Go TSU Tigers!

My Coogs had a rough season that ended in a 5-7 record for them, the Texans are slouching to .500 and Rice slumped to a 4-8 record this year but (arrgh) managed to beat the Cougars 34-31.

But all is not lost for football fans living in the Houston city limits.     Besides taking joy in the fact the only way the Dallas Cowboys will be going to the Super Bowl in their own stadium is buying a ticket for it, we do have one team in the area besides Texas A&M that has a winning record.

The Texas Southern University Tigers shook off a 1-3 start that included a 16-14 loss to bitter SWAC rival Prairie View A&M to win seven straight games and capture the SWAC West crown.  


The win streak included a 41-38 overtime win over perennial SWAC powerhouse Grambling in Houston that gave them the tiebreaker edge over the 'other' Tigers.

They are in Birmingham, AL today to play at legendary Legion Field.for the school's first outright SWAC title overall and their first one since 1968 when they tangle for the second time this season with SWAC East Division champion Alabama State at 1 PM CST

Back on October 2 Texas Southern rolled into Montgomery and rolled out with a 21-7 win over the Hornets to jump start their seven game winning streak.


But as the TSU players know and have probably been told ad nausuem by their coaches in the practices leading up to this week's SWAC championship showdown, it's hard to beat the same team twice in a season.     It's even harder when a championship is on the line in their opponent's home state and the opponent you've beaten is also competing for their first SWAC title since 2004


Here's hoping the Texas Southern University Tigers and coach Johnnie Cole can get one more win over the Hornets and bring that trophy back to Third Ward and The Yard.
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Live From College Station

Am sitting in the hotel  right  now after a wonderful afternoon and evening with Lowell Kane and the students of Texas A&M's GLBT Center.

I had an interesting on the ride to College Station chat with Rachel on the way up about a wide variety of subjects and on campus a little after 5 PM CST.

I was in plenty of time for the meeting due to start at 6:45 PM and my presentation.   The Center is on the side of the A&M campus in the shadows of Kyle Field and when I arrived several students were busy making Christmas ornaments.

Rachel departed to finish a paper she was working on and after keeping myself busy discussing the jacked up state of the Texas Legislature with two other students Lowell arrived a few moments later from a panel discussion he and two of the Center's students were taking part in. 

Time passed quickly after a tour of the Center and Lowell telling me about some the interesting things that were transpiring on the Texas A&M campus.

Then it was time for Moni to do her Trans 101 from an African-American cultural perspective.   There were some interesting questions asked by the 60 people in the room and when it was over in addition to being thanked by the students for coming, got a chance to discuss the presentation and other subjects over dinner in nearby Bryan.

Once again, thanks to Lowell and the gang at GLBTA for a wonderful afternoon and evening, and looking forward to the next time I have a chance to come up here for the 2011 TTNS.

2010 UH Cougar Watch-Coogs Rebound

The Cougars went to Los Angeles last week ranked number 23 in the nation, its quarterback Case Keenum being considered for the Heisman Trophy and the school considered a potential BCS bowl busting program.

UCLA not only put an end to that talk with a 31-13 Rose Bowl butt kicking, they ended the seasons of Case Keenum and his backup Cotton Turner.

The Cougars bounced back with their true freshman quarterback Terrance Broadway at the helm as they returned to the friendly confines of the Rob to play the Tulane Green Wave.

Thanks to 113 yards and four Bryce Beall touchdowns, 173 passing yards from Broadway and timely interceptions from the Cougar defense,  Terrance Broadway's debut as the UH starting quarterback got rave reviews from the Cougar faithful.

The Coogs beat Tulane 42-23 to stay unbeaten in C-USA West Division play at 2-0 and extend their home unbeaten streak to 18 games.  

They have an open date before they return to action at the Rob on October 8 to play Mississippi State

2010 UH Cougar Watch-Coogs Take On UCLA

My Number 23 ranked Cougars in a few hours will be on the Left Coast in the Rose Bowl taking on the UCLA Bruins.

As of yet our all everything quarterback Case Keenum is a game time decision as to whether he'll play after suffering a mild concussion during the third quarter of the Coogs season opening 68-28 win versus Texas State.

This Pac-10 squad should be a sterner test for our NCAA number one ranked offense and rapidly improving defense, but we'll see after this 9:30 PM CDT kickoff.

Eat 'em Up!

2010 UH Coogs Open Football Season Against Texas State

The Rob will be jumping later on today as the 2010 edition of my fave college team takes to the field for its most eagerly awaited season opener in years to play the Texas State Bobcats.

For those of you with long gridiron memories, it's President Lyndon B. Johnson's alma mater, the school formerly known as SW Texas State.

My Coogs climbed as high as a number 12 ranking in the polls before having a rough end to the season. There was a lot of positive momentum in wake of a 10-4 season despite the downer of losses in the C-USA title game and the Armed Forces Bowl meltdown.

During the offseason the plans were unveiled for a new stadium, a talented recruiting class came in, some attention from the Mountain West as a possible expansion target and Head Coach Kevin Sumlin got a well deserved contract extension to stay here through the 2015 season.

The love from the Mountain West is fine and we're becoming a big sports fish in the C-USA pond, but we Cougar alums remember our old Southwest Conference days when we were the best collegiate team in the Lone Star State, not those burnt orange clad poseurs at Longhorn Elementary.

The goal is to build back to elite level and never let it slip once we get there to the point where we will get elite conference membership like the Big 12 or SEC.

Case Keenum is back for his senior season along with much of that high octane number one NCAA ranked offense that helped us win the C-USA West Division title.

We know they can score and the offense is now under former UH alum Jason Phillips who was an all-SWC receiver back in the day. He also played for and coached under Jack Pardee, John Jenkins, Dennis Green, Dan Reeves and Sherm Lewis..

