The Cougars' annual Red-White Game, which was the conclusion of the Spring practices, was abruptly halted after the first ten minutes of gameplay due to rainy weather conditions.

[8] Sources: The Northwestern State Demons of the Southland Conference traveled to Houston to meet with the Cougars for the first time in school history.

However, the Cougars clawed back in the final quarter, with the help of a Case Keenum pass that turned into a tipped ball caught by Bryce Beall, and a Zac Robinson interception that was returned for a touchdown.

The game also marked the first time that Houston hosted Texas Tech on-campus, as the Astrodome had served as the previous home for the Cougars during that era.

[25][26] The game marked a record attendance of 32,114 at Robertson Stadium in its current seating capacity including an appearance by U.S.

Although prior to the win, Texas Tech had been victors of the previous five meetings, the all-time record between the teams was updated to 18–10–1 with Houston leading.

Following the home victory, Houston went on the road to El Paso, Texas to face conference foe UTEP for the seventh time in school history.

Having moved five spots up to #12 in the AP Poll prior to the game, the undefeated Cougars were heavily favored to win.

Despite a remarkable attempt by Houston, where Case Keenum threw for a career record of 536 passing yards with 5 touchdowns, the Cougars could not contain UTEP's run-style offense.

[30] UTEP running back Donald Buckram ran for a career-high of 262 yards against Houston as the Miners completed a 58-41 upset.

[33] Having competed against each other for the first time in 1968, the Cougars held a 10-4 all-time record against Tulane, and had won their last seven games against the Green Wave.

Heavily favored Houston started off the game slowly against Tulane's pass defense which stood as the best in Conference USA at the time, and the Cougars went into halftime leading only 9-6 against the Green Wave.

The Cougars returned to play in Houston for the first time since its September victory over Texas Tech to face the SMU Mustangs in their homecoming game.

SMU's turnover issues continued into the second quarter as Houston kept going to freshman Charles Sims on the ground.

Case Keenum finished with comparatively light duty, only collecting 233 yards and two touchdowns on 36 completions as Houston dispatched SMU 38-15.

The game turned into a shootout early as neither defense proved able to slow down quarterbacks Martevious Young and Case Keenum.

However, Houston's Keenum calmly led the Cougars down the field in a scene reminiscent of the Texas Tech game and needed only 36 seconds to complete a game-winning touchdown drive.

Keenum quickly brought the offense 27 yards down the field in three plays and then retired to give walkon freshman kicker Matt Hogan a chance to win the game on his leg.

After the thrilling comeback, the Coaches' poll moved Houston to #12, the Harris to #13, and the BCS ranking remained unchanged at #15.

The game began as though heavily favored Houston would win in less dramatic fashion than normal, easily taking a 10-0 lead to the second quarter.

However, in the second quarter UCF began going to the ground and exploiting serious weaknesses in the run defense exposed by games against Texas Tech and UTEP.

Houston struck first, quickly, and often in the first half; Keenum completed 29 passes for 405 yards and 5 touchdowns before retiring just after halftime.

Memphis's two touchdowns came by way of running back Curtis Steele, indicating Houston had not fixed their major ground game issues.

With the victory and a loss by SMU to Marshall earlier in the day, Houston ended the week as leader of CUSA West with only one game remaining.

Houston's ranking recovered slightly the following day; the Coaches' and Harris polls placed the Cougars at #20 and the BCS at #23.

The victory also sealed a CUSA West title for the Cougars - though SMU won earlier in the day, Houston owned the tiebreaker by way of defeating the Mustangs in October.

ECU employed the same strategy used by conference mates UTEP and UCF in their upsets of the Cougars - run the football often and grind the clock.

Houston's inability to stop a running game was exploited worst of all by Air Force, who features a running-heavy triple offense.

Air Force led comfortably 24-6 at halftime and Houston proved little resistance in the second half, losing in all 47-20.