Houston football defeated Stephen F. Austin 27-0 at TDECU Stadium in the season opener Thursday night, starting the 2025 campaign on the right foot. It was the first season-opening shutout for UH since 1989, and while opening the year with a win is encouraging, as there were positives, the performance wasn’t as complete or convincing as fans hoped.
Here are two takeaways from the Cougars' season opener:
1. Houston Offense Has Potential but Is Still a Work in Progress
Junior transfer quarterback Connor Weigman put up a good performance, going 15-of-24 (62.5% completion) for 159 yards and throwing three touchdown passes with a rating of 159.4.
Even considering this was against an FCS opponent, Weigman’s night was better than any Houston quarterback performance last year. The three touchdown passes were more than any single game in 2024. While it was not anything incredible, the improvement from last year at this position looks tremendous. The Cougars were also 3-of-3 in the red zone.
With that being said, a little more may have been expected. Weigman did not even pass for over 200 yards, and the offense failed to crack 30 points. The biggest problem was the offensive line. It was completely revamped coming into the season, and the new linemen brought experience and size. Senior right tackle Dalton Merryman is 6-foot-9. Additionally, senior right guard Matthew Wykoff and junior left guard Jason Brooks Jr. are 6-foot-6.
Their performance was not very effective as Weigman was dealing with pressure. What was most surprising was the sequence on the last drive before halftime. Houston faced a third and one on the SFA 21-yard line with 47 seconds left, looking to add to their 17-0 lead. Sophomore running back J’Marion Burnette could not pick up one yard on both third and fourth down. Head coach Willie Fritz gave the O-line a "C" in performance.
"We just got to be more consistent throughout the game," Fritz said.
Overall, Houston put up 191 total rushing yards, but the yards per carry were not ideal. The Cougars’ leading rusher, senior Dean Connors, could only muster 50 yards and 15 carries (3.5 yards/carry). Burnette had 40 yards on 10 carries, and senior Stacy Sneed had seven carries for 30 yards. The most effective rusher was, in fact, Weigman, with his 6.3 yds/carry. The quarterback had six carries for 39 yards, including an impressive 27-yard scramble.
Penalties were an issue. Houston had eight of them for 65 yards. That is what ended up hurting some of their drives. However, it is week one, and a coach of Fritz’s caliber will get that under control like they did last season.
"We shot ourselves in the foot a few times, and that starts with us as a group. We’re going to come back in here and get it corrected," Weigman said.
Fans also noted a lack of separation from the wide receivers at times. Besides standout tight end Tanner Koziol, who led the way with seven catches for 63 yards and a touchdown, there was not much. Junior Amare Thomas had three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown, but no one else contributed.
343 total yards and effective quarterback play are good, but more is needed.
2. Houston's Defense and Special Teams are Promising
The Cougars’ defense was the bright spot last year, ranked 25th in the country. They put up another impressive performance tonight and forced a shutout under new defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong. Houston allowed only 144 total yards, and just 39 of those were rushing.
Senior SFA quarterback Sam Vidlak was limited to just 52 yards passing on 50% completion with an interception. Houston only gave up seven first downs total, and the Lumberjacks were just 3-of-16 on third down. The situationally strong defense that Armstrong is known for was on display tonight. That is a good sign for future games.
Additionally, senior kicker Ethan Sanchez was perfect in this game, going 2-of-2 on field goals from 40 and 43 yards, respectively. Sanchez is a transfer from Old Dominion, where he was 11-of-11 on field goals inside 50 yards. His only miss came from 58 last year.
The offense looks to fix some key issues as the Cougars look to stay in the win column next week at Rice.