Arizona Football travels to Houston for Week Two Match-up
We’re already in week two of the Arizona Football (0-1) season as the Wildcats look for a must needed win versus a talented Houston Cougars team!
Well, the season didn’t quite start the way many had hoped. As the Arizona Football team now enters week two, the Wildcats face what is essentially a ‘must-win’ situation, especially if they are to get to a bowl game this year.
Billed as a potentially great year, after week one, the wheels are quickly falling off the bandwagon here in Tucson. The Wildcats were a 10-point favorite over the visiting BYU Cougars last week and were stunned by a more physical and better-prepared team.
Arizona Wildcats
From the start, the Wildcats looked completely overmatched defensively against BYU, and offensively, Arizona wasn’t much better either. Disjointed, uninspiring and unimaginative, this team that rarely scored under 30 points last season, had just over 300 yards of offense and couldn’t sustain much success outside of a couple nice drives.
Now 0-1 on the season, things don’t look to get any easier either. The Wildcats enter week two in what is essentially a must-win situation, and should they open the season 0-2, it’s going to be very hard coming back to become bowl eligible. Moving forward, a lot of the teams they face will be better, outside of their Division 1AA match-up of Southern Utah.
With that said, here is our preview of the Houston Cougars!
Know Thy Foe:
Team: Houston Cougars (1-0, 0-0); beat Rice 45-27 last week.
Conference: American Athletic Conference
2017 Record: 7-5 (5-3); lost 33-27 in the Hawaii Bowl versus Fresno State
Head Coach: Major Applewhite (8-6) enters his second season after initially taking over the program in their 2016 bowl game, and then finishing with a 7-5 record last year overall as head coach.
Key Returners/ Starters: On offense, the Cougars are pretty solid. They are a quick, fast-paced team led by offensive coordinator Kendal Briles (son of former Baylor head coach, Art). QB- D’Eriq King is a great athlete with good speed, a bit of wiggle and a good arm to find his receivers in space. RB’s- Patrick Carr and Mulbah Car lead pretty good backfield, and WR’s- Marquez Stevenson, Keith Corbin and Courtney Lark could give the Wildcats’ secondary a bit of trouble.
More impressive than their group of athletes spreading the ball, the Cougars return four of five starters along the offensive line providing great protection for King, and opening some good running lanes for their guys.
Defensively, is where the Cougars could pose a threat though, despite being ranked 88th overall a season ago. They do lose a lot of starters from last year, however, they do return one of the best defensive players in the country in Ed Oliver.
In addition to Oliver, returning are LB’s- Emeke Egbule and Leroy Godfrey, but it’s their secondary that has the most experience. Isaiah Johnson, Garrett Davis and Alexander Myres will certainly help bolster that defensive backfield that could challenge the Wildcat receiving corp.
Key Injuries: The Wildcats will still be without Nathan Eldridge still and could be done for the year, Jace Whittaker missed last week versus BYU so hopefully he can play versus Houston, and Layth Friekh will still be sitting out before returning against Southern Utah.
Game Information:
When: Saturday, September 8th, 2018
Time: 9:00 AM MST/PST – ABC/ESPN2
Where: TDECU Stadium (Houston, AZ)
Spread: -4.0 Houston
Overall Series Record: 2-1 Houston. The Cougars don’t have much of a history with the Wildcats but actually hold a slim lead in this head-to-head series, with the Cougars winning the last match-up in 2017. These two schools first met in 1969, where Houston won that match-up 34-17. Bob Weber was the coach of the Wildcats then.
Last Meeting vs. Arizona: Arizona lost to Houston 19-16 in Tucson in 2017.
Our Prediction: Houston 27 Arizona 24. Arizona’s offense needs work and a lot of it. The offensive line struggled mightily which we thought they might, and running the football wasn’t much of a success either.
Khalil Tate surely didn’t look like his 2017 self, and J.J. Taylor’s strength isn’t running up the middle especially with an inexperienced Arizona line. There are still a lot of questions regarding this team, but I just don’t see how they figure out those questions in a week.
I feel that the Cougars will create enough pressure to keep the Wildcats honest offensively, and an improved Houston offense in 2018 will challenge Arizona enough in this one. An early start and a tough road game will prove to be too difficult for the Wildcats to overcome, as the Wildcats lose another close one.
Listen to the Wildcats following their loss to BYU:
More. On Arizona Football. light
Hopefully, the Wildcats can prove me wrong, but based on what I saw last night, I don’t see this team overcoming its deficiencies that quickly, especially against a team that in my opinion is more athletic than BYU. Bear Down, Arizona and Beat the Cougars!