2011 UH Cougar Watch-Huge Game With Tulsa Today

The number 8 ranked University of Houston Cougars have a ginormous 11 AM CST regular season closing game in Tulsa with the Golden Hurricane that will not only determine who wins the C-USA West Division but who hosts the C-USA Championship Game next week against what looks like it may be C-USA East Division champ Southern Mississippi.

That's assuming Southern Miss handles their pigskin business tomorrow against Memphis.  If it doesn't and Marshall wins their showdown against East Carolina, the Thundering Herd would be the C-USA East Champs because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Golden Eagles.   .

Southern Miss would advance with a loss if East Carolina beats Marshall. 

UH along with LSU are the only unbeaten FBS schools left, and the game with Tulsa has major BCS ramifications.  UH has a leg up on Boise State for the automatic BCS bowl bid because they are still in the running to win their conference championship despite Boise State's higher ranking.    

TCU clinched the Mountain West title last weekend thanks to the upset win and has the tiebreaker on Boise State and their win over Colorado State. 

One of the BCS rules for a non AQ conference school is that they must be their conference champ to be considered for an automatic bid to a BCS game.   So far the only thing the Cougars have clinched with that sparkling 11-0 record is bowl eligibility. 

The Cougar seniors painfully remember along with Coach Kevin Sumlin what happened to them in 2009 when they were experienced the same buzz and lofty BCS ranking, then lost to an unranked UTEP.  They also fell short that year of winning the C-USA championship with a 35-31 loss to East Carolina in the 2009 C-USA title game and are determined not to repeat that sequence of events in addition to accomplishing something no Cougar football squad has ever done by winning 12 games.

It will also have major effects on Case Keenum's chances for the Heisman Trophy.    As long as Case and the Cougars keep winning, he's still in the discussion for it and a trip to New York despite the media's attempts to coronate Andrew Luck and Alabama's Trent Richardson  for it. 


8-3 (7-0 C-USA West) Tulsa will be a formidable opponent.  UH leads the all time series with them 19-17, but the Golden Hurricane have a great quarterback in G.J. Kinne and have won 12 straight C-USA games.  One of those dozen wins was a 28-25 defeat they pinned on the Cougars at Robertson Stadium last season

Tulsa has only lost to Oklahoma, Oklahoma St and Boise State and took out UTEP 57-28 last week in El Paso to remain unbeaten in C-USA West play at 7-0. The Cougars were dispatching SMU 37-7 to match them at 7-0 in C-USA West and set up the title showdown at H.A. Chapman Stadium.   
   
The Coogs need to beat Tulsa and win the C-USA title game next week to secure their status as BCS bowl busters and get that elusive BCS bowl berth.  Once they handle their pigskin business against Tulsa today, then they can exhale and pay close attention to what happens to the teams in front of them BCS standings wise.

Eat 'em up!

2011 UH Cougar Watch-Coogs Number 8 In BCS Rankings

After a remarkable Senior Week which saw the ESPN GameDay show appear on campus for the first time ever and a sold out Robertson Stadium witness Case Keenum break (ho hum) another NCAA passing record, the unbeaten University of Houston Cougars parlayed their 37-7 victory over the SMU Mustangs to the highest ever ranking in the BCS poll and their first Top Ten AP and Coaches Poll rankings since 1990.

And hopefully it at least raised Case Keenum's profile in the Heisman race.

The Cougars jumped up three spots in the pols thanks to all of the losses last weekend by other schools.  They are now number 8 in the BCS and AP polls, and number 7 in the USA Today Coaches one.

Damn, what we wouldn't give for a NCAA football playoff right now.

Saturday's win for the 11-0 Cougars also sets up a regular season closing 11 AM CST showdown in Tulsa on Friday for the C-USA West Division title and a hosting berth in the December 3 C-USA championship game. 

2011 UH Cougar Watch-Coogs Beat SMU

It was Senior Day at The Rob as a special and historic BCS busting football season continues at my alma mater.

The senior class who helped lead the 11th ranked Cougars back to national relevance and the cusp of elite football status played their last regular season home game against C-USA West Division foe SMU.   It was also a week that included a first time visit to the city and our campus by the ESPN GameDay crew and heightened sports media attention about what happening with UH Cougars athletics.  

And oh yeah, don't look now Texas, but you have an emerging problem on the hardwood too. The UH men's ballers beat Arkansas 87-78 in North Little Rock, AR to go to 3-0 to open the season for the first time since 2006. 



