Following a strong win over TCU, the Houston Cougars are coming off a bye week and looking to earn another important victory on the road against the Kansas Jayhawks this Saturday. Head coach Willie Fritz announced earlier this week that Zeon Chriss would be the starting quarterback going forward, and Fritz joins "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" to discuss the decision. "We just wanted to get a spark," Fritz said. Chriss completed 15 of 18 passes for 141 yards but also rushed for 97 yards on 11 carries in the 30-19 victory over TCU. Chriss will attempt to replicate that success at Arrowhead Stadium and help the Cougars obtain their third win of the season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We say hello to the head football coach of your
Houston Cougar's. Cougar's taking on Kansas this Saturday at Arrow
Head Standing, Willie Fritz with us here, brought to you
by the Joint Chiropractor, the official chiropractor of Houston Cougar Athletics. Welly,
thanks for the time. It's always it's been a nice
week off. I know you didn't get much downtime, but
what did the kids do over the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, we went last week, We lifted and watched all
the film week on Monday, and then we practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
getting Friday, Saturday, Sunday off and coaches actually had Saturday off,
so they're excited about that. And we came back to
work on Sunday. And one of the things I just
wanted to make sure we did a great job of
(00:42):
is getting that game plan and repping it over and
over and over again. And I told him Kansas wouldn't
play in a game this last weekend, and neither were we.
So you know, sometimes coaches wait, you know, a couple
of days and they modify or change our game plan
a little bit. I said, let's have it on Ready
Go on Monday, and the coaches did a great job
(01:02):
of that.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
You're at the halfway point. What have you loved from
your team so far and what has disappointed you?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh, there's been some good things. You know. I think
we're playing good defensively, you know, other than one game,
and on that game, some of it had to do
it just a momentum back and forth. But I thought
we played good defensively. We tackled pretty good, you know
against TCU we didn't tackle that great. Is the first
game that we had double digit miss tackles. I think
we had nineteen miss tackles. But overall, I think our
(01:31):
defenses has played very well, and you know, and you
see some good things on the other two sides of
the ball. You know, there's been some good things in
the kicking game, but the bad thing is we just
had way too many penalties. Had zero against TCU. That
was something to build upon because it hurts you more
in the kicking game any other phase. And then you know, offensively,
(01:54):
we just we were having a tough time or really
kind of find our legs a little bit against TCU
and ran the ball well, and we're very accurate throwing
the ball, and you know we need to continue to
keep building on that.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You have been looking for a guy and look, you
started with Donovan, then you want with xe On a
little bit, and you've been mixing and matching. And obviously
Zion did a good zand did a good enough job
to inherit the spot off, especially if that long touchdown run.
So beyond what we just saw, were there other things
that made decide to make the quarterback change and go
was on this week against Kansas?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, yeah, some of his injuries, you know, some guys
being banged up, and uh it, Zion has been banged
up a little bit here early in the season, and
uh as I've finally gotten healthy, and you know, we
just wanted to get a spark. We'd you know, as
I've said, you know many times before, the quarterback gets
too much credit when things go well, too much blame
(02:48):
things don't don't go well. And you know, I think
it really helped us, uh you know against tcu Is.
You know, we were very accurate early throwing the ball.
Kind of a lot of guys involved, you know, carrying
the ball. I think we have fourteen guys that touched
the ball quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, tight ends, and
when that happens, you know, it kind of opens up
(03:11):
the whole offense. And I thought we played better on
the offensive line, did a better job protecting and giving
the quarterbacks some time to throw the football. Had some
good scenes increases not only for the quarterback, for the
running backs as well. We call run plays. Coach Barbay
did a really good job, especially early in the game,
you know, giving us confidence.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Willie Fritz with us getting ready for the game against
the Kansas Jayhawks. A little strange that the Kougz and
we're playing this game in Arrowhead Stadium, so and there
are a lot of young men that have watched a
lot of Chiefs games over the years. Are any of
the kids a little extra fired up of playing in
a pro stadium? Is Saturday coming up?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh? I think they are. I talked a little bit
about that early. Kansas is entered gooing renovations to their stadium,
so they're having to play I think they played a
couple games at the soccer stadium they're in Kansas City,
and then they're gonna play I think three or four
games at Arrowhead and uh, you know, it's been a
busy two weeks for me. I'm from Kansas City, so
I'm getting inundated with ticket requests and all sorts of stuff.
