ALL TIMES LOCAL
The Colorado Buffaloes travel to Houston to take on the Cougars in their first Big 12 matchup of the season. This game provides opportunities for both teams to improve on their season start.
Houston comes into this game coming off of two lopsided wins. However, Houston has struggled to get off to a fast start in both of those games vs Stephen F Austin and Rice respectively. The combined score of 62-9 is promising, but the schedule starts to pick up in a couple weeks when the Cougars will face the 21st ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Colorado Buffaloes in year three under Coach Prime continue a similar story. Great skill position players, improving offensive and defensive lines, and a talented secondary. However, not yet a dominant running team or defense that can declaratively stop the run. Colorado began the year with a difficult loss to Georgia Tech. Their game against Delaware also had a slow start.
The biggest storyline of this game belongs to the Buffaloes. Early this week, ESPN reporter Pete Thamel tweeted that Colorado will start QB3 Ryan Staub. That news was met with indifference by the Colorado Head Coach. Sanders claiming, “y’all know I’m not confirming nothing”. After the Delaware @ Colorado game where all three Quarterbacks saw action, whether Staub starts (7/10, 158 yards, 15.8 yards per pass, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions vs Delaware) or if it will be a mix of Quarterbacks.
The matchups will make this game interesting. Houston’s Weigmann is the unquestioned starting QB, while its anyone’s guess how that position will play out for Colorado. Houston RB Dean Connors has almost 200 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground in the first two games. Colorado’s defensive front is arguably the best they’ve had in 3 years but isn’t shutting running backs down. Stephen Johnson could be a Houston receiver to keep tabs on, but Houston will be facing a secondary that plays man coverage the majority of the game. However, in his career, Conner Weigmann has only a 45% completion rate and 5.1 yards per attempt when facing man coverage.
Neither of these teams were preseason favorites to make the College Football Playoff. However, the Big 12 could prove to be most unpredictable of the Power 4 conferences in 2025. This win for either team could prove important to their respective Big 12 conference aspirations. The winner of this game will find themselves in an advantageous position towards bowl eligibility later and possibly a better path to competing for a Big 12 championship game bid.
