Houston Cougars Receive Their Flowers From the AP For 2025 Season
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After a forgettable 4-8 record tainted Willie Fritz's first season as head coach of the Houston Cougars, 2025 was what gave the team and the coach confidence that this was the tandem that was going to result in success for the University of Houston.
With their season-ending victory against the LSU Tigers in the Kinder's Texas Bowl, the team achieved double-digit wins for the first time since the 2021 season, finishing with a 10-3 record and securing their first AP Poll ranking since 2022 when they came into the West Virginia game ranked No. 22.
And good news for the team, they'll officially finish the season ranked, too.
Houston Cougars No. 22 in the Final AP Poll of 2025 Season
With Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and the Indiana Hoosiers capping off a perfect season with a national championship against the Miami Hurricanes, the Associated Press released their final Top 25 rankings Tuesday morning, and the Cougars efforts throughout the season did not go unnoticed by the publication.
The Cougars were spotted at No. 22 in the AP Poll, behind the Michigan Wolverines and ahead of the Navy Midshipmen, and even better in the Coaches Poll at No. 19.
The Coogs started the season with a 27-0 shutout of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, which was promptly followed by a huge 35-9 road win against the Rice Owls in an early season rivalry matchup and then a 36-20 win over the Colorado Buffaloes.
An injury to quarterback Conner Weigman unfortunately resulted in their first loss of the year to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, but the three straight wins that followed, especially the third one over the No. 24 Arizona State Sun Devils, gave the team their No. 22 ranking that they only held for a short time thanks to an upset by the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The relationship between the Coogs and an AP rank seesawed for the rest of the season, with Houston's win over the UCF Knights the following week putting them back at No. 23, before losing to the TCU Horned Frogs the next week, dropping their rank, and then defeated the Baylor Bears and wearing a No. 21 rank into their bowl game win over LSU.
Here are the final Top 25 rankings of the 2025 season, per the AP:
1) Indiana Hoosiers
2) Miami Hurricanes
3) Ole Miss Rebels
4) Oregon Ducks
5) Ohio State Buckeyes
6) Georgia Bulldogs
7) Texas Tech Red Raiders
8) Texas A&M Aggies
9) Alabama Crimson Tide
10) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
11) BYU Cougars
12) Texas Longhorns
13) Oklahoma Sooners
14) Utah Utes
15) Vanderbilt Commodores
16) Virginia Cavaliers
17) Iowa Hawkeyes
18) Tulane Green Wave
19) James Madison Dukes
20) USC Trojans
21) Michigan Wolverines
22) Houston Cougars
23) Navy Midshipmen
24) North Texas Mean Green
25) TCU Horned Frogs