(04:15):
So unfortunately, when I go to these games and I
get a lot of family and friends come, I don't
get to really see anybody. But yeah, it's I've been
quite a few games out of Arrowhead, and I think
it'll be a great venue to play. Gonna be you know,
we've kind of had a little bit of a change
in weather and and it's probably gonna be about the
same type of weather up there in Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Can't you just text your family back and say, I'm
busy talk to you in the offseason. I mean, that
doesn't seem fair. They're bothering you for this right now.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They uh, you know sometimes think, you know, they sometimes
think about their job that you know, oh yeah, I
got time. People are doing stuff, and you know, we
only got twelve of these opportunities obviously Saturday, but a
little bit busy, but uh uh, it'll be fun. I
try to help everybody out as best I can.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And in reality, you're taking on a Kansas team that
has been beset by a lot of injuries, especially on
the offensive side. They played a lot of one score games,
so I would think you, as part of your rallying
cry this week, is you fully expect this thing to
be a game into the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah. You know, they're not a real fast paced team.
We're not playing in a real fast pace either, and
we just got to do what we did. You know,
the last game, I've preached it over and over and
over again. We need to be plus one turnover takeaway
against TCU or plus four. You know, we got to
do a good job in the run game. And we
did a very good job in the run game stopping
them from running and us run the ball effectively. And
(05:41):
you know, time of possession is going to be critical.
There's probably only gonna be nine or ten series in
this game between the two teams, so you got to
take advantage of every single one throughout the ball game.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I believe it at that, Willie. Thank you for the time,
congratulations of the impressive win. I hope you got a
little bit of downtime while we were out and look
forward to seeing you in the squad Saturday at Arrowhood Stadium.
Thanks for the visitors always.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Thank you Koo.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
We got it, Willie, Fritz with us here on The
Matt Thomas Show with Ross. It's brought to you again
by our friends at the Joint Chiropractice, the official chiropractor
of University of Houston Athletics
We say hello to the head football coach of your
Houston Cougar's. Cougar's taking on Kansas this Saturday at Arrow
Head Standing, Willie Fritz with us here, brought to you
by the Joint Chiropractor, the official chiropractor of Houston Cougar Athletics. Welly,
thanks for the time. It's always it's been a nice
week off. I know you didn't get much downtime, but
what did the kids do over the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, we went last week, We lifted and watched all
the film week on Monday, and then we practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
getting Friday, Saturday, Sunday off and coaches actually had Saturday off,
so they're excited about that. And we came back to
work on Sunday. And one of the things I just
wanted to make sure we did a great job of
(00:42):
is getting that game plan and repping it over and
over and over again. And I told him Kansas wouldn't
play in a game this last weekend, and neither were we.
So you know, sometimes coaches wait, you know, a couple
of days and they modify or change our game plan
a little bit. I said, let's have it on Ready
Go on Monday, and the coaches did a great job
(01:02):
of that.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
You're at the halfway point. What have you loved from
your team so far and what has disappointed you?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh, there's been some good things. You know. I think
we're playing good defensively, you know, other than one game,
and on that game, some of it had to do
it just a momentum back and forth. But I thought
we played good defensively. We tackled pretty good, you know
against TCU we didn't tackle that great. Is the first
game that we had double digit miss tackles. I think
we had nineteen miss tackles. But overall, I think our
(01:31):
defenses has played very well, and you know, and you
see some good things on the other two sides of
the ball. You know, there's been some good things in
the kicking game, but the bad thing is we just
had way too many penalties. Had zero against TCU. That
was something to build upon because it hurts you more
in the kicking game any other phase. And then you know, offensively,
(01:54):
we just we were having a tough time or really
kind of find our legs a little bit against TCU
and ran the ball well, and we're very accurate throwing
the ball, and you know we need to continue to
keep building on that.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You have been looking for a guy and look, you
started with Donovan, then you want with xe On a
little bit, and you've been mixing and matching. And obviously
Zion did a good zand did a good enough job
to inherit the spot off, especially if that long touchdown run.
