Multiple Houston Cougars Suffer Injuries in Win Over Colorado
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On Friday night, the Houston Cougars and Colorado Buffaloes squared off in one of the first Big 12 conference games in the 2025 season.
Despite a strong start by the Cougars, the team's depth would eventually be tested amid of a sea of injuries during their 36-20 win over the Buffaloes.
The losses of offensive linemen David Ndukwe and McKenzie Agnello are significant in a variety of ways for the Cougar offense. While the Cougars have excelled at running the football so far this season, the depth for Houston's offensive line could now be in question for the weeks ahead.
Willie Fritz Optimistic About Injuries Heading into Bye Week
Along with the injuries from Ndukwe and Agnello, the Cougars also sustained injuries in the secondary with defensive back Marc Stampley II leaving the game early as well.
With how many injuries Houston suffered in their win against Colorado, it isn't an understatement to say that head coach Willie Fritz will need players to step up in the weeks ahead. With multiple injuries on both sides of the ball, the open week for the Cougars couldn't come at a better time.
Ndukwe headlines the injuries for the Cougars because of his versatility on the offensive line. Moving back and forth from both offensive tackle positions is something Ndukwe has had experience managing.
Houston left tackle David Ndukwe carted off the field pic.twitter.com/3bAGnw1rPy
— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) September 12, 2025
In the postgame press conference, Fritz gave his thoughts on the team's injuries coming at the right time with a bye week coming up.
"I think it is coming at a good time," Fritz said. "We've got some guys banged up, you know it always seems to happen at the positions you don't want it to happen at. Hopefully David (Ndukwe) is going to be okay, I haven't heard a result with anything, I know they transported him to the hospital.
"You know Dalton (Merryman) I think will be back this next week, Jason Brooks played some this week, but he was out all week, so we need to get some guys healthy because that's definitely an area of concern for us."
When asked if there was any concern for the injury Marc Stampley II sustained, Fritz responded by saying that it was encouraging to see the Georgia Southern transfer celebrating with the team after the game.
"I hope not," Fritz said. "I haven't had a chance to talk to, you know our doctors or athletic trainers or anybody, so hopefully he's going to be okay. It's a good sign that he's celebrating."
When asked about the outlook on the offensive line depth for the Cougars, Fritz responded by saying that he and his staff will have to take a look at who's available this week.
"You know Cedric Melton came in, he started and played a bunch tonight," Fritz said. "We're lucky Alvin can play a lot of positions for us, McKenzie got banged up, I think he's going to be alright. This week off for him is going to be big."
"Demetrius Hunter played the whole game at center, Matthew Wykoff played the whole game at left guard, so we just got to get people healthy and see where we're at come Monday," Fritz added.
With the Cougars heading into a BYE week, Fritz and his staff now have time for guys to get healthy before the team travels to Corvallis to take on the Oregon State Beavers.
