Similar to Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Willie Fritz is a winner. Just google him.
The 66-year-old Fritz won a pair of national titles at the junior-college level. He took Sam Houston to the FCS national championship game in back-to-back seasons.
Fritz rebuilt a Tulane program that had been struggling mightily for a decade after Hurricane Katrina, finishing his tenure in New Orleans with 12-2 and 11-2 records in his final two seasons, including an epic comeback win over USC to win the Cotton Bowl.
After a 4-8 record at Houston in his first year at the helm, Year 2 of the Fritz Era ended with a 10-3 straight-up record and a 9-4 against-the-spread mark. The Cougars capped the season with a 38-35 win over LSU in the Kinder’s Texas Bowl to finish #19 nationally in the Coaches Poll.
They bring back 12 total starters with six on each side of the ball.
As of Saturday morning, FanDuel had Houston’s season win total set at 7.5 (‘over’ -154, ‘under’ +126). DraftKings has posted alternate win totals, offering the Cougars at 8.5 (‘under’ -155, ‘over’ +130) or 9.5 (‘under’ -380, ‘over’ +300).
When you’re interested in betting an ‘over’ on a season win total, it’s mandatory to feel good about a team’s quarterback room. It also helps to have a fifth-year senior as the starter, especially when he has 26 career starts to his credit.
In 13 games for the Cougars in 2025, Conner Weigman completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 2,705 yards with a 25/9 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also had 700 rushing yards, 11 TDs and a 4.1 yards-per-carry average.
Weigman has a 44/16 career TD-INT ratio with 13 career rushing TDs.
If Weigman gets injured, Fritz has an elite Plan B to go under center. That’s freshman phenom Keisean Henderson, a five-star prospect that was ranked the #1 player in the nation in the 2026 recruiting cycle at 247Sports.
Regardless of whether Weigman gets injured or not, you’ll likely see Henderson get some snaps in goal-line and/or short-yardage situations.
WR Amare Thomas returns after a breakout campaign that earned him first-team All-Big 12 honors. He hauled in 66 receptions for 972 yards and 12 TDs. WRs Koby Young and Harvey Broussard III are also back after making eight starts apiece in 2025.
McKenzie Agnello and Alvin Ebosele are the two starters that are back on the offensive line. Agnello started all 12 games (10 at center and two at right tackle) for New Mexico in 2024, garnering second-team All-Mountain West Conference honors. He transferred to Houston ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Agnello took 765 snaps at right guard for the Cougars and eight snaps at center last season. He didn’t allow a sack in 368 pass block snaps, had the fewest penalties (three) for an offensive lineman (with a minimum of 500 snaps) and was the highest-graded pass blocker for UH (73.0).
Ebosele made 14 starts in 18 career appearances for Baylor from 2022-24. In his first season with the Cougars, he started all 13 games at OT.
Fritz dipped into the transfer portal to beef up the offensive line. Anthony Boswell will take over as the new starting center. He redshirted as a true freshman at Purdue in 2024 before transferring to Toledo last year.
Boswell was spectacular in 12 starts for the Rockets. He was a first-team All-MAC selection and The Athletic named him a Freshman First-Team All-American. Boswell had the third-best run block grade nationally among FBS centers. 247Sports ranked him as the country’s #14 interior offensive lineman in the portal and the #250 overall player.
Two other portal acquisitions are OT Drew Terrill (Miami (Ohio)) and OG Shadre Hurst (Tulane). Terrill was a second-team All-MAC selection for the RedHawks in 2025 and, according to Pro Football Focus, he had the best run-blocking grade of all OTs in the MAC.
247Sports had Hurst ranked as the #20 IOL in the portal and the #334 overall player. He is a two-time All-AAC selection who was recruited to Tulane by Fritz. The Sporting News named Hurst a second-team All-American in 2025 when PFF had him as the AAC’s #1 graded offensive lineman and the #9 graded offensive lineman in the nation.
RB Makhi Hughes took a redshirt at Oregon last season after transferring from Tulane, and now he’s hooking back up with Fritz at UH. For Fritz at Tulane in 2023, Hughes was a first-team All-AAC selection and the AAC’s Freshman of the Year, rushing for 1,389 yards and seven TDs with a 5.3 yards-per-carry average.
