No. 14 Houston heads to Rice Eccles Stadium on Saturday night with more than just a Big 12 road game on its hands.
The Cougars are staring at a top-15 clash with No. 10 Utah, and with it comes a shot to snap a long road drought against elite competition.
This will be Houston’s biggest stage of the season so far, and the toughest road setting it has seen all year. Utah is the highest-ranked opponent Houston has faced, and the matchup will be played in one of the Big 12’s most difficult environments. It also arrives as the capstone to a demanding stretch against some of the league’s best.
The history Houston is chasing is hard to miss. The Cougars have not beaten a top-10 team on the road since Sept. 12, 2009, when they knocked off No.
5 Oklahoma State 45-35. That win came in the Case Keenum era, when Houston built a 24-7 lead and Keenum threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns.
The Cougars were still in Conference USA then and finished that season 10-4. Keenum piled up 5671 passing yards and 44 touchdowns, both best in the FBS.
Before that Oklahoma State upset, Houston’s last road win over a top-10 opponent came in 1984 against No. 3 Texas, a 29-15 victory.
There’s even more history on the line. Houston has not won a top-15 road game while both teams were ranked in the top 15 since 1979, when the No.
6 Cougars beat No. 4 Arkansas 13-10 on the road in Southwest Conference play.
That was 47 years ago.
This is also a rare kind of game for Houston in another way. Saturday will be the Cougars’ first top-15 showdown since 1991, when No.
10 Houston faced No. 2 Miami and lost 40-10.
And for the first time since 1977, Houston will play back-to-back regular-season Top 25 games with both teams ranked. That has happened only three times in program history, including 1977 and 1976.
Fifth-year quarterback Conner Weigman will be central to what Houston tries to do in that setting. The game, which will also be featured on ESPN College GameDay, gives the Cougars a chance to do something this program has not done in a very long time.
In Other News...
Houston Gets Timely Defensive Lift Before Massive Utah Test
Houston is set to get a timely boost on the back end heading into one of its biggest defensive tests of the season. Willie Fritz said senior cornerback Jalen Mayo is expected to be available for the Week 8 matchup with Utah after missing the previous game, a welcome development for a secondary that will be asked to handle plenty of pressure against a Utes offense that leads the Big 12 in scoring.
Mayo has been one of Houstons more important playmakers in the defensive rotation, and his presence matters even more with Utah coming in as a team that can force opponents to stay sharp snap after snap. For the Cougars, getting him back in the mix adds stability at a position group that will be under the microscope from the opening series. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Added A New Threat To Its Big 12 Push
The Big 12 has reached its midpoint with three teams still unbeaten in conference play and the race starting to sharpen around every weeks results, including Houstons own place in the picture. The Cougars showed they can still shape the league conversation behind Conner Weigmans passing in a tight road of sorts against Oklahoma State, while BYU kept building its case with a win over Notre Dame despite dealing with injuries.
For Houston, the bigger takeaway is that the leagues newest threat is not looking like a one-game wonder. Texas Tech has also flashed more consistent offense, while teams such as Oklahoma State, Baylor and Arizona State have been forced to fight through defensive issues and recent losses that are beginning to matter in the standings. If the Cougars are going to stay in the hunt, they will need to keep matching that level of production as the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Got Its SMU Payback In A Rout Fans Still Remember
The No. 11 Cougars went into the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 21, 1978 and walked out with a 42-28 win over SMU that still lingers in Houston memory. In front of 64,871 fans, Houstons defense set the tone early and often, piling up turnovers against the Mustangs while Tommy Ebner, Danny Davis, Delrick Brown, Leonard Mitchell, Emmett King and Randy Love all had a hand in the night that pushed the Cougars to an outright Southwest Conference title.
It was the kind of road win that carried real weight, not just because of the score but because of what it meant in the bigger picture. Houston finished 7-1 in league play and earned a Cotton Bowl berth, with the defenses barrage of interceptions serving as the defining edge in a rivalry game that the Cougars clearly did not forget. [Read more 🡒]