UH head coach Dana Holgorsen looks up at the scoreboard at TDECU Stadium during Friday night’s game against BYU. | Courtesy of UH athletics
Houston is entering its third game week of 2020, and after splitting the first two contests, head coach Dana Holgorsen believes that after Saturday’s matchup against Navy, he will have a better understanding of the characteristics of his football team.
For Holgorsen, UH’s last matchup against BYU highlighted the difference between a team that is barely starting to get into a rhythm of a season and an experienced one that has multiple games under its belt and knows who it is.
“We’re still trying to figure out who we are,” the head coach said on Monday morning via a Zoom meeting with reporters. “That was a huge advantage for BYU.”
While Holgorsen reiterated that he does not want to keep using the lack of game experience as an excuse for the Cougars’ problems in their first two games, he says that BYU made it evident how much of a difference it makes.
BYU was a good, experienced, mature team that had four games under its belt when it entered Houston a week ago, which played a huge factor in making the big plays in the fourth quarter and leaving the Cougars behind Holgerson said.
“The frustrations of playing a really good football team kind of set in a little bit,” Holgorsen said. “It came to light playing against those guys.”
Houston was outscored 22-0 in the final period against BYU and also committed 10 penalties that cost them 113 yards throughout the contest.
While Navy is not coming in as hot as BYU did a week ago, the Midshipmen will provide their own set of challenges, which includes their unique style of offense that will require the Cougars to remain disciplined throughout the contest. Something it struggled with last Friday night.
Following the loss to BYU, Holgorsen said that he is confident that Houston can fix those issues going forward, especially from what he saw on Sunday.
The head coach said that the team had good meetings that translated into good work and focus on the practice field.
As Navy enters 3-0 against rival American Athletic Conference schools, Holgorsen knows that Houston is in for another unique test on Saturday.
“This is a huge week for us to address some things,” Holgorsen said. “I did see a lot of improvements from game one to game two, but we’re still trying to figure out who we are.”
