Baylor's QB transplant walks into a buzzsaw: Houston enters this one as the Big 12's real threat, and Friday's late-season clash doubles as revenge for last year's near-miss in Waco.
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BAYHOU
BAYHOU
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Best BetHouston
Houston enters as the more proven, more stable team — a 10-win roster running it back with its starting quarterback versus a Baylor squad still installing a new coordinator and breaking in a transfer QB. Backing the Cougars here is backing continuity over projection in a game where Houston's floor looks a lot higher than Baylor's.
Baylor
+Landed five-star transfer QB DJ Lagway from Florida
+New DC Joe Klanderman brought in to fix defense
+Lagway has full-season starting experience already
−Went 5-7 in 2025, missed a bowl game entirely
−Defense ranked 87th nationally, near 400 yards allowed
−Lagway threw 14 interceptions in his lone Florida season
Houston
+Went 10-3 in 2025, won Texas Bowl over LSU
+Returns Conner Weigman off a 25-TD, MVP bowl season
+About a dozen returning starters off best team in years
−Weigman threw 9 interceptions during his breakout year
−Lost talent to the portal like every other program
−Lost a shootout to Texas Tech 35-11 last season
This is the game Baylor fans circled the moment DJ Lagway landed in Waco. The former five-star, a Houston-area kid who grew up a Baylor legacy, gets to close out the regular season against the program from his own backyard. Across the field, Conner Weigman is trying to finish what he started in 2025 — a Big 12 title push that Houston, not Baylor, is currently favored to make.
Houston's whole offseason pitch was continuity. A dozen starters are back from a 10-win team, and Weigman's return after a Texas Bowl MVP performance is the anchor of it. Baylor's pitch is the opposite: total reset. New defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman was brought in specifically to stop the bleeding on a unit that ranked 87th nationally and let up nearly 400 yards a game, and Lagway is supposed to be the offensive engine that finally gets Dave Aranda off the hottest seat in the conference.
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There's real history here too. Baylor's 5-7 collapse last season included a heartbreaker against Houston, one of a few games the Bears either led or tied in the fourth quarter before losing. A rematch on Houston's home turf, with a Big 12 push potentially still alive for the Cougars, gives this one actual stakes beyond just measuring Lagway's first year running a new offense.
Baylor Bears
Nov 20?vs Texas Tech—
Nov 13?@ BYU—
Nov 6?vs Iowa State—
Oct 30?@ UCF—
Oct 16?vs TCU—
Oct 2?@ Arizona State—
Sep 25?vs Colorado—
Sep 19?vs Louisiana Tech—
Sep 12?vs Prairie View A&M—
Sep 5?@ Auburn—
Houston Cougars
Nov 20?@ West Virginia—
Nov 13?@ Colorado—
Nov 6?vs Cincinnati—
Oct 16?vs Oklahoma State—
Oct 9?@ Kansas State—
Oct 2?vs UCF—
Sep 25?@ Georgia Southern—
Sep 18?@ Texas Tech—
Sep 12?vs Southern—
Sep 5?vs Oregon State—
Recent form.
Weigman's 2025 tape is the separator: 2,705 yards, 25 touchdown passes, and a healthiest-in-years offseason that has Houston fans talking Big 12 title, not just bowl eligibility. He's not turnover-proof — 9 interceptions a year ago — but he's a known quantity running Willie Fritz's offense for a second straight year, which matters against a Baylor defense still figuring out its new scheme in real time.
Baylor Bears
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Houston Cougars
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Lagway is the wild card that makes this more than a formality. He started all 12 games at Florida as a true freshman and threw for over 2,200 yards, but the 14 interceptions that came with it are the exact concern Baylor is hoping a full offseason and a fresh system iron out. If he plays like the five-star talent Baylor recruited instead of the erratic passer Florida saw, this program's turnaround starts to feel real fast — and it could start right here, on the road, against the class of the conference.
