Two years into its Big 12 era, the Houston football team has had a bumpy ride.

Under the direction of head coach Willie Fritz, however, the Cougars are hoping better days are on the horizon.

This summer, BuffZone will preview each of Colorado’s opponents for the 2025 season and in this installment we look at Houston, which will host the Buffaloes in the Big 12 opener on Sept. 12 in Texas.

Houston is entering its third season in the Big 12 and its second under Fritz. After back-to-back 4-8 seasons, the Cougars made a lot of changes. Fritz brought in new coordinators on offense and defense, and nearly 30 transfers have joined the team.

“I liked how we installed our offense and defense and kicking game throughout the spring,” Fritz said during an interview with 365 Sports last month. “I like the addition of the kids that we had to work with us in spring football, and I like the addition that we had with some guys we’ve signed here (since spring). I think these guys have got great ability and competed at a high level, and they were position needs for us.”

The Cougars were solid on defense last year, ranking 25th nationally in yards allowed (324.8 per game) and 40th in points allowed (22.9 per game). They were dreadful on offense, though, ranking 132nd in scoring (14.0) and 128th in yards (288.1). Five times they finished with 10 or fewer points, including back-to-back shutouts.

“Obviously in year one in the Big 12 we were not very good on offense and we weren’t very good on the offensive line in particular,” Fritz said. “That was an area we had to address, and we addressed that in December and picked up five guys (on the line) who had started Division I football and had done a good job at the different places they were at.”For Fritz, the changes started with hiring Slade Nagle as his new (and old) offensive coordinator. Nagle worked for Fritz at Tulane from 2016-23 but spent last year as the special teams coordinator/tight ends coach at LSU.

“Slade was with me at Tulane and did a fantastic job there,” Fritz said. “I was fortunate enough to get him back over here. I liked how he called games for us at Tulane.”

Houston also upgraded at quarterback by landing Conner Weigman, who started 13 games in three years at Texas A&M.

“Conner, I’m just so excited to have him as well,” Fritz said. “He’s been just awesome. Great teammate, great leader, and I think he’s excited for a fresh start, as well.”

The influx of new linemen, receivers, some depth at running back and a talented tight end in Tanner Koziol (Ball State) will also help to reshape the offense.

Defensively, while the Cougars were good last year, they lost seven starters, including star safety AJ Haulcy (now at LSU). A host of transfers will boost the Cougars on that side of the ball, too, but so will a new coordinator.

In December, Fritz was able to pluck Austin Armstrong away from Florida to be Houston’s new defensive coordinator.

Considered a rising young coach, Armstrong was the DC at Florida the past two years. He was the coordinator at Southern Mississippi from 2021-22.

With games against Stephen F. Austin and at Rice to open the year, Houston is set up for a good start before CU comes to town. Fritz is hoping some lessons learned last year turn into some more success this year.

“In the Big 12, everybody is pretty good,” he said. “I was impressed with the league in my first season of competition. Just a very, very competitive league, from top to bottom. … A distinct difference from Group of Five football that I was involved with, without question.”