So Rick Barnes, when are your chicken Horns gonna play us?

But back to focusing on Senior Day.   In front of a record crowd at the Rob, the UH Cougar football team fought an upset minded SMU squad to take a 37-7 win over the Mustangs.  . 

UH Coach Kevin Sumlin talks about the seniors in the post-game press conference.



They moved to 11-0 on the season (7-0 in C-USA West) and set up the showdown in Tulsa on Friday with the Golden Hurricane for the C-USA West Division title, a spot in the C-USA championship game on December 3 and a potential BCS bowl game for the first time since 1985. 

ESPN College GameDay On Campus

The ESPN College GameDay crew is on the University of Houston campus for the first time ever, and UH Cougar Nation, the campus, alums and the city is hyped because of it.

As the Vice President would characterize it, it is a BFD to us longsuffering UH football fans.

The stage has been set up in Cullen Center and the 300 person standing room only area behind the stage opened at 6 AM CST for the broadcast that will be cranking up at 8 AM CST in advance of today's 2:30  PM kickoff against the SMU Mustangs.

Today's game also happens to be Senior Day and it's sold out.    

I'll be on the UH campus later this evening for more serious business, but definitely will be getting up a little earlier than I normally do on a Saturday to watch the fun transpiring on my alma mater's campus..

2011 UH Cougar Watch-11th Ranked Cougars Facing SMU

The detractors of the University of Houston's unbeaten march to BCS buster status have pointed to their schedule and made the charge 'they haven't played anybody'.  

Hey, UH opened up with a Pac-12 school in UCLA and beat them.  Not our fault they underachieved and you BCS big boys are 'scurred' to schedule us.

In 2009 we started 3-0, knocked off a Number 5 ranked Oklahoma State team which had Dez Bryant in their lineup along with Brandon Weeden, Texas Tech at the Rob and the SEC's Mississippi State in Starkville during their homecoming.week.

The Oklahoma State and Texas Tech games were on national television, and that doesn't get you many invites by the BCS big boys to put you on their schedules when you are a non-AQ conference school quite capable of walking out of their stadiums with a check and a televised win as well.

As a matter of fact Nebraska canceled a home and home series with the Coogs after we beat Oklahoma State   

And as much burnt orange hateraid flows from Austin and the Longhorn Elementary faithful aimed at UH, their beloved Horns will not schedule us in either football or basketball. 


So with the ESPN College GameDay bus in town, Case Keenum finally getting some well deserved Heisman love and the college football media spotlight finally focused on Cullen Blvd, the 10-0 Cougars get an opponent upgrade in the SMU Mustangs.        

UH knocked them off in Dallas last year 45-20 but the stakes are much higher in this year's tilt for UH.  The Cougars are not only seeking to remain unbeaten in their last regular season home game at the Rob and atop the C-USA West Division, but get a step closer to playing in the December 3 C-USA Championship Game and a possible BCS bowl berth.

But they'll have to handle their business against SMU first.    Eat 'em up!

ESPN College GameDay Headed To Houston

UH is finally got some media love from ESPN.   It was announced that the hugely popular ESPN College GameDay team will be here on Friday and Saturday  for our home game at The Rob against SMU this Saturday

TCU's upset of previously unbeaten number 5 Boise State just opened up the possibility of an 10-0 University of Houston doing some BCS busting.  But their degree of difficulty is now ratched up another level.

Should they win their final three games against C-USA West Division foes 6-4 (4-2) SMU, 7-3 (6-0) Tulsa and the C-USA East Division champ in the December 3 C-USA title game which is increasingly looking like 9-1 (5-1) Southern Mississippi, they would become the C-USA champions and automatically qualify for a BCS bowl   

But it's a big deal that GameDay is coming to H-town. “It’s a real compliment to the program,” coach Kevin Sumlin said in a Houston Chronicle interview. “I think it’s great for our university, for our fans and for the city of Houston. It’s a big deal and I think it really shows and validates what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re happy about it.” 



UH officials will meet with ESPN on Sunday to discuss further details and logistics. GameDay will originate from UH on Friday (noon-2 PM CST) and Saturday (8-11 AM.CST). Students, alumni and fans are encouraged to come out for the activities both days.

And yeah, I'm planning on being there for Friday's events.   Something else more important is taking place on campus Saturday besides the SMU game that will have my undivided attention.

Eat 'em up!