2026 Houston Cougars Football Preview and Win Total Prediction
The Houston Cougars football program has a complicated history, which features a dominant run in the 60s and 70s followed by a lengthy period without an identifiable conference affiliation. With a proven winner at the helm and a firm spot in the Big XII, Houston looks poised to make another climb up the college football pecking order.
2026 Houston Cougars Football Preview
Big XII Betting Odds
| Team | 2025 Record | 2026 Win Total | B12 Odds | Make CFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 9-4 (6-3) | 7.5 (o +105 / u -125) | +1900 | +1000 |
| Arizona State | 8-5 (6-3) | 6.5 (o -115 / u -105) | +2500 | +1200 |
| Baylor | 5-7 (3-6) | 5.5 (o -165 / u +135) | +4500 | +2500 |
| BYU | 12-2 (8-2) | 8.5 (o -150 / u +125) | +550 | +330 |
| Cincinnati | 7-6 (5-4) | 5.5 (o +125 / u -150) | +10000 | +5000 |
| Colorado | 3-9 (1-8) | 4.5 (o +135 / u -160) | +9000 | +9000 |
| Houston | 10-3 (6-3) | 8.5 (o +130 / u -155) | +1600 | +850 |
| Iowa State | 8-4 (5-4) | 4.5 (o -170 / u +135) | +11000 | +7000 |
| Kansas | 5-7 (3-6) | 5.5 (o -155 / u +130) | +4500 | +3000 |
| Kansas State | 6-6 (5-4) | 8.5 (o +115 / u -135) | +1500 | +750 |
| Oklahoma State | 1-11 (0-9) | 6.5 (o +120 / u -140) | +3000 | +2000 |
| TCU | 9-4 (5-4) | 7.5 (o +125 / u -150) | +3000 | +1200 |
| Texas Tech | 12-2 (9-1) | 10.5 (o -200 / u +160) | -105 | -200 |
| Central Florida | 5-7 (2-7) | 5.5 (o -140 / u +120) | +6200 | +3000 |
| Utah | 11-2 (7-2) | 8.5 (o -150 / u +125) | +650 | +350 |
| West Virginia | 4-8 (2-7) | 5.5 (o -160 / u +135) | +5000 | +4000 |
Odds above courtesy of DraftKings as of August 1. The Cougars went 10-3 straight-up, 9-4 against the spread last season including a win over LSU in the Texas Bowl. Houston was great on the road last season, going 5-0 straight-up, 4-1 against the number away from home.
2026 Houston Cougars Football Roster
Projected Returning Starters: 12 (Seven on offense and five on defense)
Projected Starting QB: Conner Weigman (Returning)
Returning Production: 65-percent (71-percent on offense and 58-percent on defense)
Incoming Talent Class: No. 43 Nationally / No. 6 in Big XII
Coaching Changes: No major changes. Head coach Willie Fritz, offensive coordinator Slade Nagle and defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong all return to the sidelines.
Returning starters are courtesy of CBS Sports. Returning production is courtesy of Bill Connelly’s conference preview series at ESPN. Incoming talent rankings are courtesy of 247 Sports’ Composite Ratings, which capture the talent rankings of both incoming freshman and incoming transfers.
2026 Houston Cougars Football Outlook
Like forever looking for a date to the prom, for years Houston would continue to hang around the entrance to the dance, waiting to get inside. When invites did come in the past, they often seem to come conditionally. As much as it has tried, Cougar football has had a hard time getting embraced by the old-line power-elites of the sport.
A Look Back at Houston Cougars Football
Rewind back to when Houston Cougars football really put itself on the gridiron map in the 60s behind creative head coach Bill Yeoman, the “Father of the Veer” who authored numerous record-breaking offenses and splashy headlines. The Cougars were the first team to play an indoor game in 1965 at Astrodome, and the next season, the first team to host a game played on an artificial surface (“AstroTurf”) in the opener vs. Washington State.
Houston would also break the color line long before anyone else in the old Southwest Conference, and among the gaudy numbers posted by Yeoman’s troops were 100 points scored against Tulsa in a 1968 massacre at the Astrodome, modern college football’s rough equivalent of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game vs. the Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania on March 2, 1962.
Note, the basketball Cougs achieved greater acceptance in the 60s because even without major conference affiliation, they could still qualify for the NCAA Tourney, as a couple of famous Guy Lewis teams featuring Elvin Hayes did in 1967 & ‘68, generating enormous publicity for the school.
Among the best of Yeoman’s teams was the 1969 edition that might have closed the season as the hottest team in the country, blowing away a good Shug Jordan Auburn side 36-7 in the old Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. This after throttling Archie Manning’s Sugar Bowl-bound Ole Miss 25-11 at the Dome in late October.
Manning remembers, as at an SEC Media Day several years ago in Hoover, when asked the best team he played while a Rebel, unhesitatingly answered “Houston. We couldn’t do anything against them.” When prodded a bit further, and asked if that Houston was better than the iconic Arkansas side of the same season, the narrow 15-14 loser to Texas in one of the ”Games of the Century” pitting No. 1 & No. 2 in the nation, and the Ole Miss victim (27-22) in the Sugar Bowl, Archie didn’t hesitate. “No question, Houston was better,” said Manning.
Mississippi State, a 74-0 loser to the Cougs earlier that season, would agree. Among the colorful players from that golden late 60s-early 70s era who would go on to decorated NFL careers were HB Warren McVea, TE Riley Odoms, WR Elmo Wight, and FB Robert Newhouse.
