The Houston Cougars have climbed to No. 14 in the AP poll, and the numbers behind that rise are starting to pile up across the roster.
A handful of Houston players and coaches are collecting national notice in the middle of the season, with the Cougars making noise through big performances, award lists and weekly honors.
Senior tight end Patrick Overmyer headlines the group after being named to the Associated Press Midseason All-American Second Team. That selection came on the heels of his four-touchdown showing against Kansas State, a performance that tied the NCAA FBS record for a tight end.
Overmyer also picked up John Mackey, Earl Campbell and Tyler Rose Player of the Week honors after that game. Through this stretch, he ranks eighth nationally with seven touchdowns and has 432 receiving yards.
Quarterback Conner Weigman is also moving up the award ladder. The fifth-year signal caller advanced into the Top 15 for the Golden Arm Award after he ran for three touchdowns against UCF. On the season, Weigman has thrown for 1,771 yards, which ranks second in the Big 12, and has 20 touchdown passes.
Houston’s line play is getting its own recognition as well. Fifth-year offensive lineman Shadre Hurst and junior offensive lineman Anthony Boswell were both named to the AP Midseason All-American First Team. Houston Athletics says both linemen rank among the nation’s best.
Special teams got in on the spotlight, too. Senior kicker Jonathan Dimas was named Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after knocking through two field goals from 40-plus yards against UCF. He was the only Big 12 kicker to do that in Week 5.
And on the sideline, head coach Willie Fritz landed on the Dodd Trophy Midseason Watch List after the win over UCF. He is one of two Big 12 head coaches and one of three head coaches in Texas on the list.
Fritz has guided Houston to top-25 production in a number of categories, including third-down conversion percentage, rushing defense, interceptions allowed, scoring offense and rushing offense.
In Other News...
BYU Faces A Dangerous Spot With Its Big 12 Hopes Rising
Week 7 kept reshuffling the national picture, and the Big 12 came out of it looking even stronger. Five of the top 10 teams in the country lost, yet the league still has three programs sitting inside the top 10 as the season turns toward Week 8, with BYU at No. 2 after its win over Notre Dame and Texas Tech and Utah also firmly in the mix.
For teams chasing the same upper tier, the margin for error is getting smaller by the week. BYUs rise has brought real playoff-level attention, but the road ahead can turn quickly in this league, and the same goes for teams like Arizona as they try to navigate the next stretch against ranked opponents and the pressure that comes with a suddenly elevated Big 12 race. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Faces A Big 12 Test That Could Change Everything
The next big checkpoint for Houston comes Oct. 24, when the No. 14 Cougars are scheduled to meet No. 10 Utah in a Big 12 game that could reverberate well beyond one night. Utah enters under first-year head coach Morgan Scalley and has built its identity around quarterback Devon Dampier and running back Wayshawn Parker, while the Cougars bring a strong rushing attack and a run defense that has held up well enough to keep them in the league race.
What makes this matchup especially intriguing is how neatly the styles line up: Houston wants to lean on the ground game and control the line of scrimmage, while Utahs defense has been one of the conferences toughest groups to deal with. For the Cougars, the stakes are obvious, because the outcome could go a long way toward shaping their path to the Big 12 Championship Game, and this is the kind of test that tends to reveal whether a contender is ready for the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]