Will Houston football win another game this season? ESPN FPI prediction is bleak
Entering Week 9 of the 2024 college football season the Houston Cougars (2-5, 1-3) are trying to find their footing in the Big 12.
In arguably the most balanced conference in the country, head coach Willie Fritz knows every week presents a different challenge. Look no further than last week's game vs. Kansas.
Houston was riding high coming into the game after an impressive 30-19 win over TCU. The Jayhawks came into the game on a 5-game losing streak and winless in the Big 12. One of the preseason favorites to win the conference, four of the Jayhawks' losses had come down to the final possession.
Kansas put all of the pieces together in a 42-14 blowout victory over Houston, racking up 470 yards of offense and looking every bit the part of a conference title contender.
Welcome to the Big 12, the definition of a week-to-week conference.
Now Fritz has to regroup and try to figure out a way to get Houston back on track against Utah on Saturday. The same Utah team that was picked to win the conference by the media and was ranked as high as No. 10 in the country earlier this season.
Unfortunately, the predictive analytics do not favor the Cougars on Saturday - or any remaining game.
Here's a look at how the ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) predicts the remainder of Houston’s games this season:
- vs. Utah - 33.2% chance to win
- vs. Kansas State - 13.5%
- at Arizona - 30.3%
- vs. Baylor - 31.9%
- at BYU - 13.1%
If the FPI predictions hold true that would leave Houston at 2-10 on the season and 1-8 in the Big 12. Coming off a 4-8 season where they fired Dana Holgorsen - and gave him a $14.8 million buyout - it's safe to say Houston's fan base was hoping for bigger things this season. We'll see how it shakes out, starting with Saturday's home game vs. Utah.
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.