The Houston Cougars were apparently feeling themselves a bit too much coming off a huge win at Arizona State. Houston returned home with a 4-1 Big 12 record, 7-1 overall, and on paper, the easiest final four games in the Big 12 out of any contender looking to win the league. Houston had a final month of the season against West Virginia, UCF, TCU and Baylor. The four teams entered Week 10 with a 6-13 record in conference play.
And on Saturday, the Cougars were double-digit favorites over a West Virginia team that was 0-5 in league play. But, credit to the Mountaineers, who went on the road and manhandled the Cougars in every facet of the game on their way to a 45-35 win. On the ground, WVU piled up 250 rushing yards on 52 carries, good for 4.8 yards per carry. And on the other side, WVU held Houston to only 82 rushing yards on 31 carries, good for only 2.6 yards per carry.
This was West Virginia’s first Big 12 win under Rich Rodriguez, and for the program, their first win vs. an AP-ranked opponent since October 30th, 2021. This WVU team deserves a ton of credit for how they played on Saturday, and the growth of freshman quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. has been fun to watch the last two weeks. He threw for 300 yards last week vs. TCU, and this week he went 13/22 for 157 yards and one touchdown pass, while rushing for 65 yards and two scores.
But for a Houston team that cracked the Top 25 this week for the first time in three seasons, while also having an enormous opportunity ahead of them to make the Big 12 Championship Game, this was a huge letdown.
Houston is now 4-2 in the Big 12, 1.5 games behind 5-0 BYU and Cincinnati, and a 1/2 game behind 4-1 Texas Tech. BYU has a bye this week, while Cincinnati travels to play Utah on Saturday night, while Texas Tech takes on Kansas State in Manhattan.
