For the first time since joining the Big 12, the Houston Cougars had a number accompany their name. Houston stood firmly at No. 22, rattling off three-straight Big 12 wins en route to a 7-1 overall start.
In a crowded conversation for the Big 12 title race, the newly-ranked Houston struggled with the designation it earned last Sunday. As considerable favorites against a West Virginia squad riding a 5-game losing skid, the No. 22 team in the country never led once, falling in a 45-35 upset at home — in all likelihood, immediately losing that coveted ranking it earned six days prior.
“It’s disappointing, knowing we’re a good team,” Houston free safety Kentrell Webb said. “We thought we were better than that team, so a loss is disappointing in general.”
Houston built its 7-1 start through smart, pristine football. The Cougars only committed four turnovers through their first eight contests, tied for third-best in the FBS in the category entering Week 10. However, Houston couldn’t refrain from coughing up the ball against the Mountaineers, doubling its year-long output with a commanding 4-0 defeat in the turnover battle.
“It was a game momentum without question,” Houston head coach Willie Fritz said. “Unfortunately we had some self-inflicted wounds turning the ball over. That’s uncharacteristic of us. I told the kids down there, minus-4, my win percentage of the years is not real good. In this league, everybody’s pretty good. West Virginia, they’re a good team and had an opportunity to win last week. When you’re against a good team and you’re a minus-4, you’re gonna have a tough time.”
Quarterback Conner Weigman matched his season interception total with two and additionally whiffed on a pass for a fumble, which was recovered by West Virginia outside linebacker Jimmori Robinson. Then trailing by 10 late in the fourth quarter, Houston squandered its last-gasp opportunity by incidentally making contact with the ball on a punt return. The Mountaineers scored 17 points courtesy of Cougar turnovers.
“We played pretty clean football throughout the season,” Fritz said. “We’re a minus-2 and a minus-4 in our two losses. It’s difficult for Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers to win when you do that. The other games we were either even or a plus-1, plus-2, whatever it may be. It’s difficult to win like that. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I think when we’re plus-1 or better, we’ve won 91 percent of our games. In the minus categories, like 30-something percent. You still can win, but you’re making it hard on yourself.”
The most consequential play of the game transpired in the middle of the third quarter. Houston possessed the ball on the West Virginia 22-yard line with a golden opportunity at its first lead, down 24-21. On 1st and 10, Weigman targeted Amare Thomas toward the sideline, but the route was perfectly jumped by West Virginia cornerback Jordan Scruggs, who sprinted 80 yards free for a pick-six. Houston never controlled the ball again trailing by single-digits.
“(Thomas) was open and (Weigman) got the ball out just a tad bit late,” Fritz said. “Gotta get it out just a little bit quicker. A quarterback gets too much credit when things go well and too much blame when things don’t go well. So you also have to come back to the ball a little bit when you see it floating like that.”
It was an uncharacteristically rough performance for the Houston defense to start and to close the contest. The nation’s 22nd ranked scoring defense allowed its most points since Sept. 30, 2023 and its most at home since 2022. West Virginia’s offense, which averaged 20.5 points per game and only broke 20 twice in seven FBS competitions, excelled to an unforeseen level in the second Rich Rodriguez era.
“It was about being physical and moving the line of scrimmage,” West Virginia running back Diore Hubbard said. “That was the message. It’s been the message all year, you feel me? Finally got it done. Got to move the line of scrimmage well today. We got our pad level down and got what we got — all game.”
The Mountaineers started the game with consecutive touchdown drives spanning 75 and 89 yards, and then reignited the engine in the fourth quarter, hitting paydirt on 73 and 71 yard drives. West Virginia inflicted most damage through the ground, with Hubbard posting 108 rushing yards, while secondary tailback Cyncir Bowers and quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. added 65 apiece — amassing 246 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns as a team. West Virginia kept the offense quite grounded, but the few times Fox aired it out, he was successful, creating several explosives that led to scores.
“Our freshman quarterback is growing up,” Rodriguez said. “He’s really poised, seeing things out there, and I’m proud of the way he played. And the running backs are running. Diore Hubbard ran his tail off. I told him, ‘Run hard, make them tackle you,’ and he ran possessed today, so it was really good.”
Houston overcame an early 21-7 deficit, knotting the game at 21-21 with 3:09 remaining in the first half on a spectacular contested haul by Amare Thomas in the end zone. However, the Cougars’ offense fell flat afterward, missing four consecutive opportunities to secure its first lead. While deadlocked at 21 apiece, Houston drained 58 seconds of clock to end the first half in a tie ballgame, threw an interception on its first drive after halftime, and punted.
“We had some opportunities,” Fritz said on the offensive struggles. “A lot of the throws were progression read throws, and when you do that, you’ve got to have some protection to get from your first to your second to your third read. At times we had difficulty with that.”
West Virginia made Houston pay for that stretch of offensive futility in the early fourth quarter when Fox converted a 4th and 3 with a 34-yard QB draw touchdown, expanding the Mountaineers’ lead to 38-28. If that wasn’t the punishing blow, it was Hubbard’s 11-yard rushing touchdown with 7:15 remaining, establishing a 17-point advantage by pinballing off a stream of Cougar defenders.
“He made us miss a bunch,” Fritz said of Hubbard. “He’d turn a short gain into a big gain. He’s a good back. He ran hard and moved the pile at times. I thought it was gonna be a gain of three and all of the sudden, it’s a gain of six. We’ve got to do a better job of low tackling on those particular plays.”
West Virginia (3-6, 1-5 Big 12) collected its first Big 12 victory under Rodriguez, remaining alive in the bowl eligibility hunt. The Mountaineers also claimed their first ranked victory since a 2021 win over Iowa State and their first in a road environment since 2019, ending a brutal stretch with something to celebrate.
“I was like, ‘Where’s this been?’” Rodriguez said. “It’s been there. It’s just we had to put it all together. Great win against a ranked team on the road. We’re going to enjoy the heck out of it for 24 hours and move on. I’m really proud of the guys.”
Houston (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) watched its Big 12 title aspirations take a significant hit with its second home loss of the year. The Cougars know their ranking will disappear, but they hope this upset loss don’t faze them as the final quarter of the regular season approaches.
“Hopefully it does nothing, just as if we were winning this game, it does nothing as well,” Houston running back Dean Connors said. “We have to keep doing what we’re doing every week, win or loss, and that’s the tricky thing about football or any sport. Wins and losses are just as poisonous and you can’t let them seep in.”
