Houston Football: 5 reasons why Cougars will struggle in 2017
By Zach Bigalke
3. Houston takes on an unimpressive non-conference schedule
Last year, Oklahoma and Louisville loomed on the non-conference schedule. The Sooners opened a Big 12 championship campaign with a 33-23 loss to the Cougars. Lamar Jackson hung on for a Heisman despite falling flat in a 36-10 defeat at TDECU Stadium.
The first of those two games had people buzzing about Houston’s dark-horse candidacy for a College Football Playoff spot. By the time they beat Louisville, the Cougars had already fallen out of AAC contention. But the 2016 Cougars demonstrated on the field that there is less of a gulf between the Power Five and Group of Five than might initially seem true.
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This year, the Cougars once again take on a pair of Power Five schools. But Arizona and Texas Tech are hardly going to move the needle in the same way that the Sooners and Cardinals did last season. The trip to Tucson comes against a Wildcats team fighting for its coach’s job. The same can be said about the home game against the Red Raiders two weeks later.
In between, Houston plays UTSA in San Antonio and Rice at home in their crosstown rivalry game. Even if the Cougars were to go 13-0 and win the American Athletic Conference, they might very well be pipped by another Group of Five champion that has played a tougher overall schedule.