Officially, the University of Houston football team has tied its toughest schedule in school history.
With Navy earning the No. 24 rank in the latest iteration of the AP Poll, the Cougars will have now faced six top-25 opponents in 2019 — at the time of play — which ties for the most with the 1977 team.
The 1977 team, while playing in the Southwestern Conference, went 6-5. It bested ranked opponents in the No. 11 UCLA and No. 16 Texas Tech, while losing to No. 10 Penn State, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 1 Texas and No. 17 Texas A&M.
Houston started the season off with a 49-31 loss to No. 4 Oklahoma. Two weeks later, it hosted a 31-24 loss to Washington State at NRG Stadium.
Following matchups with Tulane and North Texas, UH faced three ranked opponents in the span of six weeks in No. 25 Cincinnati, No. 16 SMU and No. 18 Memphis. The team lost all three to the tune of 38-23, 34-31 and 45-27, respectively.
With one week left in their gauntlet schedule, the Cougars sit at 4-7 and 2-5 in conference.
Houston’s dual with Navy will be its season closer and its last attempt to record a win over a ranked opponent.