Steve Sarkisian breaks down changes in Donovan Smith from Texas Tech

Texas has not played Houston since the 2002 season, renewing an old Southwest Conference showdown. However, there will still be a familiar face at quarterback, with Donovan Smith now playing for the Cougars after previously being at Texas Tech.

Steve Sarkisian learned all about Smith last season, being a big reason why Texas Tech pulled off an early season upset. There have been some differences since arriving at Houston, with Sarkisian believing there is more confidence. Especially when Dana Holgerson asks him to run.

“His comfort level throwing the ball, coming into this game — he is throwing the ball at a high level,” Sarkisian said. “When we run RPOs, we RPO with the runner then the receivers on the perimeter and/or the tight end. They RPO with quarterback run. So, his decision-making is at a high level. They’re running quarterback counter.”

The runs from Smith are part of Houston’s system and what they want to do. Texas Tech was trying to spread Texas out but was not calling Smith’s number as much. Smith by far has the most rushing attempts of anyone on the UH roster this season.

“It is a different system,” Sarkisian said. “I would say schematically, there are a lot of similarities. It’s a little bit more of an open offense. There are three and four wide receivers on the field. They spread the field and by doing that, it creates running lanes for the quarterback.”

Smith has 67 rushing attempts for 196 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 2.9 yards per carry. However, that does include when he gets sacked by the defense, taking away some of his yards. When taking off in a designed play, Houston has had success with their quarterback.

Sarkisian knows when Smith is out in the open, he is a major threat. He specifically recalled a fourth down against Texas Tech a season ago where Smith fell over for a fresh set of downs.

“He’s such a big, physical guy,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not so much of the elite speed of the mobile quarterback. But the fact of how big he is — he falls forward and can run so physical. We learned that last year on a couple of short-yardage runs.”

Texas did not cover Dillon Gabriel well two weeks ago, letting the Oklahoma quarterback scamper for 113 yards on 14 carries. Taking care of business against Houston will require a much better performance against Smith.