Playing for Jon Sumrall at Tulane in 2024, Hughes produced 1,401 rushing yards, 15 TDs and a 5.3 YPC average. He also had 19 receptions for 176 yards and two TDs, and he was a first-team All-AAC pick again.
WR Trent Walker is another transfer expected to start right away. In 2024 for Oregon St., Walker had 81 receptions for 901 yards and two TDs. He had 68 catches for 823 yards and two TDs for the Beavers last season.
247Sports has Houston’s 2026 recruiting class ranked #41 nationally overall and #43 in terms of transfer-specific imports. There are 19 additions from the portal, including four-star transfer CB Jalen Mayo, who comes to UH after playing one season for Stephen F. Austin.
Mayo was ranked as the #11 CB in the portal and the #157 overall player. After playing at Virginia Union for three years, Mayo was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection for Stephen F. Austin in 2025. He was limited to seven games due to an injury, but he still produced 48 tackles, nine passes broken up, four interceptions and one forced fumble.
Mayo will likely start at CB opposite of CB Will James, who was a second-team All-Big 12 selection last season. James started all 13 games, recording 38 tackles, eight PBU, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, one pick-six and one fumble recovery.
Safety Jordan Allen started all 13 games for Houston last year after spending three seasons at LSU. He’s back after contributing 48 tackles, two PBU, 1.5 tackles for loss, one fumble recovery and 0.5 sacks.
Fritz has his other starting safety back in Kentrell Webb, who followed Fritz from Tulane to UH in 2024. Webb had 71 tackles, four PBU, three TFL’s, one interception and one forced fumble last year. Athlon Sports named him a fourth-team All-Big 12 selection.
LB Brandon Mack returns after producing 33 tackles, six TFL’s, five sacks and two forced fumbles. LB Sione Futu is also back after recording 56 tackles, three fumble recoveries and 0.5 sacks in 2025.
DE Khalil Laufau is the lone returning starter on the defensive line. Laufau had 39 tackles, three TFL’s, two sacks, one forced fumble and one PBU last year.
Fritz hit the portal to find three defensive linemen, including De’Marion Thomas (Oregon St.), Ejiroghene Egodogbare (Yale) and Ashton Porter (Oregon). Egodogbare was ranked as the #50 d-lineman in the portal, while Portal and Thomas were ranked #53 and #89, respectively.
Porter had 20 tackles, 2.5 TFL’s, one sack and one PBU in 15 games for the Ducks in 2025. Egodogbare didn’t play last season, but he was a first-team All-Ivy choice in 2024.
LB Jaden Yates will be an instant starter after transferring from Ole Miss. He started nine times in 15 games for the Rebels in 2025, contributing 55 tackles, 1.5 TFL’s and 0.5 sacks. As a sophomore for Marshall in 2024, he led the Sun Belt Conference in tackles with 120.
Looking at the schedule, I’d confidently make Houston a favorite in nine of its games. The underdog spots are at Texas Tech in Week 3, at Kansas St. on Oct. 10 and at Utah on Oct. 24.
FanDuel has Texas Tech listed as a 12.5-point favorite vs. the Cougars, who have -105 juice at +12.5 and are +400 on the money line. Remember, with Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby most likely out for a gambling suspension, UH might be going up against a third-string QB.
Will Hammond is QB2 for the Red Raiders (or QB1 if Sorby is ruled ineligible), but his availability in Week 3 is unknown at this point after he tore his ACL last Oct. 25.
UH’s most ideal spot is a Nov. 7 home game vs. Cincinnati because it has two weeks to prepare for the Bearcats, who host Utah before their trip to H-Town. The Cougars will be on a short week for their next game on Friday at Colorado (11/13) in what will most likely be a cold-weather contest.
They have their only back-to-back road situation the following week at West Virginia. UH hosts Baylor in its regular-season finale.
PREDICTIONS: I’ll risk 1.54 units to win 1 unit on Houston’s season win total ‘over’ 7.5 (-154 at FanDuel). I’ll also risk 1 unit to win 1.3 units on UH to go ‘over’ 8.5 wins (+130 at DraftKings). Finally, let’s risk 1.05 units to win 1 unit on UH +12.5 at Texas Tech.