October 30, 2024 • 7 mins
The Houston Cougars secured a win on Homecoming with a 43-yard field goal as time expired to take down the Utah Utes 17-14 on Saturday. Quarterback Zeon Chriss was 6 of 13 for 61 yards passing with two touchdowns and 45 yards rushing. The Cougars found success in the running game, rushing for 228 yards. "You never know what your path to victory is going to be," head coach Willie Fritz said. Fritz, who joined "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross," discussed the win, which was his 250th head coaching victory, but was eager to switch the focus to the Cougars' next opponent, the No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats. "We've moved on... we got another big one coming up."
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's Willie Fretz that he's brought to you by the
Joint Chiropractical, the official chiropractor of the University of Houston
Athletics coach Fritz I saw the ice cream truck outside
of the facility after the last week's game. Is that
all you can eat for the players? When they went
a big game like that.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It's always a good thing when you see the ice
cream truck. It means you want so they don't get
all they can do. They get quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
That's good. Congratulations. What a nice way to bounce back
after the disappointment against Kansas. It felt like to me
it was going to be similar in some respects of
the Kansas game, where you every possession was going to
mean a little bit more because let's face that Utah
has had their troubles with quarterbacks. You guys have had
your troubles as well offensively scoring. Did it kind of
feel like that you had to make the most of
every opportunity, whether it would be a turnover or a
(00:44):
long time consuming drive.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh, we really did.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know, when you got the ball, generally speaking, you're
playing pretty good defense. We did a good job with
running the ball, you know, there's a dude, there's a
statistic that we look at. I guess as far as
coaches are concerned about, you know, the top defense in
the country, and they're the fourth ranked defense in the
nation out of one hundred and thirty four Division I schools,
and we knew it was gonna be tough to score
(01:08):
on them. Unfortunately, we had a couple opportunities at the
one yard line we weren't able to punch in, but
did a good job at the very end of the
game getting a touchdown and a big field goal by
Jack Martin. So we're very, very happy with the win
and we've moved on. Like I tell you all the time,
it's kind of a it's like we played that game
a few months ago. But we got another big one
(01:30):
coming up this weekend and get against a ranked Kansas
State team will.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Be another challenge for sure. Let me give you an
opportunity here to discuss eight straight running plays after halting
with the interception. Now, I know for a fact you've
called running plays, but do you even keep tracking that
kind of thing? Was that a concerted effort? Did you go?
You know what, We've got to put ourselves in the
best possible position, and the best thing to do that
was to establish the ground game. Late in the contest.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You know, they had a really good defense of line
and they were you know, right now we're struggling a
little bit drop back pass, and then they played press
coverage out on the perimeter, and you know it was
they did a great job of sticking with her guys
like glue on me on the outside. But we were
having success running the ball, so we went ahead and
(02:19):
kept having a little bit of success, stayed with it.
So often, uh, coaches get away from what's working, you know,
and they want to surprise you. They can't throw it
three times in a row or run it five times
in a row. They got to something else. And you know,
I thought coach Barbady did a good job of driving
it down the field and you know, setting it up
(02:39):
not for an easy field goal, but a forty three
yards certainly something within Jack's range, and he was able
to hit it. And we ran out all the time too.
So at very least we were going to overtime. At
the best, we're walking off the field with a win.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
You know, a lot of teams, maybe every team in
college football, when the fourth quarter comes up, all the
players and the coaches put the four fingers up and
you're down to fifteen minutes. And sometimes it maybe just
just hey, this is what's coming up, or hey, this
is we're got to play our best. It felt like
to me watching the game that you wanted to get
something out of the guys, that you'd worked so hard
(03:14):
to keep the game close. You needed fifteen really good
minutes and you got so because you scored the last
ten points in the game.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, we really did. You know, we do high fours.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Everybody goes around these high fours to each other and
just you know, we want to start fast and finish,
you know, even faster. You know, we we we hadn't had,
you know, the great fortune like I talked about, with
having the ball in the one yard line twice and
you know you're not coming away with points and you
know which would have been you know, awesome against the
(03:44):
defense like Utah's. But we were able to play better
in the fourth quarter and you know aj Hall's the
big interception. They were having a tough time throwing the
ball too, and that set us up for that final drive.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, Willie. The only u blemish so far for Kansas
State this year was a loss to uh B YU
would have to be probably the biggest surprise right now
in the conference of the way the Cougars are playing
a thought or two about Kansas State. They are putting
up some huge numbers offensively this year. What multiple games
in the forties so far.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, they've h you know, they're they're primarily a running team,
but they got some great receivers or quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
They the young man there's a really good player for him,
and they kind of let him go to Ohio State,
you know. And and this guy's the uh you know,
because he's shown so much their last four or five.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Games of the year.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, he's a he's a quarterback similar to the
you know kid we played against Kansas a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Are gonna run it, you can throw it.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
He's uh, you know it really does a good job
of manufacturing plays when you think he got everybody covered. Uh,
you know, But they're they're a very very potent offense. Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
They'll run it right at you and just have had
a lot of success.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
They've kind of dominated the Big twelve over the last
few seasons.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
And I know Xeon only threw the ball thirteen times,
first of all, when I ask about his health going
into the game against the Waldcats. And secondly, I'm going
to assume now you're not expect them to throw the
ball thirty times, But if you're at thirteen, that probably
means either your team has not been on the offensive
on the field very much offensively, or your ground game
is having an amazing afternoon.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, you're right, you know, it's you never know what
your path to victory is going to be. And you know,
once you you know, figure that out, second quarter, third quarter,
you need to make sure you emphasize that. But you know,
we'd like to be a fifty to fifty team. You know,
That's that's our goal every year coming in and some
years are capable of it and some years or not.
