Houston -- Despite not playing this past weekend, the undefeated University of Houston football team moved up four spots from No. 21 to No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released today, and for the first time this season the Cougars made their debut in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

Houston enters the week ranked No. 23 in the most recent Coaches’ Poll and will head into Saturday’s showdown with Texas Tech as the nation’s No. 17/No. 23 team. UH carries a 2-0 mark into the nationally-televised broadcast on ESPN 2, while Texas Tech enters the game with a 2-1 record after falling to No. 2 Texas, 34-24, last Saturday.

The Cougars are in ranked in Top 25 polls for the first time since the 1991 season, and this occurred after UH upset then No. 5 Oklahoma State, 45-35, on Sept. 12, in Stillwater, Okla.

Houston and Texas Tech renew an old rivalry that has been dormant for 14 years, since UH and Tech have not faced each other since the breakup of the Southwest Conference at the end of the 1995-96 season. Back on Nov. 25, 1995, the Red Raiders knocked off the Cougars, 38-26, in the Astrodome.

The last time a ranked Houston team faced Texas Tech was back on Sept. 13, 1990, when a No. 18 Houston traveled to Lubbock and knocked off the Red Raiders, 51-35.