UCF opponent previews: Familiar foe Houston closes out inaugural Big 12 football campaign

• Nickname: Cougars

• Location: Houston

• Enrollment: 46,700

• Home field: TDECU Stadium (Capacity: 40,000)

• Conference: Big 12

• 2022 record: 8-5, 5-3 American Athletic Conference

• All-time series record vs. UCF: 3-7

• Last meeting: Oct. 31, 2020 (UCF won 44-21)

Editor's note: This is the final installment in a 12-part series highlighting UCF's 2023 football opponents.

UCF will tangle with a familiar foe on Thanksgiving weekend when Houston returns to the Bounce House in the regular season finale. Dating back to their days in Conference USA, UCF and Houston have played 10 times, with the Knights getting the upper hand on seven of those occasions.

Houston has the luxury of coaching stability, but a roster in flux due to graduation and a significant amount of turnover via the transfer portal. As a result, the Cougars were picked to finish 12th in their debut Big 12 season, ahead of only Cincinnati and West Virginia.

Perhaps, though, they can hit the ground running quicker than expected — and defeat UCF as it did in back-to-back seasons in 2015-16. Here's an in-depth look at the Cougars.

Dana Holgorsen returns to familiar surroundings in Big 12

Leading Houston into its maiden Big 12 voyage is head coach Dana Holgorsen, who knows all about what the conference has to offer.

He's spent 16 years this century along Big 12 sidelines, starting in 2000 as an inside receivers coach at Texas Tech, working his way up to offensive coordinator, filling the same role at Oklahoma State in 2010 and finally taking the reins at West Virginia for an eight-year run as head coach.

"The last four years have been a little different for me, being in the American Conference," Holgorsen said during Big 12 Media Days in Arlington, Texas. "It really makes you appreciate a conference like the Big 12... This has been a dream come true for a lot of Cougars for a long time and we're excited about being in the Big 12."

Holgorsen, 52, twice hit double figures in victories for West Virginia, including his debut campaign in 2011 in which the Mountaineers earned a share of the Big East title and blitzed Clemson 70-33 in the Orange Bowl. He resigned in 2019 to accept the open position at Houston, departing West Virginia with a 59.8% win rate.

Houston finished below .500 in Holgorsen's first two seasons at the wheel, including the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. But the Cougars went 12-2 in 2021, capped off by a Birmingham Bowl triumph over Auburn, and 8-5 last season.

Still, the Cougars face long odds as league newcomers. Holgorsen said in July that his team has 42 new players, a high volume of holes to fill ahead of a more rigorous week-to-week competitive grind.

Clayton Tune, Tank Dell go pro; Cougars' offense retools

Top Offensive Returners: RB Brandon Campbell, IOL Jack Freeman, WR Matthew Golden, OT Patrick Paul, RB Stacy Sneed

Top Defensive Returners: EDGE Nelson Ceaser, DB Jalen Emery, DB Alex Hogan, LB Jamal Morris, DL Chidozie Nwankwo, LB Malik Robinson

Clayton Tune finished six passing yards shy of 12,000 for his college career, firing 104 touchdowns (70 the last two seasons). He formed one of the nation's most lethal duos with Daytona Beach native Tank Dell, a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist who caught 109 balls for 1,378 yards and 17 scores in 2022.

Both those players have signed with NFL teams; Tune in Arizona, and Dell with the hometown Texans. Opportunity knocks for Matthew Golden, the leading returning receiver with 38 catches, 584 yards and seven touchdowns. Stacy Sneed averaged 6.6 yards per carry, and he and Brandon Campbell combined for nine rushing scores last season.

Houston often struggled to score early in games, but the Cougars posted one of the best second-half scoring margins in the country last year (+87). Penalties were also a common, crippling issue. Officials flagged the Cougars 7.92 times per game (tied for 126th in the FBS), accounting for 70.38 yards per game (125th).

The Cougars should be able to put up enough points to compete, but whether they can slow down some of the league's dynamic offenses is another question entirely. Houston surrendered 32.1 points and 421.8 yards per game, ranking outside the top-100 in both categories, and was brutal on third down (43% conversions allowed), in the red zone (92.6% scores allowed, with 35 TDs) and in generating takeaways (14).