(05:46):
Sometimes you some teams you throw the ball a little
more than you run it, and vice versa. But whatever
it takes to, you know, keeping the game, giving the
opportunity to win. It's like I said many times, our
players and media and everybody, you know, we got to
play real, real good to win this year.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, I just I'm not gonna roll the ball
out and.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Just just wish somebody, and uh, you know, if we
play real good, we've got an opportunity against every team
we got left on our schedule.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
It includes this weekend.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So we just got to play good offensively, defensively, and
then the kid.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Get And I've noticed in the last twenty years of
following college athletics really closely, these kids are big uniform guys.
And I'm assuming they're love these black uniforms, right.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Oh my goodness, they're they're excited about it. We told
them that's what we're gonna do on on Monday. They
were pumped up. So you'll be a black guy. We
need all the Houston fans to come out and we're black,
Be proud, be loud, and you'll see a you know,
a really good ranked Kansas State team and it's gonna
be tremendous challenge for us.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
We need all the help we can get.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We'll leave at that, my man. Congratulations again the huge victory.
It look forward to seeing you in the squad on
Saturday of two thirty at TDCU Stadium.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Thank you, Matt Gokoop, We got it.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Willie Fritz with us here on Sports Talk Simon. I
don't think he was brought to you by the Joint Chiropractic,
the official chiropractor of the University of Houston Athletics
He's Willie Fretz that he's brought to you by the
Joint Chiropractical, the official chiropractor of the University of Houston
Athletics coach Fritz I saw the ice cream truck outside
of the facility after the last week's game. Is that
all you can eat for the players? When they went
a big game like that.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It's always a good thing when you see the ice
cream truck. It means you want so they don't get
all they can do. They get quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
That's good. Congratulations. What a nice way to bounce back
after the disappointment against Kansas. It felt like to me
it was going to be similar in some respects of
the Kansas game, where you every possession was going to
mean a little bit more because let's face that Utah
has had their troubles with quarterbacks. You guys have had
your troubles as well offensively scoring. Did it kind of
feel like that you had to make the most of
every opportunity, whether it would be a turnover or a
(00:44):
long time consuming drive.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh, we really did.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know, when you got the ball, generally speaking, you're
playing pretty good defense. We did a good job with
running the ball, you know, there's a dude, there's a
statistic that we look at. I guess as far as
coaches are concerned about, you know, the top defense in
the country, and they're the fourth ranked defense in the
nation out of one hundred and thirty four Division I schools,
and we knew it was gonna be tough to score
(01:08):
on them. Unfortunately, we had a couple opportunities at the
one yard line we weren't able to punch in, but
did a good job at the very end of the
game getting a touchdown and a big field goal by
Jack Martin. So we're very, very happy with the win
and we've moved on. Like I tell you all the time,
it's kind of a it's like we played that game
a few months ago. But we got another big one
(01:30):
coming up this weekend and get against a ranked Kansas
State team will.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Be another challenge for sure. Let me give you an
opportunity here to discuss eight straight running plays after halting
with the interception. Now, I know for a fact you've
called running plays, but do you even keep tracking that
kind of thing? Was that a concerted effort? Did you go?
