This team is so much of an unknown even as a die hard I have no idea what they have or what should be expected this year. I have said the floor is 2 wins and the ceiling 6 wins.
Defense looks pretty good and it seems we have a pretty salty secondary. The tackling is so much better this season. Offense has been better since UNLV but there isn't much talent up front so that will keep them from being great when we face the tougher teams on the schedule.
Espn paywall article about how the 14 new P4 coaches constructed their rosters: https://www.espn.com/college-footba...ter-first-year-coaches-texas-alabama-michigan UH is in the "Start From Scratch" section: Transfers: 27 Starts by transfers: 54 Snaps by transfers: 3,432 Houston's roster flip was just as aggressive as Indiana's in terms of incoming talent, with 63 total newcomers joining the program under first-year coach Willie Fritz. Much like Cignetti, Fritz has won everywhere he has been. This staff only ended up bringing four players from Tulane and had to go heavy on the portal to replace what they lost (nine P4 transfers) and start constructing a team that can compete in the Big 12. Eight of their transfer additions have earned starts on defense, led by Tulane transfers Kentrell Webb and Keith Cooper Jr. and ULM transfer Michael Batton, who's off to a productive start with a team-high 42 stops. But the real headliner from this class may end up being promising young QB Zeon Chriss. The Louisiana transfer stepped in after back-to-back shutout losses and shined in a 30-19 road win at TCU with 141 passing yards, 97 rushing yards and two scores. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound playmaker is only a redshirt sophomore and gives Fritz an exciting talent to potentially build around over the next few years.
We need one more win to match last years 4-8 record led by the town drunk Dana Holgerson. Frankly I did not think we would beat anyone this year other than Rice so in some ways there appears to be some improvement. Watching the game last night against Utah I kept thinking they need more passing plays. Coogs ended the night with only 61 yards passing. Six completions to six different receivers. Who am I to say but this offense is hard to watch. We did run the ball for 260 yards but the most exciting plays were runs up the middle. Can't we pass the ball a little more? Is our OL that bad? We have a dual threat QB in place now that can throw the ball. We have a 265 pound 6'6" tight end that would make a great target. We have Manjack and three or four other guys plus running backs we can dump the ball to out of the backfield. With the proper offensive scheme someone has got to be open right? I am going to continue to watch but I have seen more excitement on offense watching below average JV high school football.
Chriss is not accurate at all as a passer he is better now than in the spring game but he was so bad in that scrimmage I didn't expect him to see the field at all this season. He is a good runner and unlike Donovan Smith he is willing to run and him doing that 80% of the time gives us the best chance to win because the oline is so bad especially at pass blocking.
If you watched the game last night against KState that was one of the gutsiest performances by a UH football team in a long time. As was the game last week against Utah. But you are right. The offense is difficult to watch. Not so much the players but overall the offensive scheme is pathetic. We have some decent receivers and we have a QB in Chriss that can get it to them. Only one pass, a big play to Manjack and only one pass to Maliq Carr the 6'6" tight end for a TD on 4th down. We got to design some more plays for them. I know the OL is not the best but there has to be a way to get these two guys some more involved in the game. Glad we won. But I agree with you, most of the time the offense is difficult to watch.
