The Sun Devils will get the ball to start the second half. This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/houston as Houston Cougars Lead Arizona State Sun Devils After Impressive First Half.

A tumultuous spring in Provo has given way to a 7-0 start and a No. 11 national ranking for the BYU football team.

BYU is now 8-0 on the season, and with freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier finding his groove at the perfect time, the Cougars are just that much closer to reaching a conference championship game for the first time since 1998.

The Houston Cougars prepare for another road test in conference play, heading out to Tempe to take on the defending Big 12 champions, the Arizona State Sun Devils, after a hard-fought victory over the Arizona Wildcats a week ago.

The WSU defense’s suffocating play, the Cougars' flashes of offensive innovation and a relatively sparse but spirited crowd lifted the Cougars to a bounce-back, three-score win over Toledo after suffering two one-score defeats to ranked teams on the road the last two weeks.

BYU offered a three-game package that included the North Carolina scrimmage. The package also included tickets for the Wisconsin and Cal Baptist games at Delta Center. Those packages ranged from $176 to $597.

The Red Deer Rebels added some experience on the blue line as they acquired 20-year-old defenceman Aleksey Chichkin from the Prince George Cougars. In exchange, Prince George received a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2027 WHL draft. So far this season, Chichkin has played nine games and recorded one assist.

Houston Cougars football has a significant and historic past. Besides joining the Big 12 Conference in 2023 and winning the Birmingham Bowl in 2021, the best mo