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11/29 16:23 CST Conner Weigman accounts for 3 TDs as Houston wraps up 9-win
regular season with 31-24 win at Baylor
Conner Weigman accounts for 3 TDs as Houston wraps up 9-win regular season with
31-24 win at Baylor
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
WACO, Texas (AP) --- Dean Connors scored on a 1-yard run with 1:57 left, Conner
Weigman accounted for three touchdowns while passing for 201 yards and running
for 121, and Houston wrapped its regular season with a 31-24 win at Baylor on
Saturday.
The bowl-bound Cougars (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) got the game-winning drive after
Baylor had erased a 15-point deficit following a scary injury to Bears freshman
running back Caden Knighten late in the third quarter.
Baylor (5-7, 3-6) then had one more chance to tie the game again, but Sawyer
Robertson was under heavy pressure on a fourth-down incompletion from the
Houston 13 with 43 seconds left.
"I was just really, really happy with our guys in the fight and the spunk they
showed for four quarters," second-year Houston coach Willie Fritz said, whose
team improved from 4-8 last season. "We got here late last year, I've mentioned
that a bunch of times, and didn't really have a chance to recruit like we
wanted to."
The Bears ended coach Dave Aranda's sixth season with their third loss in a row
and fifth in six games.
"Kind of par for the course this season. Just being being in the fight and kind
of swimming upstream it felt like," Robertson said.
Weigman had his two rushing TDs after throwing one to Amare Thomas for the
fourth game in a row. The quarterback's 1-yard plunge put Houston up 24-9 with
4:58 left in the third quarter.
Knighten was injured on the ensuing drive, staying facedown on the field after
taking a direct hit to the back while being tackled for no gain at the Houston
12. He was taken off the field on a stretcher and Baylor gave the ball up on
downs on the next play before the Cougars went 3-and-out.
Aranda and the school said after the game that Knighten, who was taken to the
hospital, was still undergoing tests but had movement in his upper and lower
body.
After a 1-yard TD run from Joseph Dodds and Robertson's run for a 2-point
conversion, Weigman's incompletion on fourth-and-2 from the Houston 44. That
set up Robertson's 31-yard TD to Josh Cameron on fourth-and-9 to tie the game
with 8:53 left.
Weigman was 21-of-31 passing with an interception, and ran 22 times. Thomas had
a 25-yard TD to cap Houston's first drive, his 10th of the season, and sixth in
the four-game run.
Robertson finished 23-of-46 for 309 yards with an interception, on a tipped
ball in the end zone, and a fumble while being sacked. Both turnovers were in
the first quarter.
Undefeated on the road Houston finished 6-0 in road games for only the third time in school history, the other seasons being 2011 and 2021. The Cougars went into the game as the only FBS team unbeaten on the road when playing at least five games away from home. "Outstanding for the guys to have that resiliency week after week after week on the road," Fritz said. "We're not like some of those programs that play eight home and four away. We're going to always play six and six."
The Takeaway Houston: The Cougars finished with a nine-win regular season for the first time since 2021. It was only their second since 2016. The six wins in conference play are one more than Houston had combined its first two years in the league. Baylor: It was the first home game for the Bears since athletic director Mack Rhoades stepped down for personal reasons and the school later said Aranda, now 36-37, would remain as coach.
Up next Houston is going to a bowl game for the first time in three seasons. The Cougars have to wait until Dec. 7 to find out where and who they will play. The Bears open the 2026 season against Auburn in Atlanta on Sept. 5. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Undefeated on the road Houston finished 6-0 in road games for only the third time in school history, the other seasons being 2011 and 2021. The Cougars went into the game as the only FBS team unbeaten on the road when playing at least five games away from home. "Outstanding for the guys to have that resiliency week after week after week on the road," Fritz said. "We're not like some of those programs that play eight home and four away. We're going to always play six and six."
The Takeaway Houston: The Cougars finished with a nine-win regular season for the first time since 2021. It was only their second since 2016. The six wins in conference play are one more than Houston had combined its first two years in the league. Baylor: It was the first home game for the Bears since athletic director Mack Rhoades stepped down for personal reasons and the school later said Aranda, now 36-37, would remain as coach.
Up next Houston is going to a bowl game for the first time in three seasons. The Cougars have to wait until Dec. 7 to find out where and who they will play. The Bears open the 2026 season against Auburn in Atlanta on Sept. 5. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