So beyond what we just saw, were there other things
that made decide to make the quarterback change and go
was on this week against Kansas?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, yeah, some of his injuries, you know, some guys
being banged up, and uh it, Zion has been banged
up a little bit here early in the season, and
uh as I've finally gotten healthy, and you know, we
just wanted to get a spark. We'd you know, as
I've said, you know many times before, the quarterback gets
too much credit when things go well, too much blame
(02:48):
things don't don't go well. And you know, I think
it really helped us, uh you know against tcu Is.
You know, we were very accurate early throwing the ball.
Kind of a lot of guys involved, you know, carrying
the ball. I think we have fourteen guys that touched
the ball quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, tight ends, and
when that happens, you know, it kind of opens up
(03:11):
the whole offense. And I thought we played better on
the offensive line, did a better job protecting and giving
the quarterbacks some time to throw the football. Had some
good scenes increases not only for the quarterback, for the
running backs as well. We call run plays. Coach Barbay
did a really good job, especially early in the game,
you know, giving us confidence.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Willie Fritz with us getting ready for the game against
the Kansas Jayhawks. A little strange that the Kougz and
we're playing this game in Arrowhead Stadium, so and there
are a lot of young men that have watched a
lot of Chiefs games over the years. Are any of
the kids a little extra fired up of playing in
a pro stadium? Is Saturday coming up?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh? I think they are. I talked a little bit
about that early. Kansas is entered gooing renovations to their stadium,
so they're having to play I think they played a
couple games at the soccer stadium they're in Kansas City,
and then they're gonna play I think three or four
games at Arrowhead and uh, you know, it's been a
busy two weeks for me. I'm from Kansas City, so
I'm getting inundated with ticket requests and all sorts of stuff.
(04:15):
So unfortunately, when I go to these games and I
get a lot of family and friends come, I don't
get to really see anybody. But yeah, it's I've been
quite a few games out of Arrowhead, and I think
it'll be a great venue to play. Gonna be you know,
we've kind of had a little bit of a change
in weather and and it's probably gonna be about the
same type of weather up there in Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Can't you just text your family back and say, I'm
busy talk to you in the offseason. I mean, that
doesn't seem fair. They're bothering you for this right now.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They uh, you know sometimes think, you know, they sometimes
think about their job that you know, oh yeah, I
got time. People are doing stuff, and you know, we
only got twelve of these opportunities obviously Saturday, but a
little bit busy, but uh uh, it'll be fun. I
try to help everybody out as best I can.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And in reality, you're taking on a Kansas team that
has been beset by a lot of injuries, especially on
the offensive side. They played a lot of one score games,
so I would think you, as part of your rallying
cry this week, is you fully expect this thing to
be a game into the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah. You know, they're not a real fast paced team.
We're not playing in a real fast pace either, and
we just got to do what we did. You know,
the last game, I've preached it over and over and
over again. We need to be plus one turnover takeaway
against TCU or plus four. You know, we got to
do a good job in the run game. And we
did a very good job in the run game stopping
them from running and us run the ball effectively. And
(05:41):
you know, time of possession is going to be critical.
There's probably only gonna be nine or ten series in
this game between the two teams, so you got to
take advantage of every single one throughout the ball game.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I believe it at that, Willie. Thank you for the time,
congratulations of the impressive win. I hope you got a
little bit of downtime while we were out and look
forward to seeing you in the squad Saturday at Arrowhood Stadium.
Thanks for the visitors always.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Thank you Koo.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
We got it, Willie, Fritz with us here on The
Matt Thomas Show with Ross. It's brought to you again
by our friends at the Joint Chiropractice, the official chiropractor
of University of Houston Athletics
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