the Houston Cougars won a dozen games in 2021 Under head coach Dana hogerson The Following season they were just eight and5 and last year a 4-8 record cost hogerson his job in comes Willie Fritz from T Lane can he turn this program around well we're going to talk about it but before we do I gotta tell you about a promotion we have available right now at wagertalk.com from now until August 31st you can get all my football picks that's college football NF and NFL preseason until the end of September for one low price 249 bucks why would you be interested in that well over the summer I do my homework and I've had great results especially early in the season uh 41 and 12 77% college football in August and September the last two years you throw in NFL and NFL preseason we're still hitting 75% you can get that right now at deals page uh although there's no purchase necessary you're more than welcome to tune in absorb the free content the only thing I ask from you is that you take the time to smash that like button and that will allow me to keep on putting out these videos let's get into the free pick we got the UNLV Rebels at the Houston Cougars in week one Houston's a two and a half Point favorite the total sits at 56 and a half and uh Willie Fritz coming over from tlane looks like a fantastic IC higher I have no doubt that he will turn this program around I'm not sure you want to count on him doing that in week one of his first season though he will have his starting quarterback back from last year's uh Houston team anyways Donovan Smith a senior who threw for 2800 yards and 22 touchdowns last year he has experience he's played in some big games uh he had some big upset wins with Texas Tech a couple seasons ago he did complete 65% of his passes last year and they're bringing some Talent back around him with the top three running backs and a few wide receivers they've picked up in the transfer portal and I think the offense will be in decent shape the defense was uh pretty bad last year they're hoping to turn that around with a new defensive coordinator shy wood who was with willly Fritz at two lane last year and a couple years ago he had a top 20 defense at Troy uh again I've got no doubt that he will improve the defense just how much is he going to be able to do in week one here against a UNLV team that averaged 34.4 points per game last year perhaps the best wide receiver in the country and Ricky White uh who returns as a senior for UNLV the quarterback's gone to uh USC though Jaden Maya mayaa probably butchered that but uh let's just call him Jaden he uh he's transferred out to USC and at this point I got no idea who's going to play quarterback for UNLV but they're going to have enough Talent around them they're bringing back four starters on the offensive line um with Ricky White at receiver I expect this offense to be good um and they're bringing back seven starters on the defense as well of course their defense wasn't exactly outstanding last year you look at this total of 56 and a half uh I guess the bookmakers are expecting a shootout and I kind of lean that way I wouldn't want to have to pick a winner in this game because I think either team could uh could get the win here I'm expecting it to be a crazy game basically last score wins kind of uh kind of contest so for that reason I'm going to go over the number of 56 and a half I think both these offenses will get their points in week one so if you like this video smash that like button subscribe to the channel if you got anything to say to me even if it's nasty you hit me up in the comments below I'll get back to you as soon as I can