<\/p>\n
Conner Weigman and UH have a chance to make a statement against Texas Tech during the teams’ Week 3 game in Lubbock and exact revenge for the Red Raiders’ win last season in Houston.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman<\/p>\n
FRISCO\u00a0\u2014 Mark your calendars for Sept. 18.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Two likely top 25 college football programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWeek 3 is going to be a huge game,\u201d Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said of the Big 12 opener between the defending champion Red Raiders and University of Houston<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be one of the best games in the country. Hopefully we are both undefeated.\u201d<\/p>\n It also will be an early measuring stick of just how far UH has come in Year 3 under coach Willie Fritz. It also could set the tone for the season, as the Cougars are regarded among the top challengers for the Big 12 title<\/a>.<\/p>\n ALSO SEE: TDECU Stadium turf to be ready for UH’s opener<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fritz, who is seeking to continue momentum from a 10-win season<\/a>, called the early showdown a chance to \u201ctest yourself against the defending champions.\u201d<\/p>\n A loss in late September won\u2019t doom the rest of the season.<\/p>\n A win, however, would likely catapult the Cougars into the top 15 and into the College Football Playoff discussion. It would send an early message that the Cougars are a team to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge opportunity. I feel like we are going to have a lot of eyes on us,\u201d UH quarterback Conner Weigman<\/a> said of the Fox national audience.<\/p>\n Sign up for Cougar Confidential<\/p>\n You’ll get get in-depth news and analysis about UH\u2019s basketball and football teams from reporter Joseph Duarte by signing up for the Cougar Confidential newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After a chaotic offseason the focus will be on the game (we think). The game threatened to turn into a circus earlier this summer with the legal\/eligibility drama with Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby<\/a>, who was banned by the NCAA<\/a> for betting thousands of dollars on college football while playing at Indiana and Cincinnati. Had Sorsby not made the decision to walk away<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 rather than challenge in court for his final year of college\u00a0\u2014 he would have been eligible to come back from a two-game suspension against the Cougars. The media frenzy would have sent the game into another stratosphere.<\/p>\n There will still be plenty of hype surrounding the game, although the storylines will be much different.<\/p>\n How effective can Tech quarterback Will Hammond be in his return from an ACL injury suffered last October? What will the Red Raiders\u2019 defense look like after losing four NFL defensive linemen and Butkus and Lombardi Award winner Jacob Rodriguez<\/a>? Can the Red Raiders join Oklahoma and Baylor as the only repeat football champions in Big 12 history? McGuire said Tech has a \u201cchip on our shoulder\u201d after losing to Oregon 23-0<\/a> in the CFP quarterfinals.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure, you always want to play good against big-time teams like that,\u201d Weigman said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a good test for us to see where we are at. We\u2019ve got to win some games before that first before it\u2019s a big game.\u201d<\/p>\n The game has already created headlines. In April, Tech megadonor Cody Campbell got into a dustup<\/a> with Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark about the game being shifted to a Friday night<\/a>, which is considered \u201csacred\u201d for high school football.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI know that Brett Yormark is not a native Texan, but he\u2019s been here long enough to know better!\u201d Campbell posted on X. \u201cCome on, man!\u201d<\/p>\n Yorkmark responded by telling the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: \u201cCody Campbell does not run the Big 12.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell later told ESPN that Yormark\u2019s job was not to be \u201cthe dictator of the conference.\u201d<\/p>\n Before then, Oregon State and Southern, both at home, should offer little resistance for the Cougars in the first two weeks of the season. Meanwhile, UH\u2019s offense\u00a0\u2014 which doubled its scoring production to nearly 30 points per game from 2024\u00a0\u2014 features one of the Big 12\u2019s best pass-catch combos with Weigman and Amare Thomas<\/a>. The offensive line underwent a makeover, landing preseason All-American left guard Shadre Hurst from Tulane and two other starters, Anthony Boswell (Toledo) and right tackle Drew Terrill (Miami Ohio). UH also replaced multi-purpose back Dean Connors with Makhi Hughes<\/a>, who had nearly 2,800 yards in two seasons at Tulane. Can the Cougars win at home? UH was a nation-best 6-0 on the road last season but just 3-3 at TDECU Stadium. Two of the losses came in November to knock the Cougars out of the Big 12 race.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Should the Cougars be considered a dark horse team?<\/p>\n \u201cWillie Fritz has a great football team,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cThey were one of the hottest teams at the end of last year. I don\u2019t think Houston is going to be a surprise. Willie doesn\u2019t get enough credit for what he has done recruiting the (transfer) portal. He has done a phenomenal job. His guys are playing really well. Conner had his best year and stayed healthy all year long.\u201d<\/p>\n Both teams will have to navigate a tough Big 12 schedule that could include a handful of possible challengers. UH must travel to Kansas State and Utah, two of the toughest places to play in the league. Texas Tech gets its toughest games in Lubbock\u00a0\u2014 Houston, Arizona State, Arizona and TCU.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople say we don\u2019t have a tough schedule,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cBut we play a 10-win Houston. We play a nine-win TCU. A nine-win Arizona. If Arizona State\u2019s quarterback doesn\u2019t get hurt \u2026 they won eight games but who knows how many games (they\u2019ve could have won). I\u2019m just glad all those schools I said have to come to Lubbock, Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conner Weigman and UH have a chance to make a statement against Texas Tech during the teams’ Week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-366430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}