The 2025 college football season saw an early start in the city of Houston, as the Cougars hosted FCS opponent Stephen F. Austin on Thursday night. It was Houston’s first matchup vs. the FCS since 2021, and just like four years ago, the Cougars produced a shutout, handling SFA in 27-0 fashion.
At 1-0 Houston is now above .500 for the first time since Week 1 of the 2023 campaign — a year prior to Willie Fritz’s arrival. After a pair of 4-8 seasons to commence their Big 12 membership, the Cougars are
eyeing greater results in 2025, and Thursday night was a step in the right direction.
Weigman returns home
All eyes were on No. 1 the second Houston stormed out of the tunnel at TDECU Stadium. Quarterback Conner Weigman arrived in December from Texas A&M, moving closer to his hometown for a needed reset. Weigman, a former 5-star recruit out of Cypress, TX, started 13 games for the Aggies but injuries largely limited his availability.
In his Houston debut, the quarterback completed 15-of-24 passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. The Cougars went straight for the jugular right away as Weigman launched a deep ball on his first play donning a red jersey. While it fell incomplete, Houston utilized the quarterback in the short-to-medium throw game for the remainder of the contest.
“I felt like it was a lot of up-and-down,” Weigman said. “I feel like we beat ourselves, but we made plays when we needed to, and it’s always good to start the season 1-0.”
Weigman became the first Cougar quarterback to throw for 150 and three touchdowns in his debut. He delivered his first strike to an open Tanner Koziol in the end zone and his second to J’Marion Burnette on a screen. But Weigman’s third touchdown of the night was easily his best throw, threading the needle to find UAB transfer Amare Thomas on a 20-yard dart.
“He threw a really nice ball to Amare Thomas down there at the goal line,” Fritz said. “It’s the hardest I’ve ever seen him throw a football. He really threw a fastball in there and it had to be a fastball, or it would have been picked. For having not played for a while, I thought Conner did a really nice job, and I think this is gonna be a great learning experience for him.”
Weigman’s mobility also shined, as the quarterback produced 39 rushing yards — tied for the second-most of his college career — in the victory. He broke free for runs of 27 and 11 yards during the contest, juking a defender and showing the culmination of a fully healthy offseason.
“It’s the result of being healthier,” Weigman said on his mobility. “I put a major emphasis on getting my body right this offseason, and I felt like I’ve done a good job of that. Let’s keep it going.”
Armstrong’s defense dominates
Every instance of Cougars’ success in 2024 was driven by the defense. Houston limited seven of its 12 opponents to 20 points or fewer last year, managing to pull off upsets over 9-4 TCU and 9-4 Kansas State due to the sheer strength of the unit. However, defensive coordinator Shiel Wood left for Texas Tech and the Cougars were forced to replace eight starters, including star defensive backs AJ Haulcy and Jeremiah Wilson who departed late in the spring.
New defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong arrived from Florida, and the results were as spectacular as one could expect. Sure, it was an FCS opponent, but Houston’s defense never allowed Stephen F. Austin to cross the Cougars’ 34-yard line in the shutout. SFA went 3-of-16 on third down and 0-of-3 on fourth, committing two turnovers against an immovable unit.
“Outstanding job by the defense. It is really difficult to shut a team out nowadays,” Fritz said. “I don’t care what level you’re talking about — middle school or high school or NFL or college. We did an excellent jump in alignment. We gave up a few first downs but not very many. We really tackled well and played with great leverage. We changed a lot of guys up front and at the second level, linebackers and safeties as well.”
Houston’s defense featured a new batch of standouts in Week 1, including inside linebacker Jalen Garner (6 tackles, 0.5 TFL) and cornerback Marc Stampley II (1 interception, 1 pass breakup). The Cougars aggressively flew to the ball at all times, deflecting seven passes and delivering a slew of devastating hits.
“Defensively, we prepared real well going into this game,” Stampley said. “We were definitely locked in to our keys and our assignments and doing our job to where we were able to fly around and play fast. The game almost just felt like practice.”
