2011 UH Cougar Watch- Eat 'Em Up Coogs!

Whose House?   Coogs House!
Whose House?   Coogs House!

As y'all know already, I'm watching my fave collegiate football squad play for the C-USA title at 'The Rob' in a nationally televised game kicking off in mere moments.  

It is probably the most important game in the football history of UH with a C-USA title, Case Keenum's Heisman trophy chances, their 12-0 record and a BCS bowl on the line.   


And yeah, I'll be anxiously watching this championship clash with USM's Golden Eagles unfold along with Cougar Nation.

Eat 'em up Coogs!

And check out this remixed version of the UH fight song by Houston based rappers Slim Thug, Bun B and Paul Wall.

2011 UH Cougar Watch-It's For The C-USA Title And A BCS Bowl Berth

Haven't seen this much excitement around Cougar football since the 2009 season.

Students started camping out for tickets awaiting the 8 AM CST Monday morning opening of the ticket office in the Athletics/Alumni Center and the line went out to Cullen Boulevard to get those $5 student tickets.  

Players Marcus McGraw and Michael Hayes were handing  out doughnuts to the people waiting in line for those tickets.

What kind you ask?   Why Shipley's of course.   They ran Krispy Krack out of this market several years ago.

The collegiate post-season awards are starting to come the Cougars way thinks to this special season. Case Keenum was named the Sammy Baugh Award winner yesterday and became only the second two time winner of it.   We'd like Case to get another award in New York in a few short days but that's still up in the air right now. 

Patrick Edwards is up for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is an award given to the most outstanding college football player who started his career as a walk on    It's determined by fan voting and Patric is agonizingly close to taking the lead in the balloting.

Now the city is finally getting on board.    Starting tonight through December 4 Houston City Hall will be lit up in all red lights to honor our undefeated potential BCS busting squad.

“The city is rallying behind the University of Houston,” said Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “This has been a historic season for the Cougar football team and a milestone year for the university. Houstonians are proud of this Tier One institution, and we look forward to helping spread “Cougar Pride” in the community by shining a red spotlight on City Hall.”

“Join all of us at City Hall in saying ‘Go Coogs!’” said Houston City Council member and UH alumna Melissa Noriega. “Support the University of Houston in the Conference USA Championship game. City Hall is … whose house? Coogs’ house!”

Like Councilmember Noriega, all us Cougar fans across the city, on campus and alums around the nation are anxiously awaiting the 11 AM CST kickoff tomorrow of the biggest football game in school history   

It's not only for our first C-USA championship since 2006 but a BCS bowl berth as well.

2011 UH Cougar Watch-At Number 6 in the BCS Standings

The BCS rankings came out Sunday night with the 12-0 University of Houston Cougars moving up two spots to the number six ranking in the BCS polls

They are ranked at number 7 in the AP and number 6 in the USA Today coaches polls and will play in the C-USA Championship game at Robertson Stadium Saturday morning.

They face another stiff challenge in the BCS 24th ranked Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. The C-USA East Division champs are back in the rankings after being upset by UAB.  They are number 24 iin the AP rankings and number 23 in the USA Today coaches poll and are the  the first ranked team the Cougars have faced this year.

The Golden Eagles also come into this title game at The Rob with a 10-2 (6-2 C-USA East) record.

They met in the December 1, 2006 C-USA championship game that was also played at Robertson Stadium that the Cougars won 34-20, but this time the stakes are even higher for the Coogs than just grabbing their first C-USA championship in five years.   Win this game and the Coogs are probably going to make a return trip to the Superdome to play in the Sugar Bowl     

The C-USA title game has also been moved from ESPN to ABC although it will still have the same 11 AM CST start time.

Eat 'em up!

2011 UH Cougar Watch-Coogs Are C-USA West Division Champs!

The Dream Season continues!   For the first time since 2009 the University of Houston Cougar footballers are the C-USA West Division Champs after their 48-16 victory yesterday over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.   

Like every UH Cougar fan and alum I was nervous before this critical showdown with Tulsa in a sold out H.A. Chapman Stadium started and knew the stakes were high for the BCS number 8 ranked Cougars. 

A C-USA West Division title, a berth in the C-USA Championship game, the undefeated season and a possible BCS bowl berth was on the line. 

We were facing a tough Tulsa team whose only losses were to Top 10 ranked opponents and was the top ranked defense in C-USA.    Now 8-4 (7-1 C-USA West) Tulsa was determined to make their season by getting to the C-USA title game and knocking us from the ranks of the unbeaten at the same time.

But it was the Cougar defense that stepped up big and gave the Cougar offense time to get into the game by stopping Tulsa on a fourth and one deep in the red zone and forcing a fumble on another drive in the red zone to protect a 13-10 lead they took into halftime.  

And then the Cougar offense had that second half explosion we were waiting for.  They scored five touchdowns in the second half but the most critical one was the 38 yard fourth down strike from Keenum to Patrick Edwards that pushed UH to a 27-16 lead late in the third quarter.  The Coogs pulled away with three fourth quarter TD's to close out this game and the first undefeated run in C-USA division play for any school since the 2005 realignment.  

"Fifteen weeks ago, we set out for one goal and that goal has not changed all year," said UH coach Kevin Sumlin. "I think a lot of people have tried to talk our team into all these other scenarios and stuff that's happening out there

"Our guys understand that and they've put themselves in a position to achieve that goal. Along the way, there's been a bunch of records broken and a bunch of milestones crossed, but the ultimate goal for us from day one was to win the conference championship."

Keenum threw for 457 yards and 5 touchdowns and in the process (ho hum) set another NCAA record with his 37th 300 plus yard game.  Patrick Edwards had 181 yards receiving and racked up four touchdowns  

The Cougars are now 12-0 (8-0 C-USA West) for the first time ever in school history and with Friday's victory earned the right to host this year's C-USA title game for the second time in school pigskin history   They face either Southern Mississippi or Marshall at what is sure to be a rollicking and sold out Robertson Stadium on December 3 for an opportunity to win their first C-USA championship since 2006. 

Coach K's press conference.



Eat 'em up!