It seemed like the Houston Cougars were in a good position heading into the fourth quarter on a late night against the Utah Utes on the road. This was a massive top-15 showdown with huge implications for the Big 12 Championship and the College Football Playoff. 

Houston ultimately came up just short in a 21-13 loss, and there were questions about what exactly happened to the high-flying offense in this game, which was shut down in the fourth quarter. The injury to redshirt junior tight end Patrick Overmyer did not help the cause at all and played a big role. 

Coach Willie Fritz addressed the issues on offense. 

Offense Couldn’t Come Through

“We had some snafus offensively with the protection, backs, offensive line going on the right guy. Going up against a team like that, you have to be spot on and we weren’t. So we got to rebound, learn from our mistakes and get better,” Fritz said as part of his opening statement. 

Right after Latreveon McCuthin’s interception that set Houston up at its own 33-yard line in the fourth, senior quarterback Conner Weigman was sacked after right guard McKenzie Agnello was pushed back into Weigman. It immediately became second-and-20 and Houston was behind the sticks. That perfect opportunity was wasted. 

When the Cougars got the ball back again with just over two minutes left, it was a complete disaster as Weigman was viciously hit by a free rusher and fumbled. It was recovered by Utah, making it a very difficult situation. 

That potential of a game-winning field goal drive was wiped out in an instant on the first play. 

“In the second half, we come out and drive the ball right down the field, get up 10-0 and we just didn’t have that same momentum the rest of the second half,” Fritz said. 

Fritz gave immediate credit to Utah being aggressive on defense in the second half, blitzing. Houston clearly couldn’t handle it in this hostile environment. There were also a number of reasons. 

“We were just off a little bit, either on the accuracy of the throw, protection, or route. It was a lot of things; it wasn’t just one thing. We’ve done a good job of being assignment sound, and there were some times where we weren’t,” Fritz said when asked what went wrong offensively. 

The Cougars also had a tough time with protection on the final drive after getting deep into Utah territory. It seemed as if Weigman’s internal clock got faster, and he was just letting it fly early due to not trusting the protection. 

Weigman also wasn’t able to escape and move around the pocket as he normally does. His throws sailed on him, and he didn’t look like himself after slowly getting up from a big run in the first quarter. 

“It was tough. Usually, we do a pretty good job at protection, and unfortunately, we didn’t. That’s something we’ve been good at all season long,” Fritz said. 

Houston’s offensive line was named to the Joe Moore Midseason Watchlist but struggled for really the first time in Utah. 

There was a key sequence on the first drive of the fourth quarter when Houston was down 14-13. The Cougars faced a third-and-3, and a delay of game forced Houston into a third-and-8. 

“We thought we were going to get it, but we were trying to save our time-outs as well,” Fritz said. 

The reason for that was the communication between the guard and center was off. The center, in redshirt sophomore Anthony Boswell, needed to look back at the quarterback, and it hurt that drive. The Cougars weren’t able to establish the run enough, and it didn’t help to be in obvious passing downs. 

Houston’s next game is at home against Cincinnati before going out on the road at Colorado the following week.