Eleven and zero.
 
Those two numbers represent the amount of FBS teams that have played three home games so far in 2016 and how many home games the Bobcats have played.  It's crazy to think that the first home game of the season doesn't come until Week 4 for Texas State, but here we are.  Before we go any further, because I'm sure you're dying to know, the eleven teams that have already played three (!) home games: Syracuse, TCU, Oklahoma State, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Washington, Florida and Texas State's fellow Sun Belt member, UL-Lafayette. 
 
Would you believe that this actually isn't the latest the Bobcats have waited to play a home game?  In 1979, the first season for legendary Head Coach Jim Wacker, Southwest Texas didn't play its first game in San Marcos until the fifth week of the season on October 6.  The Bobcats opened that season against Prairie View A&M in San Antonio and then played three straight road games at Texas Lutheran, Southeastern Louisiana and Howard Payne before finally hosting Cameron State.  The 'Cats went on to finish 7-4 that season and two years later won the first of two straight Division II National Championships, so maybe waiting this long to play in the comforts of home isn't such a bad thing.
 
Texas State does have some company by the way.  The Bobcats are one of two FBS teams that have yet to play a home game this season, the other is Boston College.  The Eagles traveled a few thousand miles for their season opener against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland and have since made two more trips, albeit shorter ones, to UMass and Virginia Tech.  Like Texas State, Boston College is at home this weekend as the Eagles host Wagner at Alumni Stadium.  With all due respect to the 2-0 Seahawks, the Bobcats' home opening opponent presents a slightly tougher challenge.  Here's five things you should know about that opponent: No. 6 Houston.
 
1)  The Cougars Could Be Even Better Than They Were Last Year
At the end of the 2014 season, the Houston Cougars capped off an eight-win season with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Pitt in the Armed Forces Bowl.  Meanwhile Houston's head-coach-in-waiting Tom Herman, was on his way to helping guide the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship.  Herman had accepted the head coaching job at Houston four weeks prior to the start of the inaugural College Football Playoff and his focus never wavered as Ohio State knocked off both Alabama and Oregon to win the title.  To say he arrived in Houston riding some momentum would be an understatement. 
 
He didn't exactly take over a sinking ship at Houston.  As noted above, the Cougars won a bowl game a few weeks after the announcement of Herman's hiring.  From 2006 to 2014, Houston won an average of eight games per season with seven bowl appearances, finishing either first or in a tie for first in conference four times in that nine season stretch.  But the Cougars wanted more, namely to become not just an American Athletic Conference power but a national power, and figured Coach Herman would be the man to take them there.
 
Looking good so far.
 
Whatever expectations the program had were exceeded and then some in Coach Herman's first year as the Cougars ripped off a 13-1 record in 2015.  Houston was the Group of Five's New Year's Eve representative and the Cougars didn't disappoint with an impressive 38-24 win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl. 
 
Houston did lose a number of key players from that team over the off-season, including explosive playmaker Demarcus Ayers at receiver and its top two running backs Kenneth Farrow and Ryan Jackson.  Those three players alone accounted for over 3,100 total yards and 23 touchdowns last year.  The Cougars also lost four of their five starting offensive linemen and on defense, Houston said goodbye to their top tackler Elandon Roberts (142 tackles) and three key players in the secondary, Adrian McDonald, Trevon Stewart and William Jackson III (combined 13 interceptions and 27 pass break-ups).  Ayers, Farrow, Roberts, McDonald and Jackson are all currently in the NFL. 
 
That's a lot to lose, but man has Houston reloaded.  The Cougars had the 30th ranked recruiting class this past February, the highest-rated class ever in program history, and the highest ever for a G5 program.  A bunch of those players have been making an impact already for Houston, as 14 of the 24 players from the 2016 recruiting class have seen the field in the Cougars' first three games, all wins for U of H.
 
It's worth noting the manner in which those wins have come.  The first came in the season opener over then-No. 3 Oklahoma in a 33-23 win at NRG Stadium, followed by a proper dismantling of Lamar in a 42-0 win at home and then a come-from-behind conference win at Cincinnati last Thursday.  Houston rose to the challenge in the opener, took care of business against an outmatched opponent and then gritted out a win in a hostile environment.  Whether or not this year's team is better than last year's squad we won't know until December/January, but at the very least, the Cougars have proven that last year was no fluke.
 
2) Greg Ward Jr. Will Be The Best Quarterback The Bobcats Face All Season
This was true last year and will almost certainly stand true this season.  That's no knock on the quarterbacks on Texas State's 2015 schedule or the ones on this year's schedule, it's just that Ward is a truly special player. 
 