What all of that success would gradually lead to was a begrudging invitation from the old SWC, which couldn’t ignore the Cougs any longer, but in one final bit of ignominy waited five years before allowing UH to compete for conference titles after finally offering membership in 1971.
Not until 1976, however, would the Cougs compete for an SWC title, and in their first chance during that ’76 season won the loop and the Cotton Bowl as well, dumping a then-unbeaten Maryland. Yeoman’s 1978 & ‘79 teams would also win the SWC and represent the league in Dallas on New Year’s Day at the Cotton. Later in the 80s, Jack Pardee and then John Jenkins would introduce the “Run & Shoot” offenses on a grand scale, with QB Andre Ware winning the Heisman Trophy in 1989.
The old blue-bloods of the SWC like Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M never looked upon Houston kindly, however, and when the chance came to disintegrate the old SWC and align with the Big 8, and thus the new “Big 12” in 1996, Houston wasn’t invited along. Indeed, with most of the rest of the league aligning with the WAC, the Cougars were left with nowhere to land except fledgling Conference USA, as always serving as a temporary but useful weigh-station of sorts for schools even from the earliest days of its existence.
Eventually, UH would migrate, with several other CUSA reps, to the American, and hit a few more high notes (especially in the brief Tom Herman era) before the call finally came from the Big 12 in 2023.
Though the loop had some nervous moments in recent years, it is now part of the Power 4 group of conferences, and after several wilderness years, UH finally has its seat at the head table once more.
An Impressive Roster Returns
With the booster class energized by major donor Tilman Fertitta (owner of the NBA Rockets), the Cougs can play the big-college money game now, too, having erected a spanking-new TDECU Stadium (taking the place of old Jeppesen/Robertson) in recent years, and after the Dana Holgorsen era began to fizzle, UH hit a home run with the hire of head coach Willie Fritz from Tulane in front of the 2024 campaign.
A serial winner throughout his career in 33 years as a head coach who had the Green Wave scaling new heights (including a wildly-entertaining Cotton Bowl win over USC four seasons ago), Fritz immediately instilled the sort of accountability in his troops that was increasingly absent in the lax Holgorsen regime. After an adjustment season in 2024, the Cougs started their climb back last fall and ended with ten wins and a success over LSU in the Texas Bowl, forging a six-win improvement from the previous fall.
Frtiz, whose Tulane entries began to gather momentum as time passed, now might be on the verge of a major breakthrough this fall. Remaining in the fold for one more year is QB Conner Weigman, the former Texas A&M transfer who has fought injuries throughout his career but stayed healthy enough last fall when passing for 2,705 yards and 25 TDs while adding another 700 rush yards and 11 more scores on the ground.
More excitement should be provided by RB Makhi Hughes, who has reunited with Fritz after an aborted season at Oregon, following back-to-back 1,000-yard rush seasons for Tulane, including 1,371 yards rushing for Fritz in 2023.
Big-play wideout Amare Hughes returns after earning All-Big 12 honors while catching 12 TD passes a year ago. Fritz and offensive coordinator Slade Nagel are also high on the OL that adds another well-regarded Tulane transfer in guard Shadre Hurst.
Meanwhile, six starters (robust returnee number these days) are back on defense after significant improvement last fall under first-year coordinator Austin Armstrong. The secondary could be a real strength with three starters back in the fold including All-Big 12 cornerback Will James. Another Tulane transfer, nickel back Javion White, is penciled into the starting lineup, while sophomore Paris Melvin Jr. has hinted at “Travis Hunter Lite” as he has oozed big-play potential in the secondary and kick returns while looking to add offense from a WR spot this fall.
Ex-Oregon DE Ashton Porter will be expected to apply pressure, while the extra year of eligibility granted edge rusher supreme Brandon Mack II should further embolden the pass rush.
Houston Cougars Win Total Prediction
That Fritz has done it before at Tulane and appears ahead of schedule at Houston should be a warning to the rest of the Big 12 to eye the Cougars warily. The pieces look in place for a big autumn, especially if Weigman can stay in one piece, though ballyhooed frosh pilot Keisean Henderson is waiting in the wings.
Established weapons are in place on the attack-end and the defense hardly seems a liability. We’ll see how far along Houston is when it goes to Texas Tech for a Friday showcase on September 18 (and a win for Big 12 commish Brett Yormark over Red Raider benefactor Cody Campbell, who didn’t like the Friday date). With expected loop contenders BYU and Arizona not on the schedule, a rematch vs. Tech in the Big 12 title game seems possible with accompanying playoff implications.
We have long wondered how the Yeoman Cougs of long ago might have fared had playoffs been in place in the late 60s and 70s…maybe this will be Houston’s chance to prove once and for all it belongs at the gridiron big-boy table? OVER 8.5 Wins
2026 Houston Cougars Football Schedule
| Date | Day | Home/Away | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 5 | Sat | Home | Oregon State |
| September 12 | Sat | Home | Southern |
| September 18 | Fri | Road | Texas Tech |
| September 26 | Sat | Road | Georgia Southern |
| October 3 | Sat | Home | UCF |
| October 10 | Sat | Road | Kansas State |
| October 17 | Sat | Home | Oklahoma State |
| October 24 | Sat | Road | Utah |
| Bye | |||
| November 7 | Sat | Home | Cincinnati |
| November 13 | Fri | Road | Colorado |
| November 21 | Sat | Road | West Virginia |
| November 28 | Sat | Home | Baylor |
WagerTalk Live Odds Screen
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