Arizona @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 9, 2017 ) Houston 19, Arizona 16

Arizona will look to bounce back from an unimpressive debut for coach Kevin Sumlin when the Wildcats travel to Houston on Saturday. After losing to visiting BYU 28-23 last weekend, Arizona will try to get dual-threat quarterback Khalil Tate more opportunities to run free after the 1,400-yard rusher last season was limited to 14 yards on eight carries last week.

Tate was not yet the starting quarterback when Arizona hosted Houston last season, but got a chance to play in the fourth quarter of the 19-16 loss and, four weeks later, broke the FBS rushing record for a quarterback when he totaled 327 yards against Colorado. Houston quarterback D'Eriq King did not play against Arizona last season, but took over as the starter midway through the year and he's coming off a strong opener, passing for 320 yards and three touchdowns and running for another score in a 45-27 win at Rice on Saturday. King, like Tate, is a superb athlete who split time at wide receiver and quarterback his first two seasons with the Cougars. He has already benefited from the return of wide receiver Marquez Stevenson, who missed all of last season with a knee injury before catching five passes for 107 yards and a touchdown against Rice.

TV: 12 p.m. ET, ESPN2. LINE: Houston -4.5

ABOUT ARIZONA (0-1): Another player the Wildcats hope to get untracked is senior wide receiver Shun Brown, who was held to one catch for 11 yards against BYU. Brown, who caught 43 passes for 573 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games last season, had four catches for 79 yards against Houston last season, which was the most receiving yards he accumulated in a game in 2017. Shawn Poindexter is a big target for Tate at 6-foot-5, 218 pounds, and he caught a team-high four passes for 68 yards against BYU, but also had a potential 50-yard completion go through his hands.

ABOUT HOUSTON (1-0): The Cougars averaged 7.1 yards a carry against Rice thanks to 60 yards on two carries for Stevenson and 74 yards on eight carries for Patrick Carr, both of whom also scored rushing touchdowns. Carr didn't play against Arizona last season, but he faced the Wildcats as a freshman at Colorado in 2015, when he was fourth on the team with 272 rushing yards on 66 carries. Carr, a junior who will turn 23 on Sept. 22, already has as many carries this season as he did all of 2017, and nearly three times as many yards

EXTRA POINTS

1. Arizona LB Colin Schooler had 16 tackles against BYU, the most by an Arizona player in a nonconference game since Lance Briggs had 16 against Utah in 2000.

2. Sumlin began his head coaching career with Houston in 2007.

3. Houston DT Ed Oliver had 39.5 tackles for loss in his first two seasons, the most by a defensive tackle through his sophomore season. The previous high was 19 by Aaron Donald of Pittsburgh in 2010-11.

PREDICTION: Houston 34, Arizona 31