UH junior quarterback Clayton Tune drops back to pass against BYU on Friday night at TDECU Stadium. | Courtesy of UH athletics
On paper, the junior quarterback Clayton Tune Houston offense has been impressive, putting up 914 total yards and scoring 75 points in their first two games of 2020.
But what the numbers do not show is that the Cougars’ offensive attack has been streaky, with the majority of their production coming in the second and third quarters of games.
The Houston offense has struggled to get going in the first quarter, combining for just 10 points while committing three turnovers in their first two games of the 2020 season.
As a result, the Cougars have had to play from down double-digits after the first quarter in both of their games this season, which is not a formula for success in the long run.
Tune, who has thrown for 629 yards and four touchdowns this season, believes the offense’s slow starts to games is due to the fact that they are just easing into the game instead of being fully engaged and locked in from the get-go.
“I feel like we’re kind of dipping our toes in the water and feeling out first and not just jumping right into it,” Tune said after the BYU game. “I think we need to have our mindset on just attacking from the jump.”
Not only are the Cougars failing to start off games strong, they have also struggled offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring just seven total points in the fourth quarter this year.
Their inability to produce any offense in the fourth quarter was shown Friday night against BYU as the UH offense was only able to muster up 20 yards of offense the entire quarter, which allowed BYU to erase a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.
“We need to learn how to finish down the stretch,” Tune said.
As the Cougars head back to the drawing board to prepare for their upcoming game against conference-rival Navy, Tune has taken it upon himself to step up and trust his teammates in big situations so that the offense can play a full 60-minute game instead of only showing up for a couple of quarters.
“It starts with me,” he said. “I just need to trust the guys and trust that they are going to do their job when it counts.”
