Conner Weigman and Houston’s Battlers Prove Pat McAfee Wrong, Drive Deion Sanders Mad — Inside Willie Fritz’s Breakthrough Win

As the week went on, University of Houston’s football players started to feel more and more like TCU did in Bill Belichick’s ESPN infomercial of a North Carolina opener. Like an afterthought. A virtual non consideration. Only this one felt even worse. Because Willie Fritz’s team was at home. Not that anyone nationally seemed to notice that or anything else about this UH program. Not with Deion Sanders and his merry army of influencers in town for Colorado football.

“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,” UH running Dean Connors says. “I kind of looked at (Zane) and said, ‘That’s motivating.’ ”

It turns out The After Thought has plenty of bite. Willie Fritz’s overlooked, discounted and discarded Cougars rolled over Colorado 36-20 in the Big 12 opener for both programs, leaving Deion fuming on the sidelines and talking about being “lost for words” and “dumbfounded” in the postgame. The most hyped teams with the most social media impressions don’t always win.

How hard did Willie Fritz’s Houston team play? Nose tackle Carlos Allen slumps against the wall and slides to the floor immediately after leaving the postgame press conference room, taken down by a cramp. This is what happens when a 6-foot-1, 300-pound man gives everything he has on a stifling Texas night. And then gives some more.

“I didn’t really catch any of the talk. . . ” Allen tells PaperCity. sitting against the wall to recover. “Like I always tell people, especially on our defense, don’t let that outside noise get to us. We’re going to handle business.”

This UH team is handling business to the tune of a 3-0 start, with Willie Fritz’s second season rebuild magic already showing signs of springing to life in The Third Ward. When this one is over, Fritz wraps both his wife of nearly 40 years and his difference making quarterback transfer Conner Weigman up in hugs. In that order. As Fritz pumps his fist at the quarterback Texas A&M decided it didn’t need and pulls him into an embrace, Weigman thanks Houston’s coach for believing in him.

A whole lot more people are suddenly believing in Conner Weigman again now.

From Forgotten To Found. From Dismissed to Deadly. Weigman carries a lot in the common with the program he’s helping lead. On this night, with University of Houston’s on-campus stadium energized again, with 37,899 people in the stands and the student section rocking, Weigman torments Colorado with his legs. He runs for 95 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. displaying a speed that many still don’t realize he has and a toughness that no one doubts.

University of Houston’s new offensive coordinator Slade Nagle and the rest of the Cougars coaching staff saw how Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King tore through the Buffaloes’ defense with his legs in Colorado’s opener and smartly decided to let Conner Weigman loose.

Catch him if you can.

“I’ve been doing that since high school I promise,” Weigman laughs when someone asks about his moves in the open field.

Weigman jukes Colorado linebacker Reggie Hughes so hard on the 7-yard touchdown scamper that puts the game away with 11:39 left in the fourth quarter that Hughes almost falls to the ground. It’s a fake out that even James Harden would approve of. Willie Fritz’s team has a quarterback who can do some things. One who helps his teammates believe.

At halftime with Colorado having pulled within 16-14, Weigman delivers a simple message to his offensive guys. “We just got to keep going out there and executing,” he says. “That’s what I told ’em. ‘Nothing to it.’ ”

Houston’s offense promptly controls the entire third quarter, holding the ball for 12 minutes and 49 seconds of the 15-minute period, scoring twice. This is how you seize a game, an entire night and maybe a season. Nothing to it.

“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, ‘That’s motivating.’ ” — UH running back Dean Connors

Image Making Vs. Reality

Colorado will restrict its postgame press conference to 30 reporters picked by its SID (something not even Duke basketball at its haughtiest heights would ever do), citing space concerns. But all the image shaping in the world cannot change reality. Even a nifty Instagram reel has its limits.

Where Deion Sanders’ program goes from here will no doubt still get more attention on Pat McAfee than Willie Fritz’s team. But this Houston group is starting to believe, playing for each other and something more. Kelvin Sampson might even say: Don’t sleep on Houston.

“We’re right where we want to be,” Dean Connors, the mustached tailback transfer from Rice who runs like he’s trying to knock over a wall, says. “We don’t want to be with the attention. We just want to keep our heads down and grind. Just keep going 1-0.”

This is not just another win for Houston though. This is a moment that’s been a long time coming, the first time UH has really pushed around a Big 12 foe in football.

From Forgotten To Found. From Discounted to Dominant.

Carlos Allen is completely spent — and looking for more.

“I think it’s very underrated honestly,” Allen tells PaperCity of the talent on this Houston defense with a new coordinator (Austin Armstrong) and a rebuilt secondary. “Just like with the pieces we got in the offseason, I think it’s very underrated. I think we’ve got a super defense this year.”

It’s certainly proving to be a physical one, a punishing one. “That’s what (defensive line coach Oscar) Giles preaches every day,” Allen says. “You’ve got to be physical. You’ve got to be physical no matter how you feel. No matter if you’re hurt. Everybody’s hurt in the country right now. So if you can play through that hurt and be physical and dominant for 60 minutes, you’re going to come out victorious.”

It helps to have a fearless kicker who can go five for six with three makes over 46 yards. That is what Willie Fritz seems to have in Ethan Sanchez, an Old Dominion transfer who grew up playing soccer and idolizing Cristiano Ronaldo. This UH coaching staff plucked Sanchez out of the transfer portal late, continuing their run of effectively identifying players at smaller schools who can be Power 4 difference makers.

This Houston team is still very much a work in progress. No one’s predicting that this group will compete for the Big 12 championship, even at 3-0. But as Demetrius Hunter, one of the offensive linemen still standing, and Dean Connors slap every hand in sight and Conner Weigman runs the entire length of the UH student section, high fiving anyone and everyone, you can see the beginning of something. A real concrete sign of a new day.

When’s the last time a Houston football win felt this good?

“It’s a big, big game for our program,” Fritz admits before falling into coach speak about Houston 36. Colorado 20 only being worth one win.

Not all wins are created equal. Not all comebacks either. Just don’t tell Conner Weigman he is making one.

“I wouldn’t say rejuvenated,” Weigman says, “I promise I’ve never flinched from adversity. I’ve stared it in the eyes. I went to work every single day this summer. I’m just happy to be here and to be home.”

Weigman’s seen bigger crowds at Texas A&M. But not many sweeter wins or more satisfying moments. He’s a Houston guy winning in Houston. Terrell Owens, who’s lived in Houston for a while now, is on Colorado’s sideline and in the locker room, and it’s hard to begrudge TO for supporting his former NFL competitor Deion. But UH has its all-time leading receiver Patrick Edwards and a good chunk of its transformative 2026 freshmen super class to be in the house. Celebrity vs. substance.

Loudest team wins? Not always. Not this time.

Bill Belichick and Deion Sanders can have all the noise. Houston just may be quietly building its own unique version of a college football paradise. By Fritz and fight.

Check out more of Chris Baldwin’s columns and inside stories on PaperCity Houston.