2011 UH Cougar Watch-Great Start To The Season

I enjoyed watching my favorite college football team successfully open its season yesterday at the Rob with a thrilling 38-34 shootout victory over the visiting UCLA Bruins.   It featured over 1023 yards of combined offense and was a major test for my Coogs.

UH raced out to a 31-14 halftime lead by scoring on five of their six first half drives.  Case Keenum was 30-40 for 310 yards and a TD, but he wasn't the only one doing the damage.  The running game chipped in 159 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries, with one spectacular 34 yard run by Michael Hayes in which he broke five tackles enroute to the endzone  and a 24-14 UH second quarter lead 

The defense is still a concern, giving up 554 yards and 20 second half points to the Bruins, but the Cougar D did step up when we needed them to.   They knocked UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince out of the game in the second quarter, blocked an extra point, forced a fumble and made some key stops when they were needed.

The win kept Coach Kevin Sumlin a perfect 4-0 in Cougar season openers and bumped their home record at Robertson Stadium since the 2006 season to 27-5.

The Cougars hit the road for the next two weekends playing North Texas on September 10 and Louisiana Tech on September 17 before returning to the Rob to play Georgia State on September 24.  

Texas A&M SECeding

The Aggies open what will be their final Big 12 season tomorrow with a game against former SWC rival SMU at Kyle Field.

I said 'final Big 12 season' because they announced earlier this week that they were leaving the increasingly shaky Big 12 conference for what they hope will be membership in the SEC as the league's 13th team.

A letter was sent Monday night by the school to University of Missouri chancellor and Big 12 board chairman Brady Deaton informing the league that they wish to leave.

"I certainly appreciate the discussion among the Big 12 presidents/chancellors and the expression of their desire for Texas A&M to remain in the conference,"  A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement. "We all agree that Texas A&M is an extremely valuable institution; thus, it is incumbent upon me, as the president of the university, to ensure that we are in a position to enhance our national visibility and future financial opportunity."

Texas A&M is the third school in less than 15 months to leave the Big 12.   Nebraska and Colorado bounced last year for the Big 10 and Pac-12 respectively and with the longterm prospects for the Big 12 looking shakier by the day Oklahoma is now evaluating its options as well.

A&M is still interested in continuing the traditional Thanksgiving Day rivalry game with the Longhorns but that seems unlikely right now.  The burnt orange flavored Hateraid started flowing almost immediately with the Aggies announcement that they are looking to chart a new SEC destiny separate from the one Big Brother had in mind.

Still, it's going to be interesting to see if the Aggies do officially become the SEC's 13th school as is widely expected is going to happen.

Will UH Finally Get That Big 12 Invite?

We Cougar fans have long been pissed over the fact we should have been in the Big 12 when it was formed in 1994.

But is it possible that we'll finally get that invitation to join the Big 12 that snubbed us and the rest of the Left Behind SWC teams?  

We didn't have powerful friends in the Lege and the governor's mansion (Ann Richards) strongarming Texas and Texas A&M on our behalf like they did in Waco and Lubbock at the time and got screwed.   Despite being in the number 7 television market, our program's storied history that includes 5 Final Fours, Olympic champion Carl Lewis, Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, Lombardi winner Wilson Whitley, NBA hall of famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and being the flagship university for the largest city in the state, we ended up in Conference USA.   

While UH is considered one of the flagship programs in C-USA, we've never forgotten the snub and felt the Cougars belonged in the Big 12.   Now that Texas A&M is strongly considering leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, will UH finally get that invite 17 years later?

The University of Houston is the third largest school in the state and is a university with an expanding campus, support from the community and legislators, and a president in Renu Khator who believes that a strong Tier One university also needs Tier One level athletic programs

UH has gone out and hired some great coaches such as Kevin Sumlin for their programs, have an AD in place in Mack Rhoades with a plan and the commitment to have first class on campus facilities to go with that Tier One athletic program vision of President Khator. 

Until they get the expansions of Robertson Stadium and Hofheinz Pavilion done, they have access to nearby Reliant Stadium and the downtown Toyota Center for large showdown football and basketball games.

The money from alums to help pay for those facility improvements will flow much faster with membership in a BCS conference, even if we have to suffer with the unbearable burnt orange arrogance of Longhorn Elementary. . Beating the hell out of Texas will more than make up for it.

And for the UH detractors that claim we couldn't hang competitively in the Big 12, I only need to point out that we sit in the prime recruiting area of Texas high school talent in all sports which is why y'all fear UH membership in the Big 12 in the first place. 

You know that those kids that you lure away from the Houston area because you use UH's lack of BCS conference affiliation against them would stay home and play at a UH with Big 12 membership.  Based on our what happened when we joined the old Southwest Conference, it wouldn't take long for our various teams to compete for conference titles in their sports and become national powerhouses again. .    

But that all depends on what Texas A&M and the SEC does.   If the SEC does invite the Aggies and set off this next round of college conference reshuffling, would the Big 12 be proactive this time and invite the Cougars (and possibly TCU or SMU) to get themselves back to 12 teams or allow themselves to get raided out of existence?

Stay tuned.   The Coogs standing pat during last summer's reshuffling could be about to pay big dividends.

Texas A&M To SEC?

They almost pulled the trigger on a move to the SEC during the conference reshuffling last summer that led to Nebraska and Colorado leaving the Big 12 and heading to the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences. 

This time Aggie anger over along with the rest of the Big 12 the soon to launched Longhorn Network and agitation over being in UT's considerable shadow has Texas A&M seriously considering a move to the SEC as early as next season.   


The SEC noted that Texas A&M approached them and they are interested because bringing A&M into the conference adds Texas to its markets.  The SEC presidents are meeting later today to consider the possibility of extending an invitation to the Aggies and a yet unnamed 14th team that has been rumored to be either Florida State or Clemson.

Of course the presidents of both institutions have denied being contacted by the SEC. 

There will be a special Texas A&M board of regents meeting on Monday in which this issue is one of the items on the agenda, and should be interesting to see what is said in the press conference that immediately follows it.   It'll also be interesting to see if this sets off another round of musical schools in the various athletic conferences as well.