H-town Takeover Completed With 38-24 Peach Bowl Win

The H-town Takeover, as this 2015 UH Cougar season was dubbed, has so far been a smashing success in coach Tom Herman's first season.   The Coogs opened up 12-0, with the only blemish being a 20-17 loss in with all everything quarterback Greg Ward, Jr didn't play because of an injury.

They eventually captured the 2015 American Athletic Conference with a hard fought win over Navy, and claimed their first major bowl invite since the 1985 Cotton Bowl.

The H-town takeover was taking its show to the Georgia Dome in the ATL and their first ever Peach Bowl.  But their opponent in this first ever Peach Bowl trip was the 9th ranked Florida State Seminoles.

The Cougars took full advantage of being in the national spotlight by racing to a 21-3 halftime lead as the Seminole offense sputtered in the first half with four punts, a fumble and a intersection thanks to the stifling  Cougar defense as they bottled up FSU's Dalvin Cook .  

Florida State hadn't given up more than 25 points the entire year, and when they closed the gap to 24-17, the Cougars offense got it back in gear, scored 17 fourth quarter points to sprint to a 38-24 win to claim a signature Peach Bowl win and finish 13-1 for the second time in four years.  .  

The win over FSU was their first over a Top Ten program since 1979, and their third this season over a Power 5 conference school (Louisville (ACC), Vanderbilt (SEC) were the others).  

It should also do wonderful things for their recruiting, and will be interesting to see where they start off in the rankings in 2016.

So what you waiting for Big XII?  Do u and yourselves a favor and extend an invite to UH.  


   

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Tough Loss To Those Utah Based Cougars

The collegiate football pundits had my fave undefeated collegiate football team penciled in as a ten point underdog at Reliant Stadium to that other Cougar team from Utah.

The UH Cougars didn't pay attention to the oddsmakers and got into an entertaining four hour marathon offensive shootout with BYU.

The UH Cougars scored on big plays like a 95 yard kickoff return, their first safety since 1992, a pick six interception return and touchdown receptions of 41 and 69 yards as both Cougar teams combined for 1,164 yards of total offense and BYU tied an FBS record by running 115 plays in the game. 

But it was the plays that UH didn't make like the two missed Richie Leone field goals from 40 and 45 yards, the missed extra point, the failed two point conversion, the three O'Korn interceptions and 10 penalties that kept critical drives alive for BYU and led to a narrow 47-46 loss.

Instead of the expected punishing BYU ground attack they expected going into the game BYU quarterback Taysom Hill flipped the football script and came out throwing the ball for a career high 417 yards and four TD's with three interceptions.  UH quarterback John O'Korn nearly matched him with 363 yards passing and three touchdowns in a first half that was a track meet in which the longest drive for either team was three minutes. 

The 38-34 halftime score favoring UH gave way to a third quarter defensive battle in which linebacker Derrick Matthews, who had three sacks along with the 29 yard pick six recorded the only point with that safety.

But it was Hill's 11 yard pass to Skyler Ridley with 1:08 remaining followed by O'Korn's killer third INT of the game by BYU's Alani Fua with 1:05 left that sealed the win for the now 5-2 Utah based Cougars and sent the UH Cougars to a frustrating first loss of the season.  

The Cougars don't have time to dwell on the loss because from now on their remaining scheduled games are all AAC conference games.    Next up for my freshman and sophomore dominated squad is a Saturday trip to Piscataway, NJ to play Rutgers before they join the Big Ten next season. 

2013 UH Cougar Watch- Coogs Are 4-0!

While Computer Prime was in the shop, the NCAA college football season got cranked up along with the first year of my Houston Cougars playing in the American Athletic Conference, AKA the rebranded Big East.

They went 5-7 in their last C-USA season and were picked in the AAC preseason media poll to finish sixth in the league.  But historically my alma mater has a habit of exceeding football expectations in the first year they enter new conferences. 

So far it looks like that may be happening for this prepubescent Cougars football squad now.  

Because they are building a $105 million 40,000 seat on campus football stadium on the former spot that Robertson Stadium used to occupy that isn't scheduled to open until next August, their 2013 home games are being played at Reliant, Rice and BBVA Compass stadiums.

The Coogs got this 2013 football party started with a 62-13 August 30 thumping of the Southern University Jaguars from the SWAC at Reliant Stadium. 

The next week, September 7 they traveled to Philadelphia to make a little history and play the very first American Athletic Conference game against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field. 

It was a tight and frustrating affair for the Cougars as they lost junior starting QB David Piland to a concussion and sophomore RB Kenneth Farrow to a season ending injury.

