Subscribe
Follow Us
The TCU Horned Frogs take on the Houston Cougars. Check out our college football odds series for our TCU Houston prediction and pick. Find how to watch TCU Houston.
Houston just played Rice in a battle of two schools which used to be members of the old Southwest Conference before the SWC ceased to exist in 1996. Now Houston enters another game with that old-time Southwest Conference flavor, a matchup against former SWC mainstay TCU.
The Cougars hope this game against TCU will be better than their previous game against a former SWC rival.
Houston was down 28-0 to Rice, a shocking and embarrassing turn of events for the Cougars given their prominence in the AAC in the last few years in that conference before moving to the Big 12 this year. Houston should have been ashamed of itself, but to give the Cougars credit, they got off the deck and managed to take the game to overtime. They had a chance to rescue themselves and pull off a great escape. If they had been able to turn the trick, it might have been a tremendous catalyst for their season.
Nope. They fell short in overtime and endured a brutal loss to a crosstown rival.
Houston is a wounded team heading into this game. So is TCU. The Horned Frogs lost to Deion Sanders and Colorado as 20.5-point favorites in Week 1. We're going to learn about both TCU and Houston this week. Which team can bounce back from a wrenching early-season setback?
Here are the TCU-Houston College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Football Odds: TCU-Houston Odds
TCU Horned Frogs: -7.5 (-102)
Houston Cougars: +7.5 (-120)
Over: 63.5 (-115)
Under: 63.5 (-105)
How To Watch TCU vs Houston
TV: Fox
Stream: Fox Sports app
Article Continues Below
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT
*Watch TCU vs Houston LIVE on fuboTV (click for free trial)*
Why TCU Could Cover the Spread
The Houston Cougars fell behind 28-0 to Rice. Not Texas. Not Oklahoma. Not any particularly good team. Rice. That itself could be enough reason to think TCU will win this game. Let's say a few more things, however.
Houston didn't score a whole lot the week before the Rice game, barely beating a UTSA team which has struggled in the early weeks of the season. UTSA lost at home to Army on Friday night, a notable result for a team which had done so well in recent seasons. That Houston win over UTSA looks worse now than it did 24 hours ago. Beyond that, Houston just hasn't played good football beyond the two quarters in which it erased that 28-point deficit to Rice. The Cougars don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
What also has to be said here is that TCU's loss came to a Colorado team with elite skill position talent. Houston doesn't have the skill players needed to expose the weaknesses on the TCU roster, specifically on defense.
Why Houston Could Cover the Spread
TCU's secondary was bad against Colorado, and TCU quarterback Chandler Morris showed he cannot be trusted in the red zone. Morris committed huge mistakes and squandered the advantages TCU had in that game. If Morris throws a few interceptions in this game, that's all Houston needs to pull the upset at home in a night game. Morris can win this game — not for his own team, but for the other side.
Final TCU-Houston Prediction & Pick
The Houston offense just isn't up to the challenge of lighting up TCU's defense, but Chandler Morris could give away this game to Houston. Stay away from this game.
Final TCU-Houston Prediction & Pick: TCU -7.5
