The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Willie Fritz Talks UH Cougars Upsetting Ranked Kansas State

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

After inclement weather delayed the Big 12 matchup by nearly an hour, the Houston Cougars took the field in their "Black Out" uniforms for a game that would end in fans rushing the field of TDECU Stadium after upsetting the No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats 24-19 on Saturday. "It was great to have the student body rush the field...just a great memory for all of us," head coach Willie Fritz said.Quarterback Zeon Chriss finished 11 of 11 in passing and rushed for 75 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. "He's feeling more comfortable in the offense," Fritz said. The defense held the Wildcats to 89 yards rushing and recorded two interceptions to snap Kansas State's four-game winning streak. This was Houston's first win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 19 SMU 44-37 on Oct. 30, 2021. The Cougars have a bye week before facing Arizona on Nov. 15. "It comes at a good time," Fritz said.

Normally we would give Coach Fritz the week off and talk to him next week before the game against the Arizona Wildcats. But when you beat the number 17 team in the country, you've got to come on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Coach, congratulations. What an awesome Saturday it was at TDCU Stadium. Yeah, it was. Thank you very much for having me on, Matt. It was really happy with the kids. They just did a super job.

And, you know, there's some tough sled in there. And third quarter, and we've got two scores. And he just kept chipping away at it. played great in the fourth quarter. I scored them 14 to zero and won the time of possession as well and just really finished the ball game strong for a big win at home. It's great to have the student body rush the field. There's just a great memory for all of us. You mentioned time of possession for a team that is as balanced as K state is offensively. I guess the best thing you can do, and that's your defense is doing its job, is keeping guys off

the field and letting you guys, you know, not trying to go for the big play over and over again, but just get the five, six yards every single down, keep the drive alive, and keep that Wildcat offense off the field yourselves. Yeah, they were averaging, I believe, 22 yards of game rushing. We held them to 82 yards. They had a, you know, their tailback is one of the leading rushers in the nation, and defense played great. You know, one of the things that happened this year is we had 63 new guys on the team, and we had

to figure out our strengths and weaknesses. First time I've been through the Big 12, obviously. You know, we've got to, we've got a good defense, you know. We've got to ride them and do a good job of playing penalty-free and turnover free on offense, which we did for the most part. And that allows us to, you know, stay in position to, you know, be able to win the game at the end. I thought we had some big plays in the kicking game, making them go to long field.

we do a stack called Hidden Yards. You know, that's where our starting field position is for our offense. You know, their starting field position for their offense. We had 156 hidden yards. So we were going shorter fields. They were going longer fields. And over four quarters, that really helps you out. The game started about an hour later, which wasn't great, but it could have been a lot worse.

We've all been through longer delays than that. How did you keep the guys amped up knowing that you weren't going to start on time on Saturday? You know, we did a good job of that. Obviously, I've been in a few of these before. You've got to keep coaching them during that time period. Get off your feet. You know, every time there's a lightning strike, it's another half hour before you can go out.

So we had a pretty good idea of when we're going to be able to come out. You know, our guys, our redshirt guys, young guys, they don't play a whole lot that are kind of going through a redshirt year. They really did a super job of keeping the, the energy and the juice, especially when we're walking out the tunnel for the game after the hour to lay. And then they did a great job at halftime as well. Everybody, everybody's got a job to do, and those guys did their job to perfection, keeping our guys hyped up. Willie Fritz with us here on Sports Talk 790. It's very rare that a quarterback has a perfect

completion to a temp percentage. Zeon was 11 of 11, and that's kind of what you needed him to do. just take the intermediate pass, not training too dangerous. It feels like his decision making, it was never bad to begin with, but it feels like it's getting better every single week for you. Well, it is. He's, you know, feeling more comfortable in the offense. You know, we've got to do a great job protecting him, getting open as well, you know, not having minus play.

They're hard to overcome. And we've done a good job of not putting us in those positions. very often. But he was very accurate. And we need to do a good job of trying to improve our passing game. That's going to be big force as well coming down the stretch here. How are you, law and the guys to get some time off? This is kind of strange, a second off week in one season.

And I don't know how the schedule worked out that way, but he's going to give some guys a chance to maybe catch up on some classes, maybe in the workouts. What is the plan for the next handful of days? Well, we lifted and met and put this game to play. bed this morning and we're off tomorrow. I'm encouraging all the guys to make sure they go out and vote. And then we're going to practice on Wednesday and Thursday and then give them all Friday, Saturday, and then come back on Sunday because we have a Friday game against Arizona

week from this Friday. So a little bit different schedule, but it's good for us right now. It comes at a good time or, you know, you get this part of the season. Everybody's beat up a little bit. This give the guys an opportunity to heal up and get ready for the stretch run. Far let you run. Kansas State and Utah were considered two of the leading candidates to play in a Big 12 championship game. And I think your program by itself did a job in maybe ruining those dreams for both of those schools. And I know it's been a transition and these are a lot of these kids are not yours that you brought in originally and still trying to work through the kinks of building this program. But to have these games mean so much of those other teams for you to surprise.

them for these kids not to give up after some difficult time this year, you've got to be really pleased every time you walk in the locker room and want to work with these guys because they do want to get better and they're not giving up on the season. Well, you're exactly right. All of them are my guys now and we're

just, we've had so many problems and issues with going through adversity early in the year. You know, it's it's been a lesson, I think, for all of us, you know, just about

fighting through adversity and keep going and being positive about things and not looking backwards whether you had success or maybe you didn't have success and just going forward and the guys have done a good job of that and I'm just very very proud of the effort that everybody in the programs put forth so far this season well as an alum thank you for your hard work your kids hard work. It's so much fun seeing you play and the way you've bounced back the last couple weeks. Get some time off yourself if you can. I know there's a grandchild that would love to see you a little bit in the next

couple of days. Spend some time with him and we will talk to you next week before that game against Arizona. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate it. Go through. Thanks very much. Willie Fritz joining us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We appreciate him stopping by on this Monday.