How Houston Cougars Wore Colorado Buffaloes Down

One of the biggest components of Houston's success on Friday, but also one that many won't immediately notice, was how they controlled the clock. The Cougars held the ball for 36:45 of game time to the Buffaloes' 23:15, allowing them to fully impose their will.

“[Offense] did a great job," Fritz said. "We were coming out with the football in the second half, just a super job of converting fourth downs, converting third downs. You play great defense when your offense is out there on the field. Really nice job extending drives.”

The Cougars' most impressive display of clock control came on their first drive of the second half, when they ran 17 plays and took more than eight and a half minutes off the clock. They only came away with a field goal, but being able to run out more than half a quarter and add to their lead was very impressive. The fact that they forced a three-and-out on the next drive, then scored a touchdown after that, shows the impact that drive had on the game.

Houston also ran the ball 51 times on the night, showing a clear commitment to the ground-and-pound approach. Twenty-two of those carries came from star running back Dean Connors, who is a great at wearing down opposing defenses with his physical play style.

"Normally, when you give up 200 rushing yards, that's not a winning cause," Sanders said. "We have to do a better job at stopping the opposing team from running the football, but we have to be much better at keeping control of the ball so the opposing team doesn’t have that type of time of possession.”

The Cougars' offense has had its ups and downs over the first few games of the season, but if they commit to this type of game plan, they could be a very hard team to play against.