Turnovers have been the story of the season for Houston. The Cougars have committed 20 turnovers after six games, and they will face a team that has only coughed up the ball eight times this season.
The Cougars will travel to Alabama for the second time in three weeks to take on Alabama-Birmingham at 6 p.m. Saturday at Legion Field.
The Cougars (3-3, 2-1 Conference USA) are averaging more than three turnovers a game and the biggest mistakes seem to be fumbles, but head coach Art Briles is optimistic.
"They’ve been a real problem for us all year. We got to keep battling," Briles said. "You play hard, you expect good things to happen and sometimes it doesn’t happen that way, but we’re going to keep expecting for good things to happen.
"We realize that we’ve made some unforced errors and that’s the ones that we’re working on."
Another issue for Houston is defense. The Cougars have given up too many long plays this season, including a huge performance by Rice quarterback Chase Clement. Clement broke out his first 300-yard game Saturday in the Bayou Bucket against Houston, 56-48.
But the Cougars seemed to clamp down in the fourth quarter, and linebacker Trent Allen said he believes that preparation is the key.
"That starts with how you get ready for the game," Allen said. "You have to stay focused the whole time. It’s not easy as an athlete or anyone to stay focused for three and a half hours or however (long) the game is. But it starts early and you have to prepare yourself – sometimes the day before just mentally."
One story that went overlooked was linebacker Brendan Pahulu’s injury.
Pahulu went down early in the first half and didn’t return. He suffered a first-degree medial collateral ligament strain.
"He just had his leg whipped, and when you get your leg whipped it stretches out your MCL, so that’s what he’s got," Briles said.
Pahulu’s status is day-to-day, and his absence could mean adverse effects for Houston.
Pahulu has 25 total tackles and three sacks – the second-highest total on the team. He also leads the team with two interceptions.
"Anytime you have an athlete like Pahulu go down it’s a big loss, but everybody works hard and works together, so hopefully with hard work and playing together we can make up for his loss," Allen said.
The key to beating Rice started with senior wide receiver Donnie Avery and senior running back Anthony Alridge – the 2-22 connection, as they call themselves.
Avery set four UH and C-USA records with 346 receiving yards and 427 all-purpose yards and Alridge set a personal single-game high with four rushing touchdowns.
Expect both to have a big game because UAB (2-4, 1-1 C-USA) is allowing more than 5 yards per carry and is 246.7 yards per game. And with record performances like Avery had, he may get a little more attention Saturday.
"I wouldn’t say expect to get double-teamed, but I expect that I get looked at," Avery said. "We’ve just tried to limit the mistakes as much as possible, and you know that we will make a lot of things happen."
The next four games, all against conference teams, could be the determining factor for the C-USA West title.
The Cougars will be on the road for three of their next four games.
"Any conference game is a huge game, so they’re all a concern. They’re also an opportunity. What we’re doing is trying to come out and peak at the right time this week and go in Birmingham this Saturday, play our best and come out with a win," Briles said.