The concern as always for Cougar fans will be the defense. Our new defensive coordinator Brian Stewart has installed a 3-4 alignment that we hope will STOP the other teams from scoring more often this year.

A shot at a BCS bowl is the goal, and in the initial preseason poll UH is in the 'others receiving votes' category at number 30, just five spots short of the Top 25, so we're on people's radar screens. If they get off to a good start that will change before the year is out.

And now, the UH fight song!



Good luck Coach K and my UH footballers. Eat 'em up!

Utah Joins The Pac-10

Utah has been in the shadow of Brigham Young University for years and BYU alums never let them forget it or the national football title they won in 1984.

Now Utah fans have a big trump card to throw in whatever Ute-Cougar dissfest they engage in from now on: Membership in a BCS conference.

The University of Utah announced that they will be leaving the Mountain West Conference to begin playing in the Pacific-10 Conference in 2011. They join Colorado, who was extended an invitation to join the conference last week.

The Pac-10 now increases to 12 members, enough for them to split into two divisions and hold a conference championship game. The divisional setup has yet to be determined, but I think a North-South one would make the most sense.

You could have a Pac-12 North that would consist of Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Stanford.

The Pac-12 South would consist of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, USC and UCLA with the winners of each division facing each other in a championship game that could be rotated between Denver, Glendale, AZ, Los Angeles, Seattle or the San Francisco Bay Area.

They'll have a few years to sort out the details, assuming that the Pac-10 is done with their eastward expansion for this round.

Will The Last Big 12 Team Please Turn Out The Lights?

It has begun.

Colorado became the first domino to fall in the college relocation sweepstakes Thursday by accepting an invitation to join the Pac-10 in 2012.

They were followed less than 24 hours later by Boise State leaving the WAC for the Mountain West and their now former Big 12 conference mate Nebraska accepting an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference in 2011.

Nebraska leaving the Big 12 didn't surprise me. They haven't been happy being in Texas and Oklahoma's shadows the last few years. They see themselves as an elite football school even if they've slid a bit from that status.

We'll find out in 2011 if Nebraska they have the horses to compete in the Big Ten(12).

Now the rest of the college football universe waits to see what the rest of the remaining Big 12 schools will do.

Feel sorry for Kansas. Elite basketball program, not at that status in football, and unfortunately, football and the pursuit of television cash is driving this expansion and realignment scenario just like it did in 1996.

But the collegiate football world wants to know what Texas is going to do.

Yeah, they're talking a good game about 'trying to save the Big 12', but if you believe that bull I have some waterfront property along I-10 between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge I'd like to sell you.

Will they stay in the Big 12 or jump to either the Pac 10 or the SEC? We'll know after Tuesday's board of regents meeting.

Don't see the Wronghorns jumping to the SEC. Too much competition, and we all know what happened the last time they tangled with an SEC squad.

Here's a hint: Roll Tide!

The Pac-10 is also sending a message with the extending of a membership invite to Colorado and not Baylor that they run thangs, not UT.

Texas A&M is considering something different. Not going to the same conference with UT.

They are also tired of being in the Longhorns shadow and being considered the 'little brothers' to the 'Teasips' as they call them in Aggieland.

They are considering a potential invite to the SEC.

In the meantime the rest of the soon to be Left Behind Big 12 schools are meeting, trying to come up with a coordinated strategy to keep what's left of the Big 12 together and hold on to their BCS conference status.

But this is reminding me more and more of the Southwest Conference breakup.

The First College Football Domino Falls

Ever since the Big Ten Conference announced they were looking to expand by as many as 16 teams in order to split into two divisions and set up a championship game, the talk and rumors of which school was going where and to what conference has dominated the sports pages and ESPN for weeks.

It has non-BCS schools wondering what the college football landscape would look like id such a feeding frenzy of realignment got jumped off.

That may have just started, but it's coming from an unexpected quarter.

Instead of Texas or Notre Dame getting a conference invite to the Pac 10 or the Big Ten (yet), today the University of Colorado announced they would leave the Big 12 Conference to accept an invitation to become the 11th member of the Pac-10 Conference in 2012.

This is happening amid rumors that Nebraska may be on the verge of leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten Conference and would announce it at a press conference after its Board of Regents meeting on Friday.

If that turns out to be the case, it would be a huge shock to Missouri, which has made no secret that it wanted to leave the Big 12 for the Big Ten and pissed off their Big 12 brethren in the process.

As a UH alum, watching this impending round of conference realignment has the same deja vu feeling of watching the 1993 breakup of the SWC that started with Arkansas leaving for the SEC in 1990. Many UH alums still have extremely bitter memories about being Left Behind during the formation of the Big 12.

TCU and UH both finger Texas as the major culprit as why they were Left Behind in the first place. We believe they slimed both schools so the Longhorns could use the non-BCS status of those schools as a recruiting tool to access football recruits in the talent rich Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston areas.

Of course, the Orangebloods deny it, but I note that they never miss an opportunity in local Houston Chronicle forums to trash the University of Houston every chance they get.

Must be because UT never got over those football buttkickings the Coogs administered on a regular basis during the 70's and 80's, including sending Darrell Royal into retirement with a shutout loss in front of a sellout crowd enroute to our first SWC football title.

TCU alums also have much Hateraid for Baylor. They feel the Horned Frogs would have gotten membership in the Big 12 if it hadn't been for the fact that Baylor leaned on an alum who was in the Governor's mansion (Ann Richards) at the time in order to secure its spot in the new conference.

So we're both sitting on the sidelines feeling for the current members of the Big 12 who are about to be tossed aside like empty beer cans as the rest of your former conference brethren leave for mo' money.

Payback is a witch, eh Baylor?

Stay tuned, the conference realignment drama is only going to get more interesting.