Houston has seen this movie before.
The Cougars are hoping the sequel has a better ending.
A year ago, UH entered November at 7-1, ranked No. 22 and among the Big 12 contenders.
Instead, the Cougars were upset at home by West Virginia, lost to TCU a couple of weeks later and finished tied for fourth.
Once again, it’s November, and the Cougars enter the final month of the regular season with meaningful games left on the schedule.
Entering Saturday’s game against Cincinnati at TDECU Stadium, UH (6-2, 3-2) is No. 17 in the College Football Playoff rankings, bowl eligible and still in contention in a crowded Big 12 race.
“It’s always a good feeling to be bowl eligible,” safety Jordan Allen said. “That’s always a goal for a team. But we’re not done yet. We got a lot of things we still want to accomplish.”
UH VS. CINCINNATI
When: 2:30 p.m.
Where: TDECU Stadium (40,000).
TV: Fox with Tim Brando (play-by-play), Devin Gardner (analyst) and Josh Sims (sideline reporter).
Radio:
To do that, the Cougars will have to conquer a month that hasn’t been particularly kind. Since joining the Big 12 in 2023, UH has gone 4-8 in November.
Both of UH’s losses this season have come by a combined 10 points against ranked teams, No. 15 Texas Tech and No. 3 Utah. Both times, the Cougars couldn’t hold a double-digit lead, falling an inch short of forcing overtime against Texas Tech and committing a costly turnover in the final two minutes against Utah.
“Everything is critical,” Allen said. “It’s a game of inches. We lost a game because of a game of inches. If we continue to clean that up, we can be the best team we can be.”
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Coming off an open week, the Cougars are as healthy as they’ve been in more than a month. Linebacker Jaden Yates and nose guard De’Marion Thomas are back from injuries. Tight end Patrick Overmyer used the break to recover from an upper-body injury that knocked him out on the opening drive against Utah.
“We’re healed,” coach Willie Fritz said.
It comes at a good time for what figures to be a tightly contested Big 12. Utah is the league’s only unbeaten team, followed by one-loss BYU and Texas Tech. UH is among four two-loss teams, along with Arizona, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
“I’ve said it many times before, this is a great league,” Fritz said. “There’s no gimmies. Everybody is good. You better be ready to play or you’re going to get your butt kicked.”
The Cougars’ next opponent is no stranger to tough games. Cincinnati (5-3, 2-3 Big 12) has played the fifth-toughest schedule in FBS, tied with Michigan State. Its opponents have a .702 winning percentage. UH has the eighth-toughest schedule at .684.
After Cincinnati, UH plays consecutive road games against Colorado and West Virginia before wrapping up the regular season at home against Baylor.
Cincinnati has been an enigma over the past month, upsetting Texas Tech by two touchdowns and losing to Utah by 24 points the following week.
Overmyer said the Cougars can’t get caught looking at rankings or scenarios for reaching the Big 12 championship game.
“If we handle business each week, in the long run it’s going to turn out pretty good,” Overmyer said.
Quarterback Conner Weigman said the Cougars can learn a lesson from last year’s November stumble.
“We’ve got to finish,” said Weigman, who used the 14 days between games to recover from a nagging left ankle injury. “We can’t relax. That’s the biggest thing. Anytime you relax on a football field, you get beat or you get hurt.”
Fritz said the Utah loss “seems like six months ago.” Weigman offered a baseball analogy for moving on.
“You always wish you had a couple plays back,” Weigman said. “So what, next pitch. We’ve got to come out this week and be on top of our game.”
It’s the start of a season-defining final stretch for the Cougars, who are also chasing back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in the program’s 80-year history.
“Everybody knows where we are at,” Weigman said. “We’re locked in and ready to go.
“We’ve got four games left and we have to be pedal to the metal. We’ve got to give it all we’ve got and see how things shake out at the end.”
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This article originally published at University of Houston enters November stretch with bigger goals. ‘We’ve got to finish’.