In an otherwise disappointing 2024 season, one of the few bright spots was a 27-3 home win over Houston. The Wildcats were able to get the best of an equally struggling Cougars team that, like the UA, had a first-year head coach.
Arizona (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) has matched its win total from last year, while Houston (5-1, 2-1) has surpassed its from Willie Fritz’s first season. The Cougars are a victory away from being bowl eligible for the first time 2022, the year before they joined the Big 12.
To better understand Houston, we reached out to Sam Razz and Bobby Malvaez of the Scott & Holman Pawdcast for some insight and a score prediction. Below are their considered answers to our impetuous questions:
AZ Desert Swarm: What have been the main factors that have contributed to Houston’s 5-1 start?
Sam Razz: “In the preseason, the general hope from myself (and UH fans generally) was that this offense would improve modestly from being maybe the worst offense in all of Division 1-FBS and the defense wouldn’t fall off significantly after lots of losses to graduation and transfers. Through six games we’ve seen a modest improved (but still imperfect) Cougar offense and the biggest reason in my opinion for the improvement has come from the defensive side of the ball.
“The Coogs didn’t just lose most of last year’s key contributors on the field, but defensive coordinator Shiel Wood also left for Texas Tech as that program pointed a metaphorical money cannon at any resource that they wanted for the 2025 football season. And yet, 1st-year DC Austin Armstrong (most recently of Florida) and a cast of largely new faces have added up to a defense that Bill Connelly’s SP+ ranks as the 25th-best unit in the country. Even in the Coogs’ one loss of the 2025 season so far (a 35-11 shellacking by Tech) the defense’s performance would’ve been far down the list of any concerns Coog fans left that game with a couple of Saturdays ago.
“I don’t want to undersell the value of the offense’s improvement, either. I wouldn’t call this a great or even consistently good offense as of yet. But the great thing for QB Conner Weigman and an offense that is also largely new faces is that the expectations were so low coming into the season that even periodic competence would be a breath of fresh air for UH fans. Weigman gives the UH offense an ability to go downfield in the passing game that no UH QB since Clayton Tune has done with any consistency. This isn’t to say this UH offense will be the best or even top three best offenses that Arizona has seen this season… but unlike the offense that featured last November in Tucson, this offense actually has some ability to score against defenses below the level of say Tech or a top 15-20 defense.”
Texas A&M transfer Connor Weigman seems to have performed solid if not spectacular to this point. What are his best attributes, and where is he most lacking?
Bobby Malvaez: “I think heading into the season, having watched some of his Texas A&M tape you saw a guy who could throw the ball really well and had the ability to pick up a few yards when needed with his feet. Where you saw the breakdown was when the pressure started to get home. Watching the game last year vs. Notre Dame, you could see him really start to ‘see ghosts.’. In 2025 you still see a lot of that coming through. He has a great arm. There were multiple times where Sam and I texted each other ‘we didn’t see that throw last year.’ The other thing I really like is that he doesn’t often make the ‘stupid throw.’ He has thrown some balls that were bad throws but it’s usually not to an opponent. He protects the ball.
“Weigman has also been better with his feet than I think even the most positive Weigman fan was expecting. As far as lacking you still see him get shaky when he gets hit a couple of times and while the O-line is better than 2024 (couldn’t be worse) it’s still very much a work in progress. I think he also sails passes at times. When he misses it’s typically high which can lead to big hits on your receivers. Overall, you can see why he was a highly touted recruit. I think his confidence was shaken badly at A&M and he keeps looking like he is getting that swagger back.”
Arizona just allowed a season-high 258 rushing yards to BYU. How effective do you think Houston’s run game will be and who will be the main force in this attack?
Razz: “In the most general sense, no I do not think UH’s offense can emulate or come close to doing to Arizona what BYU did in the run game last Saturday. I know the Wildcat defense has had periodic challenges, but even against the lesser defenses on the 2025 UH schedule so far this has not been a super explosive rushing attack.
