What Houston's Victory Over the Colorado Buffaloes Means for the Cougars
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The Houston Cougars are three games into their second season under head coach Willie Fritz, and they're already one game away from matching their win total from their 4-8 season last year in 2024, defeating the Colorado Buffaloes 36-20 in their conference opener in front of a jam-packed TDECU Stadium in Houston Friday night.
Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes kept the game close in the first half, the score 16-14 Coogs at halftime, but the second half was all Houston, quarterback Conner Weigman especially.
The Cypress native showed up and showed out in his first Big 12 conference game, throwing for 222 yards and running for a career-high 83 yards and two touchdowns throughout the night.
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The Cougars scored 27 points for the third straight consecutive contest, going to show just how much their offense has been boosted with the additions of players such as Weigman, running back Dean Connors, and tight end Tanner Koziol.
Connors ran for 89 yards and punched in a touchdown during the win, Koziol caught four passes for 33 yards, and wide receiver Stephon Johnson led the team in receiving with five catches for 117 yards.
The Houston offense has really come alive under Weigman, scoring almost double what they had through the first three games last year, scoring 98 points to the 52 they had in 2024 at this point, and are 3-0 on the season after starting 1-2 last year.
The defense has also been phenomenal, only allowing 29 points in the first three games of the season.
The run game has been just as effective with Dean Connors pacing the rushing attack in Re'Shaun Sanford's absence, and now Weigman is proving his dual-threat abilities after an ankle injury in 2023. Texas A&M hindered his rushing abilities mightily, and even after he returned for the 2024 season, his carries with the ball were severely limited.
This start in conference play against an opponent like Colorado has to give the Cougar fanbase some hope for the rest of the season, thought the Buffaloes are also trying to straighten out their game plan thus far in the season, but a win over a coach as dynamic as Coach Prime is, this win is certainly nothing to scoff at, especially after holding the team to only six points in the second half.
The Cougars will leave Houston for the first time next week for their final non-conference game up in Corvallis against the Oregon State Beavers, who are looking for their first win of the season.