Piland's concussion paved the way for true freshman John O'Korn to take over the reins and his freshman counterpart Greg Ward to get some playing time.  The UH Air Raid offense moved the ball at will on the Owls until they got in the red zone, the Temple defense would stiffen and they would settle for field goals.  Cougar kicker Richie Leone kicked five field goals as they went an abysmal 1 for 8 in the red zone. 

Been watching the Texans too much.    

But the Cougar defense stepped up and got a red zone pick to end one Owl drive with them clinging to a 15-13 lead and stiffened on another drive that led to a missed 25 yard field goal that would have put Temple in front 16-15.   Ryan Jackson’s 8 yard fourth quarter touchdown run let the Cougars exhale and get out of town with a 22-13 win to go 2-0 on the young 2013 season and get their first AAC conference win. 

The Bayou Bucket showdown at Reliant Stadium with our crosstown rivals the Rice Owls was next up on the schedule on September 21.  It was in addition to being John O'Korn's first collegiate start a game chock full of offensive fireworks as the Cougars found themselves trailing 13-7 after the first quarter before they woke up and grabbed an 17-13 halftime lead.   

The Cougars built a comfortable 31-13 they took into the fourth quarter lead before Rice came storming back.  

Alex Lyons picked up a blocked Cougar field goal attempt with 2:18 in the game fourth quarter and raced 62 years for a Rice TD to narrow the lead to a scant five points.   Rice kicker Chris Boswell subsequently executed a highlight worthy back-footed onside kick the Owls recovered to give them one last chance to bring the Bucket to their side of town.

But a fourth down pass from the UH 36 on that potential game winning drive fell incomplete and the Bucket remains on the UH campus for the third straight year after the 31-26 win over the Owls to go 3-0.

Because the Cougars and Owls are now in different conferences for the first time since 2003, that was the last scheduled game between UH and Rice for the next four years.  Both schools have indicated they wish to continue the Bayou Bucket rivalry which has occurred since 1971.


Yesterday the unbeaten Cougars traveled down I-10 west to take on the 2-2 UT-San Antonio Roadrunners at the Alamodome for the first time. 

But this had the makings of a trap game.  The UTSA program may only be three years old, but it's headed by Larry Coker, who once led the Miami Hurricanes to a national championship in 2001.  UTSA sits in the second largest city in Texas and has quality high school programs in the area like Houston that produce lots of FBS caliber high school football players.  The Roadrunners recruited enough of them to where they went 8-4 last season and 3-3 in the WAC but because they are making the transition from FCS (Division I-AA) aren't fully bowl eligible until 2014.    

For three quarters UTSA stayed competitive with the Cougars in a back and forth game in which the lead exchanged several times.  It unraveled in the fourth quarter for the Roadrunners when Cougars defensive lineman BJ Singleton blocked a Sean Ianno field goal attempt that Brandon Wilson scooped up and turned into a 79 year touchdown that gave UH a 31-21 lead. 

It also turned a close game into a rout as the Cougars forced five fourth quarter UTSA turnovers including a 96 yard pick six with 48 seconds left in the game by William Jackson for a 59-28 win and remain undefeated in this 2013 football season. 

The 4-0 UH Cougars play their second AAC game on Saturday morning October 12 at BBVA Compass Stadium against Memphis.

Going to be interesting to see them trying to keep the forward momentum going in this inaugural AAC season with this freshman dominated squad.  .

Will be hoping they do. 

UH Offically Joins The American Athletic Conference

A lot of soap opera worthy things happened since I wrote that November 2011 post about the University of Houston joining the Big East Conference

TCU was supposed to join the Big East in 2012, but backed out after they received an invitation to join the Big 12. West Virginia also bolted on the Big East after it was invited to join the Big 12 along with the Horned Frogs for the 2012-13 academic year.  

The Big East Catholic basketball only schools (The Catholic 7) bailed to form their own conference. 

They subsequently negotiated a deal to keep the Big East name, the contract for the basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden and also depart today.

Boise State and San Diego State after initially agreeing in November 2011 to join the league, backed out after all the turmoil and mass defections started and decided to stay in the Mountain West Conference. 

Boise State filed a lawsuit in April to avoid paying the $5 million exit fee to the Big East/AAC.  The Bi East/AAC is also embroiled in litigation with West Virginia, Pitt, and Rutgers.   They recently settled out of court with TCU for $5 million.

Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers also said see ya to the Big East to head to other conferences.  Pittsburgh and Syracuse are headed to the ACC starting today, Louisville will join in 2014 and Rutgers is headed to the Big Ten in 2014.   Notre Dame, which was a Big East member for all its other conference sports except football also joined the exodus for the ACC and that affiliation starts today.

Since the Big East name departed with The Catholic 7, the conference in now named the American Athletic Conference.  The good news is that the automatic BCS football berth remains, which is why UH left C-USA to join the AAC in the first place, is still available to play for this year until the new plus 4 playoff structure starts in 2014.

