2011 UH Cougar Watch-Cougars Rising In BCS Rankings

The college football and sportscasting world may be ignoring us and our record setting quarterback for Heisman consideration but the University of Houston footballers continue to rise in the BCS, AP and USA Today coaches polls after our 73-34 victory over our crosstown rivals.

The Bayou Bucket is now back on the UH campus where it belongs.  As for you Cougar detractors drinking that burnt orange Hateraid and chomping those Hater Tots, bump y'all.   If y'all wanna hate on our schedule, tell DeLoss Dodds to stop being a coward and put us on the University of Texas schedule if we're so beatable and C-USA is 'weak' in your not so football savvy opinions.   If you're really feeling froggy, then leap and stop blocking our path into the Big XII.     

We can't help it if you so called BCS conference big boys are 'scurred' to play us.. 

On to more positive stuff.   The Cougars moved up four spots from last week's number 17 ranking in the BCS poll and are now sitting at number 13.  In the AP and USA Today Coaches UH moved up four spots on both those polls too. They are now sitting at number 14 in both polls and will attempt to achieve the best start in school pigskin history when they travel to Birmingham Saturday face the UAB Blazers at Legion Field.

Eat 'em up!

2011 UH Cougar Watch-Record Breaking Cougars Eat Up Rice

The Ruck Fice shirts were in full effect along with a raucous sellout Robertson Stadium crowd that braved rain brought in by a cold front transiting the Houston area to watch the Coogs take back the Bayou Bucket with a 73-34 victory over our crosstown rivals.

The 18th ranked Cougars are now 8-0 and 4-0 in C-USA West Division play, and matches the 1979 SWC championship squad and the 1990 team for the best in school history.

Rice put up a fight in the first quarter.   The Owls took advantage of the rain, their Wild Owl rushing attack and three Cougar first quarter turnovers to forge a 17-7 lead after Tyron Carrier took the opening kickoff and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to tie former Clemson RB CJ Spiller's NCAA record of seven career touchdowns and take an opening 7-0 advantage before the skies opened up.  

But once Case and Company got it in gear and Rice stubbornly kept trying to blitz Keenum and play the speedy Cougar receivers in man coverage, UH scored touchdowns on nine of its next 11 offensive possessions to quickly erase that 20-14 deficit and forge a 38-20 halftime lead.

With Rice lining up in a seven man front and daring the Cougars to throw deep to beat them, UH accepted the challenge and repeatedly toasted the Rice secondary like Quiznos subs.for the rest of the night.   

Mmm mmm tasty.    

The guy doing most of the toasting was Patrick Edwards.  He caught seven passes for five touchdowns and 318 yards.  He tied Elmo Wright's UH school record with five TD receptions in one game and the career record for touchdown at 34.

Case Keenum after the shaky start was 24 of 37 for nine touchdowns and 534 years with one interception.   He also passed Graham Harrell of Texas Tech to become the all-time FBS leader in career touchdown passes with 139

Rice had a record setter in this game as well.  Owls running back Tyler Smith got loose for a 97 yard  touchdown run that broke the Rice school record for the longest one in their 100 years of playing football.

It also broke the C-USA record that was set by UH Antowain Smith in 2006 that was a mere 96 yards.   

Next up for the Cougars is a road trip to Alabama to face the UAB Blazers and a trip to the Superdome to play Tulane on November 10.

2011 UH Cougar Watch-High Stakes Bayou Bucket Battle

For only the third time in the football playing history of the University of Houston we've gotten off to a 7-0 start after last weekend's C-USA blowout of the Marshall Thundering Herd 63-28.

But now we play a C-USA West Division game against our crosstown rivals the Rice Owls for bragging rights and the Bayou Bucket trophy. .

Despite the fact the football series only started in 1971 when UH joined the Southwest Conference, it has some history.  Cougar fans haven't forgotten that Rice beat us 14-13 in Bill Yeoman's last game as UH's head coach in 1986.  Andre Ware's 1989 team lit up Rice 64-0 before he picked up the Heisman Trophy the next week . The last SWC football game was played between Rice and UH in 1995 which we won 18-17.   

Despite the fact that UH has a 25-10 record against the Owls in this Bayou Bucket series, Rice has a maddening habit of ruining our best laid football plans.  In addition to them beating us last year 34-31 at Rice Stadium to reclaim the Bucket after the Cougars barbecued them 73-14 enroute to the 2009 C-USA championship game, there was a more upsetting 52-45 loss in 2008 that cost us the C-USA West Division title and a chance to go to the C-USA title game that year.

The Bayou Bucket game is moving to a neutral site at Reliant Stadium for the next two years, so my fave college football team is going to go into this game knowing that the Owls will fight, scrap, claw and try to do everything it can over that 60 minutes to walk out of Robertson Stadium with the Bayou Bucket still in their possession.

If they can knock us out of the unbeaten ranks and ruin a potentially special season for us, so much the better for their ability to rub our noses in it. 

The Coogs will do everything possible to protect the Rob, their rankings in the BCS, AP and coaches polls, bring that trophy back to Cullen Blvd where it belongs and get to 8-0 and 4-0 in the C-USA West Division.

Should be fun to watch.