Houston Cougars Can’t Start Their Engines in Loss to BYU

If only the Houston Cougars could have started each half the way they finished them Thursday night at BYU.

Instead it was a comedy of errors in the first half followed by a complete inability to do anything on either side of the ball after halftime in a 33-25 loss to No. 25 BYU. The game, which wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicates, drops Houston to 1-2 on the season.

But it’s how it got there that is most troubling. On Houston’s second play from scrimmage the running back got swallowed up for a safety on a play that reeked of confusion.

BYU didn’t look back, and before Houston fans could settle in the score was 23-0 and the game was (seemingly) out of hand.

Toward the end of the first half, Houston went on some sort of crazy scoring spree. At the end was a 45-yard Hail Mary to Daniel Spencer that was, coincidentally, the No. 1 play on SportsCenter’s top 10 Thursday night. Out of nowhere the score was 23-15 at the half.

//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js

Sounds great, right? Not so much. Lost in that score was how Houston got there, or didn’t in this case. Besides the safety, UH had a field goal blocked; and on both late first-half touchdowns the Cougars missed the extra point. Let that sink in: two failed PATs in a matter of minutes. When you add that all up, it’s five points Houston simply left on the field.

OK, great momentum coming out for the second half. Well, as Lee Corso famously says, “not so fast my friend.” Once again it seemed as if Houston forgot it had a game to play. BYU simply dominated on both sides of the ball and built the lead back up to 33-15.

Houston put on a 4th quarter rally, but again it was too little, too late against a very good BYU team.

So what can the Cougars take away from this one? Therein lies the problem. UH won’t play another team like BYU the rest of the season. It couldn’t stop dual-threat quarterback Taysom Hill (who, by the way, doesn’t get nearly the attention he deserves because he’s playing in Provo), but there isn’t a QB with his skill set in the AAC.

Sure, it can work on the kicking game, but in one case it would be as simple as putting on a DVD of “Ace Ventura Pet Detective” (laces OUT Dan).

The bigger problem in this game is the holes in Houston’s armor were exposed. Every team the rest of the season should put on this game film to see how to attack the Houston offense. BYU came at the Cougars from everywhere on the field, disrupting John O’Korn’s timing. It was hard for O’Korn to get into a rhythm because the BYU pressure gave him happy feet. AAC defensive coordinators should send BYU a thank-you note for giving them a road map to defending the Cougars.

Next week against UNLV the big key will be getting off to a better start. If Houston didn’t scramble to score points at the end of both halves Thursday night, this would have been a blowout of epic proportions.