There was just as much drama and activity on Cullen Blvd.in the runup to this day.  

During the middle of a 2011 season in which UH was on the brink of being a BCS buster in football Kevin Sumlin shadily was negotiating on the eve of the C-USA title game against Southern Mississippi to scurry off to Texas A&M.   The Cougars were upset 49-28 in that game and went from playing in the Sugar Bowl to the Ticket City Bowl where they flattened a scandal plagued Penn State team to finish 13-1 .  . . 

Tony Levine became the UH head coach after Sumlin's departure and had a disappointing injury plagued 5-7 season that included a scary November 2012 incident in which cornerback DJ Hayden nearly died on the practice field.   Robertson Stadium was torn down after the Cougars played their final game in it, a 40-17 victory against Tulane on December 3.

Construction started in February on the new $105 million football stadium after Robertson was demolished and the site cleared.  In the interim the Cougars will play their inaugural AAC season home football games at Reliant Stadium until the new 40,000 seat on campus football stadium opens in August 2014.

UH's new collegiate conference home will have 10 teams in 2013-14, which is two short of what you need to host a football conference title game.   AAC members in this inaugural season are Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, Temple, UCF and USF.  

After Louisville and Rutgers leave the AAC, East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join the American for all sports in July 2014 and Navy will join as a football only member in July 2015.

A new chapter in the Cougars collegiate sporting history starts today and we UH fans and alums can only hope it will be a successful and less drama filled one.

2012 UH Cougar Watch-Great Time For First Win

My fave college football team got their 2012 college football season off to a rocky start with a 30-13 upset loss to Texas State at Robertson Stadium.  

It got worse for UH on September 8 in a 56-49 shootout loss to Louisiana Tech to drop them to 0-2.

They were also battling the injury bug as they traveled to Pasadena,.CA to get spanked 37-7 by UCLA on September 15 to drop their record to 0-3 .

But the good news was they hadn't started conference play yet.   In addition to going through their bye week and getting healthy they would start and would start C-USA play against our crosstown rivals at Rice. 

Our campuses are separated by seven miles and this is the Coogs last season in C-USA before they move to the Big East next year.   This would be the last conference football game that we would play against the Owls and the Bayou Bucket and Houston bragging rights were also on the line at Reliant Stadium. 

Good thing since its been raining intermittently all day. 

The Coogs rolled to a 35-14 win versus the Owls thanks to Charles Sims rolling up 158 years on 24 carries and scoring three touchdowns to help keep the Bayou Bucket where it belongs on Cullen Blvd. for the second straight year.   It also gave us our first win of the season and most importantly made the Cougars 1-0 in C-USA West Division play

The Cougars get North Texas on Saturday at Robertson Stadium in their last non conference game of the season before they tackle the rest of their C-USA schedule.


Eat 'em up!   .You finally got that first win of the season. 

UH's Last Season In C-USA And Robertson Stadium

One year from now the University of Houston will join the Big East Conference in all sports, but until then we'll be spending the 2012 season as a member of Conference USA for the final time.

The University of Houston has been a charter member of C-USA since the league was founded in 1995 but with the changing college conference landscape and UH campus leadership under president and chancellor Renu Khator pushing UH to be a Tier One institution in academics and its athletic programs, (and the Big 12 being 'scurred' to invite UH to join the conference) the move is being made the join the Big East in 2013.

Something else this will be is the final football season for Robertson Stadium.  The stadium was built in 1941 as an HISD high school football venue named Jeppesen Stadium and has a lot of history attached to it.   It hosted the Yates-Wheatley Thanksgiving Day game when both schools were in the old PVIL, Houston Oilers games in the early 60's, some Texas Southern University and HISD gridiron clashes and served as the home of the Houston Dynamo when thy moved here from San Jose until their new downtown stadium opened in May. 

It was bought by the University of Houston in the late 70's and renamed Robertson Stadium to provide an on campus facility for UH football games and was expanded in the 1990's to its current 32,000 seat capacity.

Once the final UH football game is concluded in December, demolition of Robertson will begin in order to clear room for the brand new 40,000 seat football stadium expandable to 50,000 to be erected on that spot of the campus and completed by September 2014. 

One cool thing is that the METRORail Southeast light rail line is currently being constructed on the Scott Street side of the new stadium and will be completed in late 2013-early 2014 which will make it easier to get there on Cougar game days if you don't feel like driving.  

But while I'm happy my alma mater is finally getting to work on that long talked about new on campus stadium and also renovating the Hofheinz Pavilion basketball arena across the street in the process, the one thing I'm sad about is that Robertson Stadium and the history attached to is going to be lost to the wrecking ball

But I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens in this final season of C-USA competition and how we fare in the Big East in 2013.


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