Grading Houston Cougars in Upset Loss to West Virginia
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The Houston Cougars issued possibly their most disappointing performance all season in their 45-35 loss to West Virginia on Saturday,
Compared to the Cougars' Week 6 loss to a dominant, top-billed Texas Tech team on both sides of the ball, this was largely uncharacteristic in multiple ways.
Heading into Week 10, Houston, with a No. 22 AP Poll ranking, had committed just four turnovers all season, the fewest in all of FBS. Within 60 game minutes, the Cougars committed and matched that amount against a West Virginia squad that came in 0-5 in Big 12 play and having averaged only 17 points per game offensively.
This, mixed with a flurry of multiple missed defensive assignments and tackles, led to the Cougars surrendering the most points on the season, handing the Mountaineers their first Big 12 win of 2025 and only leaving questions to be answered.
Although Fritz usually nods to flushing a loss down the toilet as needed, let's grade the Cougars on both sides of the rock to get a sense of what broke down in Week 10.
Defensive front and secondary: D
For consecutive weeks, Houston surrendered 400 total yards of offense to the opposition, but the onslaught of multiple missed tackles and assignments toward the Mountaineers with true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. under center sprinkled throughout the afternoon, and it may have begun with the first defensive possession.
Despite a streak of seven consecutive third down stops from the Cougars and a streak of five stalled drives from the second to third quarters, their efforts could not hold up enough to keep the offense in the game, as they finished by surrendering 246 yards on the ground among five Mountaineer rushers, 108 of them to redshirt freshman Diore Hubbard, and a stout 222 total yards by Fox. This was all orchestrated while they only averaged 5.4 yards per play.
It's safe to say that stock has plummeted defensively in 2025 for the Cougars despite a strong start as a once top 30 total defense, but even in Houston being ahead of schedule in Year 2 of Fritz, we may have only begun seeing select growing pains unfold under the eyes of coordinator Austin Armstrong.
Quarterback play: B
There is no other way to put other than that junior quarterback Conner Weigman looked truly rattled for the first time all season. Although he threw for 309 yards on 25 of 35 passing with four touchdown passes of his five total on the day, he was sacked three times on the day with one of them resulting in a fumble.
It was a mix of Weigman holding onto the ball too long in select snaps while protection folded in others, as it likely contributed to some of his uncharacteristic mistakes including when he threw a pick six returned 80 yards by redshirt senior cornerback Jordan Scruggs.
Weigman and his once award-winning though battered offensive line will need a breather as the turnaround is only six days heading into the Week 11 road trip to UCF.
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.