There's been some pretty good news lately at Houston, not the least of which is this year's move into the higher-rent district of the Big 12. This move to the Big 12 is the Cougars' latest attempt to catch up with, among others, the Texas Longhorns, a chase which over the decades has been a bit like Wile E. Coyote pursuing the Roadrunner. Dating to the days of the old Southwest Conference, when it took Houston almost as long as King Charles would pursue Camilla before the Cougars were admitted to the club, only to be cast adrift in 1996 when the league would disband. The privileged (including Texas) hooked up with the old Big 8 to become the Big 12, and most of the others enlisted with an expanded WAC. Not invited along to either would be Houston, which instead found a landing spot in the nascent Conference USA, eventually moving to the American, and finally in 2023 again catching up with what sort-of remains of the old SWC in the Big 12 -- including Texas, which was never thrilled to have Houston join the same country club in the first place. 

Once again, the Longhorns will be leaving the Cougars' orbit after this season when they move to the SEC along with Oklahoma. Thank goodness Big 12 schedule-makers saw fit to schedule Texas and Houston one more time (October 21 in Houston) before the Longhorns likely disappear forever from the Cougar schedule...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Houston's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the Big 12 season.

Big 12 preview: Conference winner | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma | Oklahoma State | Texas | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | West Virginia

2023 Houston at a glance

• Last Year: 8-5 SU, 5-8 ATS, 9-3-1 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 4; Defense 3
• Win total: 5 (Over +110, Under -120)

What do you need to know about Houston before locking in your Big 12 futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Big 12 futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!