Bizarre ESPN Graphic Completely Dismisses Historic Houston Cougars Start
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While there was certainly some optimism among Houston Cougars fans entering the 2025 season, not many expected them to start the year as well as they have.
The Cougars sit at a perfect 3-0 as they enjoy their first bye week of the season, and not only are they undefeated, but they've looked darn good. The offense looks better than it ever did last season, with two transfers in quarterback Conner Weigman and running back Dean Connors becoming instant impact players. The defense, meanwhile, picked up where it left off last season and has allowed fewer than 10 points per game so far.
After back-to-back 4-8 seasons, the Cougars look like a team that could do some damage in the Big 12 this season. It'd be nice if the network college football essentially lives on cared, though.
ESPN Excludes Houston Cougars on Confusing Graphic
During Saturday's edition of ESPN's "College GameDay," the network aired a complete mess of a graphic showing undefeated teams this season, but the Cougars were notably missing. They were one of just a handful of Power Four teams that were undefeated entering Saturday's action to be excluded from the graphic, alongside Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State and others. Meanwhile, two teams from the American Conference, Tulane and Memphis, were featured on the graphic.
Someone in the Cougars' athletic department clearly took notice, and then proceeded to call ESPN out for the mistake.
missing one @espn pic.twitter.com/1HoIJOFyp7
— Houston Athletics (@UHCougars) September 20, 2025
Ignoring the Cougars' snub for just a second, this graphic doesn't make a lick of sense. It being set up as a Venn diagram between teams that are tested and those that aren't is completely ridiculous because there shouldn't be any overlap. How can a team be tested and not tested at the same time? Trick question, it can't.
Back to the topic at hand, though, the Cougars being excluded from this graphic shows how they are sadly overlooked in the national media landscape. Sure, they might not be national championship contenders (or they might be if they keep playing like they have), but they are a good team with a lot of exciting players. Plus, they play in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the entire country, so they shouldn't have much trouble attracting eyeballs.
Unfortunately, their brand isn't as big as some other teams they share a conference and/or state with, which leads to them getting glossed over far too often. Hopefully, that will change as they continue to win.
