Houston Faces a Kansas State Challenge It Has Never Conquered
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The Houston Cougars have a daunting road schedule this year. While the road trip out to Texas Tech has already been completed and the Cougars nearly pulled off a special upset in Lubbock, Texas, there are still some huge road hurdles ahead.
Houston, currently ranked No. 22, showed that it can hang with the top of the conference in a rowdy road environment against the Red Raiders. The Cougars handled the away environment well, even if the final result didn't show a win.
Houston will now get a couple more chances to prove its road merit. That starts in Week 6 at Kansas State. Although the Wildcats are coming off a 31-26 loss to Cincinnati on the road and aren't ranked, this won't be an easy game at all. It will still be a challenge to come out with a win.
Houston Looking For a Tough Road Win
Traveling out to Manhattan, Kansas, is never a comfortable road trip. Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium is one of the toughest environments to play in the Big 12. While Houston was 6-0 on the road last season, the kind of road games that it played in last year just don't meet the kind of level it will have to face this season, with No. 12 Utah ahead on the schedule as well.
Kansas State has experienced a lot of success at home. The crowd is always packed and full for the most part, and it's been an original Big 12 member. K-State has a 233-130-3 record at Snyder Family Stadium and is 97-38 since the stadium name change in 2005.
The Wildcats are 18-5 at home since Houston joined the Big 12 in 2023. The Cougars have only faced the Wildcats twice all-time, once in 2023 and once in 2024. Houston has a 1-1 record against K-State so far, with both home teams winning.
Houston got crushed 41-0 in its first-ever game in Manhattan back in 2023. However, that was the first season in the Big 12, and it was a Cougars team that went just 4-8 overall with a 2-7 Big 12 record.
It's quite different this time around. This will be Coach Willie Fritz's first time leading Houston against Kansas State on the road. In Fritz's first season in 2024, the Cougars beat a No. 17-ranked K-State at home in TDECU Stadium 24-19.
The Cougars have grown tremendously from a few years back and are one of the four ranked Big 12 teams at the moment. Fritz has stabilized the program and the Houston offense is led by senior quarterback Conner Weigman, who's playing like one of, if not the best, quarterbacks in the conference.
Weigman has a ton of road experience from the SEC as well, so this isn't something he can't handle. Houston is looking for its first-ever win in Manhattan, and this team could very well be capable of accomplishing that against quarterback Avery Johnson and the Wildcats.
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Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.