University of Houston
UConn
Game Primer: Houston at UConn
10/17/2019 7:38:00 PM | Football
Cougars make trip to UConn for 11 a.m. kickoff
GAME 7
Houston at UConn
Oct. 19 | 11 a.m. CT |Â Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field | East Hartford, Conn.
Broadcast: ESPNU
Radio: KPRC 950-AM
TuneIn: https://bit.ly/2lz8Pp6
Game Notes: UH | UConn |Â The American
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
« Houston makes its second trip to East Hartford to take on UConn. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday and the game will be televised on ESPN2 with Mike Corey (pxp) and Rene Ingoglia (analyst) on the call. Radio coverage on KPRC 950-AM begins at 10 a.m. CT.
« Saturday's game will mark the third meeting between Houston and UConn, with the series tied 1-1. The Cougars won the last matchup between the two teams on Sept. 29, 2016, inside TDECU Stadium with a 42-14 victory.
« Houston is third in The American and 14th in FBS in rushing offense averaging 240.8 yards per game. The Cougars are one of four programs to have four different players with at least one 100-yard rushing game this season, joining Georgia Southern, Louisiana, South Carolina and Wyoming.
« Sophomore quarterback Clayton Tune made his fourth career start last time out, finishing with a season-high 184 yards passing and two touchdowns against Cincinnati. Tune's 69-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter against the Bearcats marked the longest passing play of Tune's career.
« Junior running back Kyle Porter recorded his second 100-yard rushing game of the season, leading the Cougars with 107 yards on 16 carries. Porter rushed for 83 of his 107 yards in the final quarter last Saturday against Cincinnati.
« Junior receiver Marquez Stevenson is tied for fourth in The American with four touchdown receptions heading into Saturday's contest. The junior leads the Cougars in receptions (27) and receiving yards (418) through six games and the Shreveport, La., native is tied for 23rd in school history with 13 career receiving touchdowns. Stevenson logged his sixth career 100-yard receiving game against Cincinnati, finishing with three receptions and 120 yards.
« Junior nickel back Grant Stuard has emerged as Houston's defensive leader in 2019. Stuard is tied for third in The American in tackles per game (8.0) and leads the conference in solo tackles (38). The Conroe, Texas, native has two double-digit tackle games this season. Stuard entered the season with 32 career tackles after splitting time between safety and running back last season.
« Junior defensive lineman David Anenih is tied for second in The American with 5.5 sacks this year. Anenih has recorded at least one sack in three out of the last four games.
« Houston ranks in the top three in The American in three special teams categories: No. 1 in net punting (43.6) and blocked kicks (3) along with ranking No. 3 in punt return average (12.4).
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
« Houston boasts one of the top rushing attacks in FBS, ranking 14th nationally averaging 240.8 yards per game this season on the ground. The Cougars are fourth nationally with 54 rushes of 10-plus yards (only Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tulane have more carries of 10-plus yards). Houston has 16 rushing attempts that have gone for 20 or more yards, tied for eighth in FBS and the most among any team in The American.
« Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen is 1-0 all-time against UConn. During his first season at West Virginia, Holgorsen guided the Mountaineers to a 43-16 win over the Huskies in 2011 when both teams were a member of the Big East Conference.
« Senior Dane Roy leads The American and is seventh in FBS with a 47.2 punt average. Roy's 47.2 punting average would set a UH single-season record, besting the previous mark held by Richie Leone set in 2012 (45.5 yards per punt). Against Cincinnati, Roy set the Houston single-game record for punting average (54.0).
« Houston is tied for the lead in The American with three blocked kicks this season. The Cougars recorded their first blocked field goal attempt of the season against Cincinnati, their first since Dec. 24, 2017, against Fresno State in the Hawai'i Bowl. Earlier this year against Prairie View A&M, the Cougars recorded a pair of blocked punts.
« Houston has scored at least 30 points 16 times in the last 19 games. The Cougars have scored in 242 straight games dating back to Sept. 30, 2000.
SCOUTING UCONN
« UConn is 1-5 this season after falling to Tulane, 42-7, inside Yulman Stadium last Saturday. The Huskies are 0-3 against foes from The American Athletic Conference with losses to the Green Wave, UCF and USF.
« UConn is under the direction of head coach Randy Edsall who is 97-122 during his two stints with the Huskies. Edsall led UConn to an appearance in the 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and guided the Huskies from FCS to a BCS bowl game in 11 seasons during his first stint in Storrs. He is the program's all-time leader in victories.
« On offense, UConn averages 295.8 yards of total offense (191.8 yards passing; 104.0 yards rushing) which ranks 12th in the league and 124th in FBS. Junior running back Kevin Mensah leads the Huskies with 439 yards rushing (averages 3.7 yards per carry) and has recorded four touchdown. Graduate student quarterback Michael Beaudry has a team-high 468 passing yards to go along with one touchdown to two interceptions. Beaudry threw for 101 yards on 15-of-24 passing against Tulane last week. Freshman receiver Cameron Ross leads the Huskies in receptions (22) and receiving yards (283), averaging 56.6 yards per game.
