3 Key Takeaways From Houston Cougars' Season Finale Win at Rival Baylor
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Junior quarterback Conner Weigman's game-winning 74-yard touchdown drive helped the Houston Cougars seal their 2025 regular season turnaround campaign, in a scraping 31-24 win over old Southwest Conference rival Baylor Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas.
Although Houston's Big 12 title game contention hopes ended with a Week 13 loss to TCU, the Cougars managed to hold on and cement a 9-3 campaign with a perfect 6-0 road record, a massive improvement in Year 2 of the coach Willie Fritz era from a 4-8 campaign in 2024.
This also garnered revenge for the Cougars after their 2024 senior night loss to Baylor at TDECU Stadium, as Houston is now 2-0 in McLane Stadium and tied with the Bears 15-15-1 in the rivalry's all-time series.
On the other hand, Baylor suffered its fifth loss in six games after starting 4-2, ultimately eliminating the Bears from bowl contention in coach Dave Aranda's sixth season with his future at the helm being called into question.
There is a lot to unpack from Houston's stout rivalry win ahead of a potential top-tier bowl game selection, but we sorted today's regular season finale into three key takeaways.
Weigman's two thirds of offense steal the show from Robertson
On paper, heading into the Week 14 matchup, the better quarterback presented on paper was redshirt senior quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who threw for over 1,100 yards more than Weigman and held a season passer rating in the 70th percentile.
Despite Robertson throwing 24-for-36 with 309 yards and averaging over 13 yards per completion, Weigman proved himself as the more efficient quarterback in throwing 21-for-31 on 201 yards for a winning 126.4 passer rating, but that alone didn't tell the story of his afternoon.
On the ground, Weigman once again led Houston rushers with 121 yards on 22 carries, good for 5.5 yards per rush in part from two rushing touchdowns. This put his rushing touchdown tally at 11 in 2025, the third most in a season by a Houston quarterback behind Greg Ward Jr. and D'Eriq King.
Gutso on fourth down
In Week 13, there was a slew of questions as to why Houston wasn't aggressive enough by deciding to settle for a game-tying field goal that ultimately went wide, resulting in the Cougars' senior day 17-14 loss to TCU.
However, it's safe to say that Week 14 presented a completely different story, prompting some questions about whether offensive coordinator Slade Nagle was over-aggressive.
Regardless of that view, it was nonetheless impressive that, with proper execution, Houston went 4-for-5 on fourth down conversions.
After beginning a perfect 3-for-3 on the split, an incompletion by Weigman on 4th-and-2 intended for junior wide receiver Amare Thomas in Houston territory set the stage for Baylor's game-tying drive, on a 4th-and-9 31-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior wide receiver Josh Cameron.
Redemption came in Houston's second-to-final drive, in which when faced with a 4th-and-7 at Baylor's 41-yard line, Weigman connected with Thomas for nine yards to keep the drive alive and set up the eventual score from senior running back Dean Connors.
The gutsy but successful orchestrations by Nagle on fourth down could eventually gain traction in the college football community if execution is consistently met within manageable scenarios.
First down success hails again on the road
The win also signaled a redemption for the Cougars in first downs, when, as part of their 29 total on the split, they matched their total from the previous week alone in the first half at TDECU Stadium.
Though it's a much better mark on the road to follow, this might only start raising questions again about Houston's offensive efficiency back at home. Though for a while, the Cougars may not have to worry about this efficiency to end the season, depending on how far they travel for a top-tier bowl game en route to a potential 10-win campaign.
Michael Carrara is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He attends the University of Houston, where he is a journalism major and a marketing minor. He is also a sports writer and reporter for the Daily Cougar, having covered baseball as an NCBWA member. You can find Michael on all major social media channels, including X on @michaelcoalec.