Houston Football: Preseason game-by-game predictions for 2017 season
By Zach Bigalke
Houston’s other opportunity to play a Power Five school in the 2017 regular season comes against Texas Tech. The Big 12 middleweight has a young coach of its own, with Kliff Kingsbury coming under some heat after sitting out the postseason two of the past three years.
Like Brian Stewart, Kingsbury also coached at Houston under Kevin Sumlin. He was Sumlin’s offensive coordinator, but unlike Stewart he followed Sumlin to Texas A&M. By 2013, he took over the head coaching job at his alma mater. But that pedigree will only help so much, and this Cougars team has no reason to feel any lingering affinity for a former coordinator.
That team is gone, and so is a lot of the experience from last year’s squad. Kingsbury must move on without top-10 NFL Draft pick Patrick Mahomes II at quarterback. Half the defensive two deep has churned over. Texas Tech needs to return to a bowl game or their favorite son might become just another head coach booted out the door.
Houston, though, is built to handle a shootout. The Red Raiders will get their points, as they always tend to do in big games. But the Cougars offense will be confident yet fresh after the Rice game, and Duke Catalon is going to have a few big runs that change the complexion of the game. Look for Kyle Allen to put one over the top to one of his veteran receivers for the backbreaking final score to top 50 for the second straight week.