The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Cougars Head Coach Willie Fritz On Opting To Start QB Zeon Chriss At Kansas: 'We Just Wanted To Get A Spark'

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

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.

we say hello to the head football coach of your Houston Cougars. Cougars taken on Kansas this Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium. Willie Fritz with us here, brought to you by the joint chiropractor, the official chiropractor of Houston Cougar Athletics. Willie, thanks for the time as 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? Well, we went last week. We lifted and watched all the film a week on Monday, and we practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

I gave him Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. Coach's actually had Saturday off, so they're excited about that, and we came back to work on Sunday. One of the things I just wanted to make sure we did a great job of is getting that game plan and repping it over and over and over again. And I told him Kansas wasn't playing a game this last weekend, and neither were we. So, you know, sometimes coaches wait, you know, a couple days,

and they modify or change our game plan a little bit. I said, let's have it. 100% ready to go on Monday, and coaches did a great job of that. You're at the halfway point. What have you loved from your team so far, and what has disappointed you? Oh, there's been some good things. I think we're playing good defensively, you know, other than one game. And that game, some of it had to do with just momentum back and forth.

But I thought we played good defensively. We tackled pretty good. You know, against TCU, we didn't tackle that grade. It was the first game that we had double-digit missed tackles. I think we had 19. tackles, but overall, I think our defense 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 than any other phase. And then, you know, offensively, we just, we were having a tough time early, but 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. You have been looking for a guy, and look, you started with Donovan, then you went with Zeon a little bit, and you've been mixing and matching.

And obviously, Zion did a good job, did a good enough job to inherit the spot-ups, especially after that long touchdown run. So beyond what we just saw, were there other things that may decide to make the quarterback change and go with Zion this week against Kansas? Well, you know, some of his injuries. You know, some guys have been banged up. Zion's been banged up a little bit here early in the season and has that 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 playing. Things don't go well. And, you know, I think it would really help us, you know, against T.C. You see you. We were very accurate early throwing the ball. Kind of a lot of guys involved, you know, carrying the ball.

I think we had 14 guys that touched the ball, quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, tight ends. And when that happens, you know, it kind of opens up the whole offense. And I thought we played better on the offensive line. Did a better job protecting and giving the quarterback some time to throw the football. I had some good seams increases, not only for the quarterback, but for the running backs as well. we call run plays.

I thought Coach Barbay did a really good job, especially early in the game, you know, giving us confidence. Willie Fritz, with us getting ready for the game against the Kansas Jayhawks. A little strange that the Coogs were 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 this Saturday coming up? Oh, I think they are. I talked a little bit about that early. Kansas is undergoing 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 they're going to play, I think, three or four games at Arrowhead.

And 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. 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 I've been to quite a few games out at Arrowhead

and I think it'll be a great venue to play going to be, you know, we've kind of had a little bit of a change in weather and it's probably going to be about the same type of weather up there in Cane City. Can't you just text your family back and say, I'm busy, talk to you in the off-season? I mean, that doesn't seem fair

that they're bothering you for this right now. They, you know, sometimes think, you know, they sometimes think about their job that, you know, I got time and people are doing stuff. You know, we only got 12 of these opportunities. Obviously, Saturday I'm a little bit busy, but it'll be fun.

I try to help everybody out as best I can. 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, you would fully expect this thing to be a game into the fourth quarter.

Yeah, you know, they're not a real fast-paced team. We're not playing at 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, take away against TCU. We're plus four. You know, we've 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, you know, time of possession is going to be critical. There's probably only going to be nine or ten series in this game between the two teams. So you've got to take advantage of every single one throughout the ball. I'm leaving at that. Willie, thank you for the time. Congratulations to 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 Arrowhead Stadium. Thanks for the visit, as always. Thank you. Go Coogs. You got it. Willie Fritz with us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, and it's brought to you again by our friends at the Joint Chiropractic,

the official chiropractor of University of Houston Athletics.