Houston Football: 3 takeaways from thrilling 3OT win at UTSA

What’s next for Houston? 

The Cougars go from the frying pan into the fire, traveling to Lubbock to take on first-year head coach Joey Maguire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. This early schedule could give Houston the inside track of the Group of Five New Year’s Six bid or dash it.

It will be interesting to see how open the playbook will be against Texas Tech. Houston’s offense looked a bit vanilla in this game against UTSA. Coach Holgersen did play it close to the vest, possibly because he thought the Cougars had the talent advantage. That will not be the case against the Red Raiders.

What’s next for UTSA?

The Roadrunners could start the season 0-3 after today’s loss. UTSA has Army at West Point and Texas in Austin before they host Texas Southern. If this game has any crucial takeaway, they cannot get the running game going. The offense has to learn how to live without running back Sincere McCormick.

The offensive line struggled at times to protect Harris in the passing game. The o-line was even worse at run blocking. That has to be a concern if you are Jeff Traylor, especially with the Black Knights and Longhorns next on the schedule.

The defense was solid, but there is a concern that they could not close the game, being up 21-7 late. Give Houston credit; however, they did play with grit in the second half of the game.