« Defensively, the Huskies rank 12th in The American and 127th nationally in scoring defense, giving up 40.5 points per game. UConn gives up 452.7 yards per game (ranks 110th in FBS). Redshirt junior defensive back Tyler Coyle and junior linebacker Omar Fortt lead the way with 41 tackles (6.8 tackles per game).
LAST TIME AGAINST UCONN
« Led by Greg Ward Jr., No. 6 Houston rolled past UConn, 42-14, on Sept. 29, 2016, in the first-ever matchup between the two programs inside TDECU Stadium. Ward threw for a career-high 389 yards and accounted for five touchdowns. Houston's defense limited the Huskies to 335 yards of total offense and recorded four sacks.
« After a scoreless first quarter, Ward opened the scoring with a 30-yard rushing touchdown. After a Dillon Birden 1-yard touchdown on the ground, Ware followed up with touchdown passes to Tyler McCloskey and Steven Dunbar to build up a 28-7 halftime lead.
« Ward continued to lead the way, opening the second half with a 10-yard scamper to the end zone. Linell Bonner added the final score of the days for the Cougars, connecting with Ward for a 4-yard touchdown pass.
« Ward finished 32-of-38 passing for 389 yards and four touchdowns, while leading the way with 65 yards on the ground. Bonner caught a team-high 12 passes for 159 yards, while Chance Allen recorded seven catches for 85 yards. Dunbar also recorded five receptions and finished with 97 yards and one touchdown.
GAME 6 RECAP: CINCINNATI
« Houston junior receiver Marquez Stevenson posted three catches for 120 yards and a touchdown, and junior running back Kyle Porter added 107 rushing yards to lead the Cougars in a 38-23 loss to No. 25/RV Cincinnati inside TDECU Stadium.
« After the Bearcats jumped out to a 21-10 halftime lead, Stevenson hauled in a 69-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Clayton Tune on the Cougars' first possession of the second half to move Houston to within one score against their American Athletic Conference rival.
« The Bearcats took advantage of five Houston turnovers, including four interceptions, and turned them into 21 points to take the win. Making his second straight start, Tune threw for 184 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns.
« Cincinnati pushed its lead to 14-3 when running back Rashard Medaris raced down the right sideline for a 75-yard touchdown with 7:13 left. The teams traded punts from there before the Cougars scored early in the second period. On a drive that featured three Houston plays take snaps, sophomore receiver Bryson Smith hit sophomore receiver Jeremy Singleton on a 50-yard touchdown pass to pull the Cougars to within 14-10 with 11:36 left in the first half.
« Taking the first possession of the second half, the Cougars closed the gap to 21-17 when Tune connected with Stevenson on a 69-yard touchdown pass with 12:40 left in the period. Houston later closed the gap to 28-23 as Tune found sophomore tight end Christian Trahan for a 6-yard score, the first of his career in the fourth quarter.
« Senior punter Dane Roy set the program single-game record for average per punt, recording a 54.0 yards per punt average against the Bearcats. Roy had three punts downed inside the 10-yard line, including a 61-yard punt in the second quarter.
ON THE OFFENSIVE
« Since 2006, only Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas Tech have racked up more yards than Houston, which has 85,543 in that span. Houston has scored in 242 straight games dating back to Sept. 30, 2000.
Rank Team Total Yards (2006-present)
1. Oklahoma - 89,971
2. Oregon - 86,942
3. Texas Tech - 85,780
4. Houston - 85,543
5. Oklahoma State - 84,234
« In 2019, Houston has produced a strong rushing attack with four different players rushing for at least 100 yards in a game this season: D'Eriq King (twice), Patrick Carr, Kyle Porter (twice) and Clayton Tune. The Cougars are one of four programs to have four different players with at least one 100-yard rushing game along with Georgia Southern, Louisiana, South Carolina and Wyoming.
« Houston ended 2018 fifth nationally in scoring offense with an average of 43.9 points per game and seventh in total offense with an average of 512.5 yards per game.
« Houston, Oklahoma and Clemson were the only schools to rank in the top 25 for both passing offense (No. 16, 295.5) and rushing offense (No. 24, 217.1) in 2018.
« Last season, the offense ranked fifth nationally with 92 plays of at least 20+ yards and 11th with 13 plays of 50+ yards. The versatility of UH's offense was evident as 10 different players had receiving TDs, eight of which return in 2019, and nine different players across three position groups had rushing TDs, of which eight return in 2019.
« Houston opened the season with 40+ points in its first three games of a season for the first time in program history and expanded the streak through its first eight games. The eight-game streak set the Houston record for
the longest such streak.
« With 45 points at Rice, 49 at Texas Tech and 49 at Navy, Houston scored 45+ in at least three road games in a season for only the third time in program history (1989 and 2011). It was also the first time since the 2011 team accomplished the feat five times.
« Since 2015, Houston has 20 games with 500+ yards of total offense and eight games with 600+ yards. It has scored more than 40 points in 23 of 58 games and more than 50 points on seven different occasions.
