ESPN FPI predicts Houston Cougars vs. Arizona Wildcats winner

Houston has been here before.

Despite winning two of their last three games — including a stunning 24-19 upset of heavily-favored Kansas State — the Cougars are underdogs once again.

Heading into Friday’s Big 12 road game at Arizona, the Cougars are 1.5-point underdogs. Coming off a bye week, Willie Fritz’s squad needs two wins to become bowl eligible, which would be a remarkable turnaround in year one of Fritz’s tenure.

FPI Prediction for Houston vs. Arizona

ESPN’s updated Football Power Index (FPI), which is “meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season” also thinks the Cougars are going to lose on Friday. The ESPN FPI gives Houston a 42.7% chance to beat Arizona.

Not only does the FPI not like Houston’s chances to beat Arizona — it also predicts the Cougars will go winless the rest of the season. Here’s a look at how the FPI predicts the remainder of the Cougars’ Big 12 games:

The FPI gives Houston a 2.4% chance of winning out, and a 22.2% chance of getting to six wins.

The Cougars leaned on their stingy defense and opportunistic offense in upset victories over Utah and Kansas State. That’s a formula they will try to replicate against Arizona. Houston’s defense is currently ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 in yards allowed at just 319 per game.

The Houston at Arizona Big 12 football matchup is scheduled to kick off Friday at 8:15 p.m. MST/9:15 p.m. CT and will be televised on FS1.