You know what, We've got to put ourselves in the
best possible position, and the best thing to do that
was to establish the ground game. Late in the contest.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You know, they had a really good defense of line
and they were you know, right now we're struggling a
little bit drop back pass, and then they played press
coverage out on the perimeter, and you know it was
they did a great job of sticking with her guys
like glue on me on the outside. But we were
having success running the ball, so we went ahead and
(02:19):
kept having a little bit of success, stayed with it.
So often, uh, coaches get away from what's working, you know,
and they want to surprise you. They can't throw it
three times in a row or run it five times
in a row. They got to something else. And you know,
I thought coach Barbady did a good job of driving
it down the field and you know, setting it up
(02:39):
not for an easy field goal, but a forty three
yards certainly something within Jack's range, and he was able
to hit it. And we ran out all the time too.
So at very least we were going to overtime. At
the best, we're walking off the field with a win.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
You know, a lot of teams, maybe every team in
college football, when the fourth quarter comes up, all the
players and the coaches put the four fingers up and
you're down to fifteen minutes. And sometimes it maybe just
just hey, this is what's coming up, or hey, this
is we're got to play our best. It felt like
to me watching the game that you wanted to get
something out of the guys, that you'd worked so hard
(03:14):
to keep the game close. You needed fifteen really good
minutes and you got so because you scored the last
ten points in the game.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, we really did. You know, we do high fours.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Everybody goes around these high fours to each other and
just you know, we want to start fast and finish,
you know, even faster. You know, we we we hadn't had,
you know, the great fortune like I talked about, with
having the ball in the one yard line twice and
you know you're not coming away with points and you
know which would have been you know, awesome against the
(03:44):
defense like Utah's. But we were able to play better
in the fourth quarter and you know aj Hall's the
big interception. They were having a tough time throwing the
ball too, and that set us up for that final drive.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, Willie. The only u blemish so far for Kansas
State this year was a loss to uh B YU
would have to be probably the biggest surprise right now
in the conference of the way the Cougars are playing
a thought or two about Kansas State. They are putting
up some huge numbers offensively this year. What multiple games
in the forties so far.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, they've h you know, they're they're primarily a running team,
but they got some great receivers or quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
They the young man there's a really good player for him,
and they kind of let him go to Ohio State,
you know. And and this guy's the uh you know,
because he's shown so much their last four or five.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Games of the year.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, he's a he's a quarterback similar to the
you know kid we played against Kansas a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Are gonna run it, you can throw it.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
He's uh, you know it really does a good job
of manufacturing plays when you think he got everybody covered. Uh,
you know, But they're they're a very very potent offense. Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
They'll run it right at you and just have had
a lot of success.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
They've kind of dominated the Big twelve over the last
few seasons.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
And I know Xeon only threw the ball thirteen times,
first of all, when I ask about his health going
into the game against the Waldcats. And secondly, I'm going
to assume now you're not expect them to throw the
ball thirty times, But if you're at thirteen, that probably
means either your team has not been on the offensive
on the field very much offensively, or your ground game
is having an amazing afternoon.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, you're right, you know, it's you never know what
your path to victory is going to be. And you know,
once you you know, figure that out, second quarter, third quarter,
you need to make sure you emphasize that. But you know,
we'd like to be a fifty to fifty team. You know,
That's that's our goal every year coming in and some
years are capable of it and some years or not.
(05:46):
Sometimes you some teams you throw the ball a little
more than you run it, and vice versa. But whatever
it takes to, you know, keeping the game, giving the
opportunity to win. It's like I said many times, our
players and media and everybody, you know, we got to
play real, real good to win this year.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, I just I'm not gonna roll the ball
out and.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Just just wish somebody, and uh, you know, if we
play real good, we've got an opportunity against every team
we got left on our schedule.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
It includes this weekend.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So we just got to play good offensively, defensively, and
then the kid.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Get And I've noticed in the last twenty years of
following college athletics really closely, these kids are big uniform guys.
And I'm assuming they're love these black uniforms, right.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Oh my goodness, they're they're excited about it. We told
them that's what we're gonna do on on Monday. They
were pumped up. So you'll be a black guy. We
need all the Houston fans to come out and we're black,
Be proud, be loud, and you'll see a you know,
a really good ranked Kansas State team and it's gonna
be tremendous challenge for us.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
We need all the help we can get.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We'll leave at that, my man. Congratulations again the huge victory.
It look forward to seeing you in the squad on
Saturday of two thirty at TDCU Stadium.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Thank you, Matt Gokoop, We got it.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Willie Fritz with us here on Sports Talk Simon. I
don't think he was brought to you by the Joint Chiropractic,
the official chiropractor of the University of Houston Athletics
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!