The Cougars will be entering the 2024 season under new leadership. New coach Willie Fritz will be hoping to bring back the Cougars to winning ways after a few down years for the program. They haven’t reached a conference title game since 2021. Fritz comes from Tulane and led them to a 12-2 record and a Cotton bowl win over USC in 2022, and a 11-2 record in 2023 but resigned before the bowl game in 2024.
Houston’s 2024 Offense Preview
The Cougars offense will be led by Quarterback Donovan Smith. Smith threw for nearly 3,000 yards with 22 TDs and 13 INTs last season. He is one of six active Power 4 Qbs with 15+ rush TDs and 40+ passing TDs since 2021. He is also one of 11 active Power 4 QBs with 5,000+ passing yards and 40+ passing TDs at Power 5 level since 2021. He will have to develop a chemistry with some new faces this year as the Cougars lost their two top receivers (Sam Brown and Matthew Golden) to the transfer portal. They did however add Michigan State tight end Maliq Carr in the portal who should be a versatile weapon for the offense. However, the Cougars’ also have to replace four starters on their offensive line so that position unit will need an overhaul.
In order for the Cougars to thrive on offense in 2024 they will need to improve on their run offense. They ranked amongst the worst in the nation when it came down to rushing yards per game and rushing touchdowns last year. Cougars’ fans can be hopeful though as Fritz’ Tulane teams have consistently been amongst the top 30 in rushing.
Houston’s 2024 Defense Preview
The Cougar's defense was very bad last season. They ranked 100 or worse in every major category which led to a defensive coordinator change. New DC Shiel Wood will hope to change things on that side of the ball this upcoming season. The defense will return just two starters, Safety A.J. Haulcy who led the team in tackles and Middle Linebacker Jamal Morris. The Cougars also turned to the portal on this side of the ball as Coach Fritz is bringing two players from Tulane in edge rusher Keith Cooper and linebacker Corey Platt Jr. Elsewhere, they are bringing in six new defensive backs with Bryan Massey (SMU) and Hershey McLaurin (West Virginia) being hopeful playmakers. The defense will have to make some adjustments as Coach Wood is implementing his 3-4 scheme this year which hopefully will provide the same results as he had at Troy that resulted in a top 20 defense.
Keys to having a successful season
The defense simply has to be better. They can’t be amongst the worst teams in the country if they want to change around their results. More big plays need to happen and they simply need to make stops. I will say even though the Cougars lost a lot of starters, the portal players they brought in should make an instant impact.
2. The offense has to have a running game this year through the running backs. It can’t be Smith making all of the plays all of the time. Coach Fritz ran the ball around 45 times a game at Tulane so running backs Parker Jenkins and Stacy Sneed are going to have to step up to the plate and take a load off of Smith.
2024 Record Prediction
I have the Cougars going 7-5 in Fritz’ inaugural season. There will be a lot of growing pains but I think we will see a ton of improvements on both sides of the ball as the season progresses. The team was really bad last year but with Fritz’ track record of recent success at Tulane, I back him to massively improve the Cougars in 2024.
2024 Schedule
Aug 31 UNLV
Sept 7 at Oklahoma
Sept 14 Rice
Sept 21 at Cincinnati
Sept 28 Iowa State
Oct 4 at TCU
Oct 12 BYE
Oct 19 at Kansas
Oct 26 Utah
Nov 2 Kansas State
Nov 9 BYE
Nov 15 at Arizona
Nov 23 Baylor
Nov 30 at BYU
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