Alex Hogan's return provides an enormous lift for the secondary; he was tied for the nation's lead in pass breakups (10) at the time of his season-ending knee injury on Oct. 7. Houston's five leading tacklers are gone, as is sack leader D'Anthony Jones, so a largely new group of starters figures to face a baptism by fire by mid-September.

Cougars shop for Big 12 experience in transfer portal, lose O-linemen

Transfer Portal Additions: OT Max Banes (Akron), WR Joshua Cobbs (Wyoming), IOL Peyton Dunn (Louisiana-Monroe), DB Malik Fleming (East Carolina), OT Jaylen Garth (Texas), DB Brian George (Texas A&M), DB Isaiah Hamilton (Texas Southern), LB Ish Harris (Texas A&M), DB Adari Haulcy (New Mexico), OT Shamar Hobdy-Lee (Florida International), DL Jalen Hunt (Michigan State), WR Stephon Johnson (Oklahoma State), EDGE Brandon Mack (Ole Miss), K Jack Martin (Alabama), RB Tony Mathis (West Virginia), DB Latrell McCutchin (USC), IOL David Ndukwe (Western Kentucky), TE Mike O'Laughlin (West Virginia), LB Aubrey Smith (Colorado), QB Donovan Smith (Texas Tech), LB David Ugwoegbu (Oklahoma)

Transfer Portal Losses: IOL Joshua Atkins (Hawaii), DB Abdul-Lateef Audu, OT Derek Bowman (South Florida), QB Holman Edwards (Southern Miss), DB Demarcus Griffin-Taylor (Louisiana Tech), WR Carlton Guidry (Grambling State), K Trevor Helburg (Tarleton State), WR Cody Jackson (Tarleton State), OT Cam'Ron Johnson (Missouri), RB Alton McCaskill (Colorado), OT Ugonna Nnanna (Virginia), LB Mannie Nunnery (Florida), OT Lance Robinson (Louisville), DB Theron Stroops, OT Trevonte Sylvester (Louisville), IOL Chayse Todd (Texas State), WR Khi'yon Wafer (Stephen F. Austin)

Nearly two-dozen of Houston's new arrivals come via the transfer portal, including a handful of players with prior Big 12 playing experience.

Tony Mathis led West Virginia in rushing last season, Donovan Smith totaled 29 touchdowns in 21 games for Texas Tech, Stephon Johnson averaged nearly 18 yards per reception as a true freshman for Oklahoma State and David Ugwoegbu earned an All-Big 12 honorable mention after making 8.4 tackles per game.

Alton McCaskill, a former AAC Rookie of the Year who set the school's freshman record with 16 rushing touchdowns, bolted for Colorado after missing all of last season due to an ACL tear. Houston also suffered significant portal losses along the offensive line; starting right tackle Lance Robinson enrolled at Louisville along with backup left tackle Trevonte Sylvester, while starting left guard Cam'Ron Johnson moved to Missouri.

Mikal Harrison-Pilot, Jonah Wilson restock Houston receiving corps

Top Incoming Freshmen: WR Ja'koby Banks (Missouri City, Texas), DL Justin Benton (Covington, Ga.), WR Mikal Harrison-Pilot (Temple, Texas), RB Parker Jenkins (Houston, Texas), DB Michael Patterson (Missouri City, Texas), WR Jonah Wilson (Houston, Texas)

Houston, like UCF, entered a new recruiting stratosphere by being able to compete for top prospects in a major pipeline state with the allure of Power Five football.

The Cougars signed their Nos. 4, 6 and 10 consensus recruits all-time, per 247Sports, in the '23 cycle — wide receivers Mikal Harrison-Pilot and Jonah Wilson, and running back Parker Jenkins. All three players could well work their way onto the field as true freshmen, given the amount of turnover at the skill positions.

Houston ranked 49th in the overall team standings, per 247Sports. In addition to the receiving corps, it also restocked the secondary with the additions of Michael Patterson, Johnsley Barbas (Roswell, Ga.), Jalyn Stanford (Jenks, Okla.), Jamaal Shaw (Orange, Texas) and Christopher Pearson (Orange Beach, Ala.), plus the JUCO signing of Juwon Gaston from Northeast Mississippi Community College.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF, Houston finish debut Big 12 football seasons against one another