Houston football sets sights on Big 12 title in 2026

An image of the Big 12 trophy appears in Houston football’s meeting presentations, serving as a daily reminder of what it’s aiming for in 2026.

“Every day, we know our goal. Anybody not on that goal that day, they’re taking away from the team,” senior edge rusher Brandon Mack said. “If you’re not with that, then this might not be the program for you.”

That goal has remained unchanged since Houston joined the Big 12, but the Cougars took a significant step toward it in 2025. 

“We could have easily won 12 games last year,” senior defensive back Kentrell Webb said. “We were a great team and feel like we’re a better team now.”

The two games Webb and his teammates believed slipped away—and ultimately kept Houston out of a Big 12 Championship game—both came at home.

Houston started November with a 45-35 loss at home to West Virginia, surrendering the most points it had all season.

Three weeks later, TCU narrowly handed Houston its second consecutive loss at home. It won 17-14 despite the Cougars forcing four turnovers and having a chance late at a game-tying field goal.

Houston knows it has to take another sizable step forward in order to reach the conference championship game.

So what must it do to avoid repeating the same mistakes that doomed those aspirations last year?

It’s all about attention to detail, better technique, and understanding how the “little things” add up.

When reflecting on some of last season’s losses, senior defensive back Jordan Allen acknowledged how just a handful of plays can make all the difference between winning and losing.

It could be a missed tackle, a missed assignment, a late reaction or a misread play. All of it he feels can be mitigated with improved technique.

“We just have to be better with our technique daily,” Allen said. “Put ourselves in those situations that we were in last year. Those uncomfortable situations, so by the time the season comes around, we know how to combat it.”

Houston proved capable of handling adversity in one area last season, finishing 6-0 on the road. The mark matched a feat previously accomplished by the 2011 and 2021 teams.

The Cougars’ conference schedule away from home this season will test their road mettle even more, as they’ll have to face conference favorite Texas Tech and Utah–two programs who finished above Houston in 2025–among others.

“We love competition in general. We can play out of town, in town. Give me my cleats, my pads, my helmet, and we can do it wherever they want to do it,” Allen said. 

When Webb and Allen addressed teammates in January, they posed a simple question: How great did they really want to be?

While recognizing their turnaround in 2025, they all understood it wasn’t enough to accomplish their ultimate goal.

Webb and Allen asked their teammates if they were comfortable being a 10-3 team that “could’ve, would’ve, or should’ve” done more, or if they wanted to “take over and be the best defense in the Big 12 and nationally ranked in the country.”

They’ve been leaning on the advice of their coach as well.

“Coach Fritz talks about it all the time, stacking days on top of another. Every single day,” Allen said. “And not everybody can do that.”

With roughly one month left until Houston’s Sept. 5 season opener at TDECU Stadium against Oregon State, the Cougars are focused on stacking one productive day on top of another.