a defense on its toes. On a drive that took three plays, going 75 yards in the opening minutes, Fifita exposed the Cougars' secondary, finding his wide receiver, Tre Spivey, on a 70-yard pass in the middle of the field that quieted the crowd.

Within the next three drives, Fifita established the passing game, hitting eight different receivers, forcing defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and the Houston defense to shuffle the looks it was offering.

During the next drive, the Cougars’ defense allowed the Wildcats to gain significant yardage, targeting defensive back Jordan Allen and opening up the only drive where the run game did some damage. In a little over five minutes with 11 plays, Fifita led another drive that sent a message to the Cougars’ sideline that there needed to be stops or he would let the game get out of hand.

That message was received later in the second quarter when the defense made a significant stop, taking the life out of Arizona. They turned the ball over on downs after getting too aggressive on a fourth down in Houston territory, allowing Weigman to lead back-to-back drives downfield that resulted in touchdowns.

Luckily, this was the boost the Cougars needed that sparked momentum rolling into halftime with a 21-14 lead, eventually giving Houston’s defense a break.

Even though Fifita seemed to maneuver in and out of the pocket with ease, dodging defenders and avoiding tackles, the Cougars’ defense caught just enough breaks. It allowed the offense to drive downfield on the opening drive of the third quarter, wasting nearly ten minutes to take a 28-14 lead.

Marching back was Fifita with a must-have scoring drive that took six minutes off 13 plays, where Spivey punched it in for his second TD of the game to make it 28-21.

Within one possession, Houston couldn’t sustain its drive after a missed field goal by kicker Ethan Sanchez, who has been nearly perfect this season.

After another fourth-down conversion kept Arizona moving the ball, Houston found itself stuck on the field again, with the receivers not going away after two back-to-back pass interference calls on defensive backs Will James and Latrell McCutchin led to the game-tying touchdown.

Arizona tied it at 28, but left only four minutes on the clock, where Houston chewed up all the time with Sanchez drilling the game-winner.

Sustained drives on offense lead to stupendous victories, and with the win, the Cougars are now bowl eligible. Now, the next thing to check off the list is getting to the Big 12 Championship Game, which is still in sight at 6-1 overall.