Four Takeaways From Houston Cougars' Week 6 Blowout Loss To No. 11 Texas Tech
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Houston football suffered its first defeat of its 2025 campaign with a 35-11 loss to No. 11 Texas Tech on Saturday, amidst its showcase of its Houston Blue uniforms.
The loss also marked the seventh straight head-to-head loss for the Cougars in the all-time series for which they now only lead the Red Raiders 18-17-1. In that streak, Texas Tech has posted a +97 point differential.
Although there is still plenty of space for Houston to find its way into bowl contention or possibly towards the Big 12 Conference championship, tonight's loss showcased nothing short of ugly on all sides of the ball, including the loss of its key signal-caller. Here are four takeaways from drawn from tonight's display:
Weigman's upper body injury and impact moving forward
Nearing the end of the first half, junior quarterback Conner Weigman threw for 71 yards on 5 of 12 in completions with a late first-quarter interception. After the Cougars' second-to-last drive in the first half, he was rushed to the locker room as junior Zeon Chriss took over to lead a 26-second touchdown drive, which included a 64-yard completion to junior wide receiver Amare Thomas for the score.
Houston QB Conner Weigman is out for the rest of the game with an upper body injury, per @Taylor_McGregor.
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) October 5, 2025
It'll be Zeon Chriss-Gremillion leading the Coogs' offense the rest of the game against Texas Tech.
It was later revealed by school officials that Weigman had suffered an upper-body injury, as he did not begin the second half for Houston.
Coach Willie Fritz did not have a specific update on Weigman's status in the postgame press conference, leaving the question of his availability in the Week 7 matchup at Oklahoma State in the air and raising questions about Houston's offensive outlook moving forward in his absence.
Matador mow-down
On the defensive side of the ball, it was heavily unreflective of what the Cougars had in the first five weeks of the season, as they had surrendered 552 total yards on the night, allowing just a hint over six yards per play.
While senior quarterback Behren Morton threw for nearly 350 yards on the night on 28 of 40 in completions and made up over 62% of Texas Tech's total yardage, it appears an uglier story on the ground of what the Cougars allowed.
Houston surrendered 207 rushing yards tonight, with 205 of them combined from sophomores Ja'Koby Williams and Cameron Dickey, the latter of whom nearly became the second 100-yard rusher of the game.
The lateral fumble call: the stage-setter
On the first snap of the game for the Cougars, Weigman hurled a lateral pass to senior running back Dean Connors, but as he lost control of the ball, it was ultimately ruled a fumble as it was recovered by junior linebacker Ben Roberts. for Houston's second turnover of the season.
Whether the call was questionable or not, it's safe to say that the play ultimately set the tone for how the rest of the game was going to play out for Houston, as the Cougars surrendered three turnovers in total on the night and were held to 1-fo-12 in third down conversions, only seeing the redzone once the entire night.
Get-right opportunity ahead
Like mentioned earlier, there is still plenty of space left in the season for Houston to rack up wins for bowl contention or even towards the Big 12 championship, as the Cougars will look to put themselves one step closer to the first mark with the opportunity ahead in Week 7 at Oklahoma State, which will have been two weeks removed from dismissing longtime head coach Mike Gundy.
The opportunity for the Cougars to gain their rhythm back, no matter who the signal caller is, lies in taking advantage of the 1-4 Cowboys' 43.5 points per game allowed. Meanwhile, Austin Armstrong's units have the potential to find themselves on-brand again and anchor the Pokes to their 13.8 offensive points per game mark.
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.