Kick-off for the Texas Bowl between the LSU Tigers and Houston Cougars is almost here. LSU is looking to salvage some positivity from a wildly disappointing 2025 season, while Houston is looking to put icing on the cake of a vastly impressive campaign.
LSU hoping to avoid common struggles in key area against Houston in the Texas Bowl
The matchup between LSU and Houston is an intriguing one for many reasons. Perhaps most notably, these two programs enter the 2025 Texas Bowl with vastly different levels of stability at the moment.
LSU dealing with plenty of instability for Texas Bowl
On one side, the LSU Tigers are going through a coaching transition, dealing with opt-outs from several key playmakers, and looking to end the season with some positivity after tumultuous 2025 season.
Lane Kiffin has navigated LSU through the Early Signing Period, but he will not be on the sidelines coaching the Tigers on Saturday night. That duty belongs to interim head coach Frank Wilson, who already has one foot out the door. He is slated to become Ole Miss' running backs coach for 2026.
The Tigers are also trying to navigate around having several impact players opting out for the Texas Bowl. Most notably, LSU will be without LB Harold Perkins, LB Whit Weeks, LB Wes Weeks, CB Mansoor Delane, S AJ Haulcy, DL Jack Pyburn, QB Garrett Nussmeier, and WR Aaron Anderson.
Houston has more stability entering the Texas Bowl
On the other side, Houston has far fewer question marks than LSU in this matchup. In Year 2 under Willie Fritz, the Cougars are trending in the right direction in the Big 12. Last season, Houston went 4-8 with a 3-6 mark in Big 12 play. This season the Cougars posted a strong 9-3 record with a 6-3 mark in the Big 12, and enter the Texas Bowl ranked as the No. 21 team in the country in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. The program certainly seems to be in good hands with Fritz at the helm.
Houston is also dealing with virtually no opt-outs for Saturday's Texas Bowl. Fritz's teams is much closer to full strength than Wilson's squad, which could make a huge difference.
LSU's stability is coming, but at the moment, Houston has a significant edge in that department.
As it stands, the Cougars are 1.5-point favorites over the Tigers. Kick-off is slated for 8:15 p.m. CT.