Why Houston Cougars Fans Shouldn't Hit the Panic Button After Blowout Loss
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Another week in the college football season, and one less undefeated team in the state of Texas.
Willie Fritz and the Houston Cougars took their first defeat of the 2025 season Saturday night in a 35-11 affair against the No. 11 Texas Tech Red Raiders, one that saw Houston quarterback Conner Weigman go down with an apparent injury and subsequently replaced by Zeon Chriss, and Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton continue what he hopes is a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign.
The loss now leaves Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and North Texas as the state's only undefeated schools through five games, but there's no need to throw this season in the trash just yet.
Houston Needed the Loss
While every team in the college football landscape would love to go 12-0 during the regular season, that's becoming more of a rarity with each season that comes and goes, so it was only a matter of time before the zero in the Cougars' loss column turned into a one.
Texas Tech is likely going to be the team to beat in the Big 12 Conference this year, making this easily the biggest challenge that the Cougars have seen all year, a challenge that the Cougars needed to meet head-on if they want to achieve success down the road.
Houston starting the season with four straight wins didn't exactly make this any sort of Cinderella story, rather just a team that finally had the skill and personnel to achieve their desired results, and reaching their previous season's win total very early on.
As the team and fans await official word on the severity of Conner Weigman's injury, the team would be under Zeon Chriss' leadership should the Cypress native need to miss time.
Chriss is a veteran of Willie Fritz's system and knows what is expected, and, despite some shaky accuracy, didn't perform bad under center, firing a 64-yard touchdown to wide receiver Amare Thomas and even showed off his rushing ability, keeping the rock seven times for 59 yards.
Houston's next game comes against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who will still be searching for their first conference win when they host the Cougars in Stillwater next Saturday morning, and have been in absolute shambles all season, their lackluster start resulting in the team firing head coach Mike Gundy after 20 years, and quarterback Zane Flores yet to throw a touchdown pass in the 2025 campaign so far.
Now that the biggest challenge is out of the way, head coach Willie Fritz and Co. can focus on applying this to the rest of their season, turning it into a high finish in the conference this season, and then taking it to a higher level for the future.
Houston and Oklahoma State kick off at 11:00 AM on Saturday, Oct. 11.