You would be hard-pressed though to find a Cougar fan that hasn’t enjoyed the addition of super senior RB Dean Connors, who came over from Rice (the first-ever transfer between these two Houston-area football programs) with a somewhat unexpected additional year of eligibility. Connors is the definition of a tough runner between the tackles and, while UH hasn’t gotten him as involved in the pass game as he was previously at Rice, he’s also proven in spells he can be a difference maker in the pass game.
“It hasn’t happened much in the past two games, aside from a TD run against OSU, but Weigman has also been a pleasant surprise with what he’s done in the run game. Against Colorado, Weigman carried the ball 17 times for 83 yards and has rushed for at least one TD in every game he didn’t leave injured early. I don’t expect we’ll see a Colorado level of usage on Saturday against the Wildcats, but Weigman is definitely a number that has to be respected in the run game (especially close to the end zone).”
Tight end Tanner Koziol leads the Cougars in receptions. Has this been by design or is he just the guy making the most of his opportunities?
Malvaez: “Heading into the season you knew Koziol was going to be a big target for Weigman. I think this Willie Fritz and Slade Nagle offense wanted to use the TE so while I do think scheme plays a large role, I think having a 6-foot-7 target for a QB learning a new offense doesn’t hurt either. Heading into the season I kept saying this felt like a real “Tony Romo and Jason Witten situation” and it has really come to fruition. You can tell Koziol is clearly Weigman’s security blanket out there. So, while I do think the scheme would love to get him the ball, his connection with Weigman plays a larger role than the scheme would call for.”
Where is Houston most effective on defense and where is it most vulnerable.
Razz: “Picking up where they left off last season, through six games this defense has been quite good against the run. I won’t overstate the difficulty of UH’s 1st half of the season schedule, but the fact that UH’s rush yards allowed is a respectable number with the specific challenges of Texas Tech and Rice’s new triple option style offense on the early schedule speaks to the work the defensive front has done so far.
“One of the few key returners on this Cougar defense was interior lineman Carlos Allen, who joined the Coogs before last season as a transfer from Kennesaw State who didn’t play for most of the 2023 season (I believe this was KSU redshirting key guys in anticipation of their first FBS season). As you’d expect, Allen looks like he’s in much better shape and is way more involved on a play in/play out basis than you would expect for a guy whose role is largely to clog up the middle of the line and occupy blockers. You should expect to see a big guy with the number 5 (Allen) all over the field for UH’s defense on Saturday.
“I would also be remiss if I didn’t give some credit to guys like LB Jalen Garner (one of the few holdovers recruited by the Dana Holgorsen staff), Utah transfer LB Sione Fotu, Wazzu transfer interior DL Khalil Laufau and FIU transfer pass rusher Eddie Walls III for credit on this stout rush defense, as well. And even the secondary has largely looked good tackling in open space and that’s a big factor as well.
“As for what this defense doesn’t do as well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about facing a veteran QB like Noah Fifita and the challenges he can pose in the pass game. That 1st half of the season schedule hasn’t featured a lot of proven good FBS quarterbacks and the one that UH did face (Tech’s Behren Morton) largely did whatever he wanted in the pass game. I do like the experience UH has in the secondary with returning ’24 starters Latrell McCutchin Sr and Kentrell Webb, along with transfers Will James (Southern Miss), Marc Stampley II (GA Southern), Blake Thompson (LA Tech), and Zelmar Vedder (Sacramento St)… but right now for me that phase of the game is less proven than the rush defense and Arizona will pose challenges in the passing game that I haven’t yet seen this defense solve for in the current season.”
Prediction time. Do the Cougars become bowl eligible or does Arizona get a rare road win? Give us a score pick.
Malvaez: “Man, this is such a tough one. We do a bit where we pick against the spread for the season and the loser must do something the other person knows they would hate. This one has me going back and forth. I’m going to be a homer here though, give me the Coogs improving to 6-1 by a final score of 20-17. Both defenses are good and both offenses are hit or miss. I don’t see a ton of points being scored.”