Houston Cougars Jump to No. 14 in the AP Poll, Back in the Top 15 With Three Games Left
Saturday's 31-24 win over Cincinnati bought more than a homecoming celebration: the Cougars climbed three spots in Sunday's AP Top 25, their 11th straight week in the poll - the program's longest run since 1990.
The Houston Cougars are a top-15 team again. Sunday's AP Top 25 moved Houston from No. 17 to No. 14, the reward for Saturday's 31-24 homecoming win over Cincinnati that lifted the Cougars to 7-2 on the season and 4-2 in the Big 12. It is Houston's 11th straight week in the poll - the program's longest streak since the 1990 season, Sports Illustrated reports - and the Coaches Poll has the Cougars at No. 16.
The win that bought the jump was a ground win. Fifth-year quarterback Conner Weigman threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns and ran one in himself, and Houston ran for 241 yards as a team to hold off the Bearcats, The Daily Cougar reports. Houston Athletics' own history says the ranking is more than decoration: the Cougars are 67-33-2 all time when ranked in the top 15, and 12-6 in those games since 2020. Houston also holds the highest College Football Playoff ranking in program history, No. 17 in the first CFP list - with the next CFP release, the AP number gives the committee something to answer for.
Three games now decide what the ranking becomes. Houston goes to Colorado on Friday night, November 13, then travels to West Virginia, then closes the regular season at home against Baylor. Win out, and the Cougars stay in the conversation for the Big 12 Championship game; stumble, and the season still ends in a bowl - but the difference between those two endings is the whole of November. A top-15 team with three games left and everything in front of it: that is exactly where a program wants to be in the second week of November, and it is where Houston is.
