{"id":8769,"date":"2025-09-13T06:57:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/2025\/09\/13\/conner-weigman-and-houstons-battlers-prove-pat-mcafee-wrong-drive-deion-sanders-mad-inside-willie-fritzs-breakthrough-win\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T06:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:57:08","slug":"conner-weigman-and-houstons-battlers-prove-pat-mcafee-wrong-drive-deion-sanders-mad-inside-willie-fritzs-breakthrough-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/2025\/09\/13\/conner-weigman-and-houstons-battlers-prove-pat-mcafee-wrong-drive-deion-sanders-mad-inside-willie-fritzs-breakthrough-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Conner Weigman and Houston&#8217;s Battlers Prove Pat McAfee Wrong, Drive Deion Sanders Mad \u2014 Inside Willie Fritz&#8217;s Breakthrough Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Introduction to the Big 12 Opener<\/h2>\n<p>The University of Houston&#8217;s football team, led by Coach Willie Fritz, has been making waves in the Big 12 conference. Despite being overlooked by national media, the Cougars have been proving themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. In their recent game against Colorado, they showed the world what they&#8217;re capable of, rolling over the Buffaloes 36-20.<\/p>\n<h2>The Underdog Story<\/h2>\n<p>The Cougars&#8217; victory was all the more impressive given that they were largely ignored by the media in the lead-up to the game. As running back Dean Connors noted, &quot;I was sitting with (running back) Zane Smith in the hotel today and we were watching the Pat McAfee Show and our game came up and not a word was said about Houston. I kind of looked at (Zane) and said, \u2018That\u2019s motivating.\u2019&quot; This lack of attention only seemed to fuel the team&#8217;s determination to prove themselves.<\/p>\n<h2>Conner Weigman: The Game-Changer<\/h2>\n<p>Conner Weigman, the Cougars&#8217; quarterback, was instrumental in the team&#8217;s victory. Weigman, a transfer from Texas A&amp;M, ran for 95 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, showcasing his speed and toughness. His performance was all the more impressive given that he was playing against a team that had been hyped up by the media. As Weigman himself said, &quot;I&#8217;ve been doing that since high school, I promise.&quot; His ability to make plays with his legs was a key factor in the Cougars&#8217; win.<\/p>\n<h2>The Coaching Staff&#8217;s Strategy<\/h2>\n<p>The Cougars&#8217; coaching staff, led by Willie Fritz, made some savvy decisions that paid off on the field. They recognized that Colorado&#8217;s defense was vulnerable to quarterback runs, having been torn apart by Georgia Tech&#8217;s Haynes King in their previous game. As a result, they decided to let Weigman loose, and he responded with a series of impressive plays. The staff&#8217;s ability to adapt and make adjustments was a key factor in the team&#8217;s success.<\/p>\n<h2>The Defense&#8217;s Dominance<\/h2>\n<p>The Cougars&#8217; defense was also impressive, with nose tackle Carlos Allen leading the charge. Allen, who was taken down by a cramp after the game, said, &quot;I think it&#8217;s very underrated honestly&#8230; I think we&#8217;ve got a super defense this year.&quot; The defense&#8217;s physicality and dominance were on full display, with Allen and his teammates making play after play to shut down the Buffaloes&#8217; offense.<\/p>\n<h2>Image Making vs. Reality<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the Buffaloes&#8217; flashy social media presence and hyped-up coaching staff, the Cougars showed that they are the real deal. As the article notes, &quot;Colorado will restrict its postgame press conference to 30 reporters picked by its SID&#8230; but all the image shaping in the world cannot change reality.&quot; The Cougars&#8217; win was a testament to the fact that substance beats style any day.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The University of Houston&#8217;s victory over Colorado was a statement win for the program. Despite being overlooked by the media, the Cougars proved themselves to be a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12 conference. With Conner Weigman leading the charge and a dominant defense, the team is looking to make some noise in the conference. As Coach Willie Fritz said, &quot;It&#8217;s a big, big game for our program.&quot; The Cougars are quietly building their own unique version of college football paradise, and it&#8217;s going to be exciting to see what they do next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to the Big 12 Opener The University of Houston&#8217;s football team, led by Coach Willie Fritz, has been making waves in the Big 12 conference. Despite being overlooked by national media, the Cougars have been proving themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. In their recent game against Colorado, they showed the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.papercitymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/G0ta6NzXEAAGaLv.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8772,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8769\/revisions\/8772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}