Ward flip-flopped from quarterback to receiver and back to quarterback to start his Houston career, but has had a firm grasp on the quarterback job since the middle of the 2014 season and hasn't let go.  The Tyler, Texas native has 23 career starts in a Cougar uniform and is 21-2 as a starter, having won 16 straight games, the longest current streak in the nation.  He hasn't lost a game since December 6^th, 2014 at Cincinnati.  He has been banged up at times, notably being unable to start at UConn last year (Houston's only 2015 loss) and he sat out the Cougars' game against Lamar in Week 2 of this season. 
 
When healthy though, look out.  Ward has picked up where he left off from last season when he tallied nearly 4,000 yards of total offense and 38 touchdowns, earning the Earl Campbell Award, an award given to the top college football player in Texas.  Against Oklahoma, Ward threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns.  Last week at Cincy, Ward had 399 yards of total offense and three scores.  
 
Last year, the Bobcats have saw first hand just how tough it can be to slow Ward down.  According to Bobcat Head Coach Everett Withers, what makes him so dangerous is his ability to make "off schedule" plays and that with Ward on the field, it's like having to play against 12 players instead of 11.
 
3) The Bobcats Are Going To Have To Make Houston Work For Its Points
This is easier said than done, especially considering the guy just referenced in the section above.  Watching Houston play, sometimes the Cougars make things look so easy.  In the blink of an eye, the Cougars turned a 16-12 fourth-quarter deficit into a 40-16 rout. 
 
Houston did that with big plays.  The Cougars had six plays of 20 yards or more last week against the Bearcats and that doesn't include the two fourth-quarter "pick-sixes" they had either.  Throw in Brandon Wilson's "kick-six" against Oklahoma in the opener and the Cougars have 36 non-offensive touchdowns dating back to 2010, the third highest figure in the country.
 
The Cougars aren't a team that needs a lot of help, so the Bobcats can't provide them with any.  If it takes 12-play, 80 yard drives for Houston to score on Saturday, so be it.  The explosive plays can not only light up the scoreboard, but deflate the 'Cats and a raucous crowd at Bobcat Stadium.
 
4) There Are Similarities In Style Between The 'Cats And Coogs
Relaying more from Coach Withers this week, he's said that looking at Houston is like looking in the mirror.  The Bobcats want to do the same things on offense that the Cougars are doing, and same goes for the defense.  However, Coach Withers notes the reflection in the mirror is a bit bigger when looking back at Houston.
 
I believe that Coach Withers is referring not just to Houston's size advantage, but advantage in experience as well.  That's probably going to be the case in a lot of Texas State's games with so much youth on the Bobcats' roster. 
 
Singling out one specific position group, let's look at linebackers.  Like Texas State, Houston also runs a 3-4.  But unlike Houston, the defense is new to the Bobcats this year.  Texas State does have plenty of talent at linebacker, Coach Withers said himself at this week's Coach's Show that he believes Gabe Loyd and Brian London are two of the more physical linebackers he's worked with, including his days at Ohio State.  But Loyd and London, along with Gavin Graham, are all first year players while the other starting linebacker, Easy Anyama, is still relatively new to the position.
 
Houston doesn't have this problem (obligatory Apollo 13 reference).  Cougar starters Tyus Bowser, Matthew Adams, Steven Taylor and D'Juan Hines are all either juniors or seniors and between them have 47 career sacks, 22 ½ for Taylor alone, second most among active FBS players.  These four are helping spearhead a defense that has suffocated opposing offenses so far this season, allowing a paltry 38 rushing yards per game, the best figure in the FBS.  Houston is only giving up 13 points per game (14^th in the FBS), just 258 yards per game (12th FBS) and just three times has an opponent had a red zone possession.  Three.  This is the kind of defense Coach Withers wants the Bobcats to emulate and they could get there, but it's going to take time.
 
5) The Coaching Staffs Know Each Other Quite Well
At his press conference earlier this week, Coach Withers reflected on his time working with Coach Herman, not just at Ohio State where the two served as Urban Meyer's coordinators (Withers on defense, Herman on offense), but at Texas as well in the late 1990s.  The connections between the two coaching staffs don't stop there. 
 
Texas State offensive line coach Adrian Mayes served as Herman's Director of Recruiting at Houston last year and was a grad assistant at Ohio State while Herman coached the Buckeyes' offense.  Bobcat receivers coach Parker Fleming was on Herman's offensive staff at Ohio State as well.  Four former Texas State assistants are now on Houston's staff, including Herman, along with Craig Naivar, Jason Washington and Oscar Giles.  Houston offensive coordinator Major Applewhite was Texas' quarterback while both Coach Withers and Coach Herman were in Austin as well.  The coaching community is a small one that's tightly knit and that will definitely be evident when looking at the sideline and coach's boxes on Saturday.
 
Those are five things you should know ahead of Saturday's game.  I hope you're one of the lucky ones to have a ticket, and if so, I look forward to seeing you and 30,000 of your friends there.  Enjoy the game and Eat 'Em Up!
 
Brant Freeman