Willie Fritz has been hired as Houston’s coach, replacing Dana Holgorsen, who was fired a week ago after five seasons with the Cougars.

The Houston Cougars fired football coach Dana Holgorsen a day after finishing his third losing season in five years.

The four newcomers in the Big 12 are off to a bad start.

Jerome Ford rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns and Desmond Ridder threw three touchdown passes as No. 3 Cincinnati broke open a close game in the third quarter and rolled past No. 16 Houston 35-20 in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

Clayton Tune threw for 264 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score as No. 17 Houston extended its winning streak to 10 games with a 31-13 victory over Memphis.

Michigan State has moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll and Wake Forest is a top-10 team for the first time in school history.

The Big 12 says BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston have been invited to join.

The Houston Cougars are again without an opponent and still waiting to play their season opener as COVID-19 issues wiped out three more major college football games Wednesday. Tulsa's scheduled game at Arkansas State this week was also postponed. On Thursday, presidents' meetings will be held in both the Pac-12 and Mountain West, with both conferences eyeing late October starts to the football season after initially postponing all fall sports. The Cougars' next scheduled game is Oct. 8 at home against Tulane. The Mean Green’s next scheduled game is their Conference USA opener at home Oct. 3 against Southern Miss.