Willie Fritz knows his Houston football team will have to play a near-perfect game to beat No. 17 Kansas State on Saturday.

And it starts with winning the turnover battle.

“Three weeks ago we were plus-four (in the turnover battle)… and we won the game going away,” Fritz said during his weekly press conference. “The next week we were minus four and we lost it going away. We have to do a great revenue takeaway.”

According to Fritz, Houston is 2-1 in their last three games, with wins over TCU and Utah where they have forced a total of six goals. In their 42-14 loss to Kansas, they didn’t force a single turnover — and the Cougars threw four interceptions.

Houston (3-5, 2-3) enters Saturday’s Big 12 home game with Kansas State (7-1, 4-1) as 12.5-point underdogs.

Here are the highlights from Fritz’s weekly press conference.

Fritz on completing just six passes in their 17-14 loss to Utah:

“I did that for a couple of seasons at Georgia Southern. I think we averaged 383 yards per game in a year. … We didn’t throw the ball much. You’ve got to find your way to victory. We played pretty well on defense. We let them go to the long field.

“A big play that probably goes unnoticed is we score our first touchdown and we get a 15-yard penalty. We have to kick off from the 20. Jack (Martin) hits a kickoff from 75 yards and we go down the field and cover it well off, and they had a holding (penalty) on the play and they start on the 18. … If you can get them to go long field, you might have to give up a first down or two Get to a stop comes, you are in the driver’s seat and then you take your offense onto the field.”

Fritz on what he would have done differently on Houston’s two failed fourth-and-goal opportunities:

“Yes, I would have scored touchdowns. That would have been good.”

“A big barometer of winning is what we call four-point plays. Scoring touchdowns instead of field goals. … We just have to do a better job of converting that into points, into touchdowns. We knew on second down that we were going to go for it… we had a missed block assignment that hurt us on one of them. Then we had trouble switching the center quarterback on a quarterback sneak, which was discouraging.

“But the other part is if you don’t get the touchdown, they have to go 99 yards. We played pretty good defense. It doesn’t guarantee it, but it almost guarantees you’re good.” “I’m going to get the ball back into a pretty good field position, which happened on one of them.”

Fritz on how balanced the Big 12 is:

“Every match will be tough. This is a very, very balanced and competitive competition.”

Fritz on running back J’Marion Burnette, who had his best game of the season against Utah:

“He’s a big man who can run fast. Good movement. Good vision. His first run of the game was excellent. … Later in the game he had another big run. He gives that element of a big back. He is 225, 230 and has excellent speed.”

Fritz on how hard it will be to beat Kansas State:

“I believe we started the season with the fifth-toughest schedule in the NCAA. When the season is over, it will be interesting to see where we are. Everyone in the Big 12 is pretty good. This is another difficult opponent.” for us to play. We talk about what we call the plan to win. It will be difficult for us to beat them if we don’t win a big part of the plan to win.

“We’ve got to be a plus in capturing turnovers. That’s going to be very, very important. They have two excellent running backs and an excellent quarterback who can also run the ball. So we have to do well.” track in the running race… We just have to stick to our plan so that we have a chance to win on Saturday.

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