This is an 8* BLOWOUT on Houston.

For a number of different reasons I think that Houston can at the very least keep this one close enough to sneak in through the back door with the hand full of points that it's been afforded in the Armed Forces Bowl. Both teams enter this game without their head coaches on the side lines, as Paul Chryst of Pittsburgh left for Wisconsin, while Tony Levine of Houston was fired after a second-straight 5-3 mark in ACC play. Both teams are going through coaching turmoil, but the proximity to campus for Houston is a very real advantage for the Cougars: "We hope to pack the stadium with the color red and as everybody knows, our whole recruiting base, it's the state of Texas and we have the majority from the state of Texas," Houston VP of Athletics Mack Rhoades said earlier in the week. "So it makes it easy for their parents and families to attend the game. So again, we are excited to be part of it." This is a classic battle of strength vs. strength, as Pittsburgh's powerful offense runs right into Houston's incredible defense. So where's the advantage here? In my opinion, the Cougars defense is by far the superior unit, it yielded an average of just 19.5 points per game for the nation's 11th-best mark. Houston's offense isn't that far behind the Panthers either, in my opinion the balance that the COUGARS bring to the table on both sides of the ball will turn out to be the difference today.

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