By virtue of a fourth road victory in as many games and a remarkable turnaround under second-year coach Willie Fritz, No. 22 Houston Cougars entered the national polls for the first time since 2022 following its 24-16 win over then-No. 24 Arizona State last weekend.
The Cougars (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) will host West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday, seeking to stay in the thick of the conference title chase.
Houston is tied with No. 13 Texas Tech, a game behind both No. 10 BYU and No. 17 Cincinnati in the Big 12 standings. The Cougars’ win at Arizona State was their first on the road against a ranked opponent since 2017.
“That’s a goal, and being ranked is something you want to have happen to your team,” Fritz said. “But we’ve got a lot of things we’d like to accomplish this season, and the first one is going and playing great against West Virginia this weekend.
“I didn’t even address it with our guys. I probably should have.”
The Cougars continued a season-long trend of red-zone success against the Sun Devils by finishing 4-for-5 with three touchdowns, all involving quarterback Conner Weigman (two rushing, one passing).
Houston has converted 92.6% of its red-zone opportunities this season, including 17 touchdowns. Thanks to the exceptional accuracy of kicker Ethan Sanchez, who is 16-for-19 on field goals and unblemished on 24 PATs, the Cougars have a prime weapon should their offense bog down.
Still, Fritz is aiming for greater efficiency moving forward, particularly in tallying red-zone touchdowns.
“We talk about four-point plays; we want touchdowns instead of field goals,” Fritz said. “That’s our goal. We’re fortunate we have an excellent field-goal kicker, but every time we get down in there, it gives you an opportunity to win when you score touchdowns in the red zone instead of kicking field goals. We’ve got to get even better in that area.”
West Virginia (2-6, 0-5 Big 12) suffered its fifth consecutive loss last weekend, falling to TCU 23-17 on homecoming.
Scotty Fox Jr. passed for 301 yards in his second career start, setting a program record for a true freshman and surpassing the mark set by Dan Kendra against Temple in 1974. Fox is one of four quarterbacks to log time for the Mountaineers this season, and while his inexperience is noteworthy, Fox isn’t alone in attempting to learn on the fly with West Virginia.
“What’s most unique with Scotty or playing a freshman (at quarterback) is he doesn’t have any experience around him,” Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez said. “Guys might be older guys, but everybody around him is new to the system, and everybody but one is a new starter. It’s a different dynamic.
“I’ve had freshman quarterbacks before, but they would have a little bit of experience up front, maybe some experience in the receiving room. Everybody doesn’t have experience. That’s not an excuse, that’s just the reality. We have to have enough stuff to be able to execute and score points, but we can’t overcomplicate things, not just for the quarterback but for everybody around him.”