NAME THAT TUNE
« Sophomore quarterback Clayton Tune shined in his first start of the season at North Texas, throwing for 124 yards and one touchdown on 16-of-20 passing. The sophomore also rushed for a career-high 100 yards on 11 carries, including a career-long 55-yard scramble late in the fourth quarter. Tune inherited the starting job after senior D'Eriq King announced he would redshirt for the remainder of the 2019 season and return to action next year.
« At North Texas, Tune showed off his dual threat ability as he became the eighth UH quarterback to throw and rush for 100 yards in a single game in school history.
« Last time out against No. 25 Cincinnati, Tune tossed a pair of touchdowns and finished with a season-high 184 yards passing. The sophomore connected with Marquez Stevenson on a 69-yard score on Houston's first drive of the second half, the longest pass play in Tune's career. In the fourth quarter, Tune tossed a 6-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Christian Trahan.
« Rated the No. 19 quarterback in the 2018 class by ESPN, Tune saw action in five games as a true freshman and took over starting quarterback role after King went down with injury versus Tulane (Nov. 15, 2018).
« Tune made his collegiate debut going 12-for-23 passing for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and had five rushes for 25 yards in Houston's win over Texas Southern (Sept. 22, 2018).
« With King's injury late in the 2018 season, Tune started the second half at quarterback against Tulane and finished 6-for-15 passing for 108 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the Cougars' 48-17 win.
« Making first collegiate start, Tune finished 18-for-43 passing for 256 yards with three touchdowns and one interception at Memphis (Nov. 23, 2018). With his start, he became the first freshman quarterback to start for Houston since John O'Korn (2013).
LENDING A HAND OR TWO
« Houston returns 82.3 percent of its receiving yards from the 2018 season to go along with 35 of its 45 touchdown receptions.
« Houston is one of six schools nationally, and two in The American, to have a 1,000-yard receiver each of the last four seasons as Demarcus Ayers (2015, 1,222 yards), Linell Bonner (2016, 1,118), Steven Dunbar (2017, 1,070) and Marquez Stevenson (2018, 1,019) each accomplished the feat.
« Named to The American's First Team in 2018, Stevenson has proved to be electrifying with six plays of 50+ yards and 12 plays of at least 30 yards, which ranked sixth and 11th in the nation, respectively. He led The American with five games of at least 100 receiving yards and was fifth in the league with 78.4 receiving yards per game and third with 5.8 receptions per game.
« Stevenson has made key plays for the Cougars over the last two games. At North Texas, he finished with seven receptions for 64 yards and picked up his first career kickoff return for a touchdown against the Mean Green. He followed up with a three-catch, 120-yard performance against Cincinnati which included a 69-yard touchdown reception.
« Sophomore Bryson Smith finished 2018 with 30 receptions for 285 yards and four touchdowns. Smith's classmate, Jeremy Singleton had 19 receptions for 285 yards and two touchdowns a year ago. Tight end Christian Trahan has also earned a key role in UH's offensive system and has made nine catches this season and picked up his first career receiving touchdown against Cincinnati. Trahan entered the season with one career reception.
« Courtney Lark scored his first touchdown of the season with his first catch of the year at North Texas, scoring on a 12-yard pass.
WE LIKE NICKEL BACK
« Junior Grant Stuard has benefited the most from Houston's new defensive scheme under defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen. After registering just 32 tackles in his first two seasons, Stuard has been an impact maker for Houston at nickel and is tied for third in The American with 49 total tackles this year.
« The Conroe, Texas, native ranks first in the conference with 34 solo stops and has logged a pair of double-digit tackles games this year. At North Texas, Stuard posted 11 tackles including one tackle-for-loss against the Mean Green. At Oklahoma, Stuard put together a 14-tackle performance against the Sooners.
« Stuard split time last year at running back and safety, while leading Houston with 11 special teams tackles. He picked up two tackles against Tulane in 2018 and also saw time at running back, finishing with four carries for 31 yards.
« Sophomore Amaud Willis-Dalton has shown his versatility this year and finished with three stops in UH's win at North Texas. The sophomore has played snaps at nickel and also worked in with UH's linebacking corps.
A HOUSTON WIN WOULD ...
« Improve Houston's program win-loss record to 444-370-15 all-time since 1946 and give Houston its 56th win since 2013, the most in Texas in that span.
« Improve Houston's series record to 2-1 against UConn.
AMONG THE BEST
« Since 2013, Houston ranks first in the state of Texas with 55 wins with TCU (54) ranking second. The Cougars are four wins ahead of Texas A&M and Baylor and 12 games ahead of Texas in that span. Houston leads the state of Texas FBS schools with 10 seasons of at least eight wins since 2006. TCU is second in that span with nine.
« Houston enters 2019 second on The American's all-time win list in conference games with 33 conference wins. Since the league's inception, UCF leads with 37 wins, followed by the Cougars and Temple, who also has 33 conference wins.
« Houston enters 2019 riding a streak of six straight bowl appearances, the 16th-longest active streak in the nation and the longest in The American. The current six-game streak is a program best, topping the previous from 2005-09.
