Houston at Central Florida

The banged-up Houston Cougars have a losing record and no defense, off a 34-31 loss at home to SMU allowing 182 yards rushing. Defensive tackle Blake Young will miss the rest of the season with a blood clot and right guard Dennis Bardwell is out (left shoulder). Houston's defense is struggling, giving up 31.1 points and 459.6 yards per game, while the offense has turned to inexperienced sophomore QB Clayton Tune (five TDs, four INTs). Houston has failed to cover six of eight against winning teams and faces a Central Florida squad that is unbeaten at home, winning 62-0, 45-27 over Stanford, 56-21 over UConn and 41-28 over East Carolina. They are beating opponents by a 51-19 average at home. Central Florida is on a 15-6 spread run on natural grass and 41-19 ATS after allowing fewer than 100 yards rushing in their previous game. Play Central Florida.