Koch's Top 5
New coaches, Tomball Bowl, epic showdowns headline opening week
Joshua Koch
Aug 27, 2018, 5:00 am
Klein Collins has to prepare for a road game at Alief Taylor Vype
Originally Appeared on Vype
Welcome to a new weekly piece on VYPE Houston!
Every week I will sit down on Monday's and layout what I think are the Top 5 headlines from the previous week of Texas high school football in Houston and what are some of the biggest topics heading into the next week.
This will be a great way to get your Monday started! So here goes the first installment of 16 ... yes heading all the way up to the UIL State Football Championships at AT&T Stadium ... let's do it!
1) New Coaches All Over
The number is way too high to count on two hands and two feet. There are new coaches all over the Greater Houston area heading into this opening week of football. Some notable ones are gone. The Woodlands Mark Schmid opted to retire from the program he built into a powerhouse.
Klein Collins' Drew Svoboda exited the program he built into a power to coach the running backs at Rice University (who ran for more than 300 yards against Prairie View A&M in a 31-28 win on Saturday). Those were the two largest exits. Replacing them was Jim Rapp, who was already on staff at The Woodlands, and Adrian Mitchell at Klein Collins. Heading into their first game weeks, Klein Collins has to prepare for a road game at Alief Taylor and The Woodlands at Cy-Fair.
These two coaches will be arguably the most watched this season considering the ultra-successful programs they took over. Also one to watch is Ricky Tullos at Pearland, which he moved over from George Ranch where he guided the Longhorns to the 2015 state championship.
Read the rest of Josh's top five
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The Houston Texans have a big challenge in store as they look to start the season with a win against the Colts this Sunday. When these two teams met in Week 2 last year, the Colts dominated the Texans, despite losing their QB Anthony Richardson to a concussion after the first quarter.
Keeping Richardson contained on Sunday will go a long way in increasing the Texans' chances of coming home with a win. The Texans defense will have their hands full containing the Colts backs and tight ends in the passing game.
Scoring touchdowns with their wide receivers could prove difficult, as the Texans allowed the second-fewest TDs (10) to the receiver position in 2023.
Limiting running back Jonathan Taylor will also be a top priority. While the Texans had an elite defense against the run last season, they struggled with Taylor in Week 18 as he almost rushed for 200 yards.
Houston's D allowed only four carries to running backs in 2023 that went for 20 or more yards. Two of which were to Taylor in the final game of the regular season.
Finally, DeMeco Ryans and company have to find a way to get pressure on the QB. They only had one QB hit and zero sacks on Richardson and Garner Minshew the first time they faced off last year.
On offense, the Texans have two big x-factors to watch for on Sunday. The offensive line that suited up to play the Colts in Week 2 last season is completely different from this year.
The o-line was ravaged with injuries to start the 2023 campaign, so we expect a big jump in productivity in the trenches this year.
Another big addition in 2024 is the presence of running back Joe Mixon. The running game only produced 2 yards per rush in Week 2 against Indy last year, so there's clearly room for improvement.
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth preview of Texans-Colts!
And catch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) live on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel following every game this season!