Houston strolls into Morgantown as a Big 12 title hopeful. West Virginia is just trying to prove last year's 4-8 mess was a one-off.
Bush’s Picks
HOUWVU
HOUWVU
OverUnder
Best BetHouston
Houston enters as one of the Big 12's true title contenders with a proven, healthy Weigman under center, while West Virginia is still settling a three-way QB battle after a 4-8 season. That gap in continuity and experience makes the Cougars the easy side here even on the road.
Houston
+Weigman returns after 25-TD, Texas Bowl MVP season
+Five-star Henderson adds a dangerous change-up
+Widely picked as a Big 12 title contender
−Weigman's durability has been a swing factor
−Road trip late in a long Big 12 slate
West Virginia
+Rodriguez landed program's highest-ranked signing class
+Cam Cook arrives as a proven feature back
+Expected to bounce back into bowl contention
The QB pictures could not look more different. Houston brings back Conner Weigman, who threw for 2,705 yards and 25 touchdowns last season and earned Texas Bowl MVP honors while leading the Cougars to 10 wins and a No. 22 finish. West Virginia is still sorting out its own competition, with Oklahoma transfer Michael Hawkins Jr. the presumptive favorite over Scotty Fox Jr. and Max Brown. Whoever wins that battle inherits a home date against a team most preseason polls have circling the Big 12 championship game.
Rich Rodriguez didn't sit on his hands after a 4-8 debut season back in Morgantown. He raided the portal for Jacksonville State running back Cam Cook, a Doak Walker-caliber producer, and added receivers Prince Strachan (USC) and DJ Epps (Troy) to replace departed target Cam Vaughn. It's the highest-ranked signing class in program history on top of that, which is why the same outlets picking WVU near the bottom of the league also expect a bowl bid this time around.
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Houston, meanwhile, isn't just running it back — it's upgrading. Five-star freshman Keisean Henderson, the No. 1 recruit in the country, sits behind Weigman and figures to see real snaps in short-yardage and mop-up spots, which only deepens a Cougars offense that already has Willie Fritz's program mentioned in the same breath as Texas Tech, BYU and Utah as true Big 12 title contenders.
Houston Cougars
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—
West Virginia Mountaineers
Nov 13?vs Kansas—
Nov 6?@ Texas Tech—
Oct 16?vs Cincinnati—
Oct 9?vs Arizona—
Oct 2?@ Iowa State—
Sep 25?vs Oklahoma State—
Sep 19?@ Virginia—
Sep 12?vs UT Martin—
Sep 5?vs Coastal Carolina—
Recent form.
This one lands late in the Big 12 slate on Friday, November 20, by which point both rosters will have a real body of work to lean on — Houston's title push either alive or dead, West Virginia's bowl chase either on track or already buried. That context will matter more than anything on paper right now.
Houston Cougars
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
West Virginia Mountaineers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
For now, this reads as a talent mismatch with a variable attached: how far along is West Virginia's rebuild by mid-November, and is Weigman's health holding up the way it needs to for Houston to actually cash in on preseason hype. Circle it as an early measuring-stick game for Rodriguez's group either way.