Koziol shows promise
On Apr. 17, the Houston Cougars landed quite a haul from the transfer portal. Ball State tight end Tanner Koziol, after a brief offseason stop at Wisconsin, headed southwest to the Big 12 institution. Koziol ranked sixth in the FBS last season by producing 94 receptions, scoring a team-high eight touchdowns for the Cardinals. It’s been 17 years since a Houston tight end crossed 40 receptions when Mark Hafner registered 86 in 2008, so Koziol’s presence gives the team an offensive weapon it hasn’t enjoyed in quite some time.
Koziol was the offense’s most notable standout in the Cougars’ season opener. The 6’7”, 250 pound tight end proved to be a matchup nightmare for the Stephen F. Austin defense, securing seven receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown in the 27-point decision. Koziol made a leaping grab in the end zone for Houston’s first touchdown of 2025, showing the extent of his impressive catch radius.
“That would have been an overthrow on most people,” Fritz said recalling Koziol’s touchdown. “He’s got great length. The thing he does different than other people is he extends his arms toward the ball instead of waiting to receive the ball. That makes his length play to his advantage. A lot of guys wait for the ball to come to you. He’s got long arms too; he’s not just tall. He has a great wingspan. He definitely needs to be apart of what we’re doing.”
However, the tight end was nicked up in the middle of the third quarter. After walking off the field unassisted, he briefly returned to action with a left knee brace on but was not targeted again. Fritz did not share any concerns about the tight end’s availability moving forward.
“I think he’s fine,” Fritz said. “Nothing serious. He should be back at practice on Monday.”
Offense still needs work
Houston ranked 133rd out of 134 teams in scoring offense a year ago, producing 14.0 points per game — 0.1 point above 0-12 Kent State. The Cougars understood the offense needed to take a significant leap in 2025 to accomplish their goals. To do so, Houston brought in a new offensive coordinator in Slade Nagle, who served int the same role under Fritz at Tulane in 2023.
Houston’s offense showed areas of progress, converting three red zone opportunities into 17 points, after finishing last in the FBS in red zone scoring percentage a year ago. But the Cougars mustered up just three touchdowns on an FCS opponent while sending out punter Liam Dougherty seven times. There were five three-and-outs in the contest, a number Houston must improve upon as Big 12 play approaches in two weeks.
“We just got to get more consistent,” Fritz said. “We stubbed our toes, had some self-inflicted wounds offensively. That happens sometimes. We had a bunch of guys, it’s their first time they played in a while.”
Offensive line was a particular concern for the 2024 Cougars. After refurbishing the group this offseason, Fritz gave the unit a “C” grade for the opener. He shuffled the five-man front several times in-game, shifting Matthew Wykoff from right guard to center, substituting Demetrius “Pancake” Hunter and McKenzie Agnello, and utilizing a lineup with five transfer additions at times.
“We’ll get better up there,” Fritz said. “Jason Brooks, that was his first game in two years. Dalton Merryman hadn’t played for a while. It’s going to be a good learning experience for them. We’ve got seven guys for sure that can be starters for us, so we need to give those guys opportunities to see who are best five is. They’re developing some stamina right now. Playing the games is different than practicing. We never have three-and-a-half hour practices, plus the warm-up before the game. You gotta be ready to go for a long period of time.”
Sanford done for season
Houston listed three running backs as potential starters in its Week 1 depth chart. Re’Shaun Sanford II, Dean Connors, and J’Marion Burnette all shared that No. 1 spot heading into the SFA game. Connors officially got the starting nod and Burnette saw plenty of action. Nowhere to be found Thursday night was Sanford.
In the postgame press conference, Fritz revealed Sanford suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice and will miss the entirety of 2025. Sanford led the 2024 Cougars in rushing with 444 yards in his freshman campaign but will be unable to build upon that.
“Re’Shaun had surgery (Wednesday) and is going to be out for the season,” Fritz said. “Unfortunately he’s not going to be able to play for us this year.”
