Is Houston a legitimate playoff contender or was Oklahoma overrated? That will be the question on every college football fan’s mind this week. The #15 Cougars looked like a top-10 team, beating #3 Oklahoma, 33-23, at NRG Stadium.
The one thing that stood out to me was their defensive line, they held a strong Oklahoma backfield to just 70 yards on 26 carries and sacked Baker Mayfield five times. Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine did have just 12 carries together though, while Mayfield had 13 carries, but five of those were sacks by Houston.
Houston’s offense was very balanced, running the ball 40 times while passing the ball 40 times. Greg Ward Jr. continued to impress with 321 yards passing on 23 completions and two touchdowns.
Moving forward, the Cougars have a very favorable schedule the rest of the season. Their toughest two games will be on September 15th when they travel to Cincinnati and on November 17th when Louisville comes to town. Houston will also need Oklahoma to run the table and Louisville to be a top 15 team when they face-off, which will in turn help their strength of schedule.
Houston is definitely one of the more interesting teams to watch this season, and it would be nice to see a non-power five conference make it to the playoffs because that is why the playoffs were created, wasn’t it?
Do you think Houston is a legitimate playoff contender? Comment below and let us know.
