Saturday the undefeated No.6 Cincinnati Bearcats will welcome to Nippert Stadium the Houston Cougars. The Cats come in fresh off a second straight statement win against Memphis, with the opportunity to keep the statements coming as this game has been moved to ABC with a 3:30 pm ET kickoff (for my money this is THE best time slot that exists for college football).
Houston has been a tale of two different team this season. They are 2-2 with impressive double digit wins against Tulane and Navy, but they also have double digit losses that they weren’t even competitive games against BYU and UCF. The biggest reason for this is that while Houston does have an offense that can move the ball, their defense is just non-existent this year giving up 435.5 total yards and 34.8 points a game through four games.
UC has faced dynamic quarterbacks each of the last two weeks and has held them pretty much in check with that stellar secondary and defensive front. This week they’ll be going up against junior Clayton Tune, who is not as prolific as the last couple of passers UC faced, but still presents his own challenges. Tune is the second leading rusher on the team with 112 yards and two touchdowns on the season, and he has had 10 or more rushing attempts in three of the four games, so UC will have to scheme for that and stay disciplined on their rushes to not let him make plays with his feet. Through the air, Tune has passed for 1,208 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions while completing around 61.9% of his passes.
The running game is not something Houston has done particularly well, the lead back for the Cougars is senior Kyle Porter who has rushed for 255 yards and three touchdowns. He comes into the game only averaging around 63.8 yards a game, and as a team the Cougars only rush for 134 yards a game which makes sense given how many yards and points they give up that forces them to throw the ball more every game.
