Houston came into Saturday night’s game at Oklahoma as a 28-point underdog and ended up taking the Sooners all the way to the wire before running out of time, as OU escaped, 16-12.
After giving up 195 yards on the ground to UNLV last week, Houston held Oklahoma to 75 yards on the ground and had a chance to win the game at the end in a hostile environment.
Houston fell to 0-2 on the season with the loss but has several positives to take from this one after hanging with a top-15 team in Norman after no-showing in Las Vegas last week. Here are three thoughts on the game and what it means for the Cougars moving forward.
Donovan Smith’s Efficient Night
Last week, Houston quarterback Donovan Smith was anything but efficient against UNLV, completing 15-of-30 attempts for 135 yards and two interceptions in a 27-7 loss. On Saturday, however, Smith looked like an entirely different player. Against Oklahoma, Smith completed 24 of 28 attempts (86%) for 260 yards and one touchdown. He did have one interception on an excellent play from a Sooner defender, but overall, Smith was incredibly efficient and had his team in position to win.
Houston was 4-of-15 on third downs (2-of-2 on fourth down) on the night, and most of that comes down to 58 rushing yards on 35 rushing attempts. Otherwise, the Houston offense did a decent job moving the ball against a good Oklahoma defense, and the credit goes to Smith for that success.
Houston Defense Flexes Its Muscles
While Houston will go home with a loss on the night, it’s defense has nothing to hang its head about after their performance in Norman tonight. The Cougars held Oklahoma to just 249 total yards, and 4-of-14 on third down. The Sooners managed just 15 first downs on the night, and the Cougars did an excellent job keeping OU quarterback Jackson Arnold off-balance all night long.
Houston’s defense played with excellent effort throughout the entire game and held Oklahoma to just 4.1 yards per play on the evening, totaling three sacks and seven tackles for loss. This was a performance that head coach Willie Fritz can build on heading forward.
Lack of Discipline Made This Anyone’s Game
This game was wacky from the beginning, as Oklahoma’s first touchdown of the night came after Houston “muffed” a punt that might not have even been touched by the Cougars. There were multiple muffed punts throughout the game, and the special teams’ miscues really did end up making the difference. There were some questionable decisions made in the punt return game, but the real killer in this game were untimely penalties.
The one that sticks out is an offsides penalty late in the fourth quarter that extended an Oklahoma drive that should’ve ended the game. On a fourth-and-1 deep in their own territory, Oklahoma tried to draw offsides in an obvious punting situation and was able to do just that, giving them a fresh set of downs. A few plays later, the Sooners appeared to have a chance to run the clock almost completely out, but a scuffle after OU took a knee resulted in an Oklahoma player removing his helmet — an automatic 15-yard penalty and a stoppage of the clock. That gave Houston the ball with around 30 seconds left to try and drive down the field. On the night, Houston had eight penalties for 70 yards, while Oklahoma had five for 67 yards.
Houston (0-2) will try and regroup next week as they take on crosstown rival, Rice (1-1), who took down Texas Southern on Saturday, 69-7.
