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.  


   

Hail Cougars! 2015 AAC Champs!

Had the pleasure of watching my alma mater for the first time since 2006 win a conference title in football today.  And the best part of it was it was done in The Cage, AKA TDECU Stadium.

While the pregame talk was about our all everything junior quarterback Greg Ward, Jr (who should have gotten some Heisman love) in this inaugural American Athletic Conference title game, the UH defense are no slouches either.

But it was Ward doing much of the damage in this game with his legs, rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns as the 17th ranked Cougars raced to a 17-0 lead thanks to a Ward 47 yard TD run in the second quarter and two Temple turnovers to go up 17-3 at the half.

The Cougars pushed the lead to 24-3 on Ward's second touchdown, and then the 20th ranked AAC East Division Champs turned up their defense to help the Owls get back into the game

They closed to 24-13 with 5:11 to play before the Cougar defense stiffened and Temple failed on a 4th and 3 with 1:58 left on the UH 19 yard line.   Two first down later and the Cougars would be happily accepting the American championship trophy at midfield.

The Cougars not only moved to 12-1 on the season, as the highest ranked champion in the Group of Five conferences, they punched their ticket to a New Year's Eve bowl game which is according to chatter will be either the Peach Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.

Congrats UH Cougars for an outstanding season, and I need to pick up my championship t-shirt.

UH Cougars Are AAC West Division Champs!

After being upset last week 20-17 by UConn with their all world quarterback Greg Ward, Jr on the sidelines for much of it, my fave college football team came into this matchup at TDECU Stadium with number 15 ranked Navy with a lot on the line.  

The chance for an undefeated season were gone, but the Coogs still had much to play for Friday afternoon. The Cougars were not only playing for the AAC West Division title and hosting the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship Game, they were also playing to keep their hopes alive for a New Years Six bowl game.

The Coogs took the opening kickoff, marched efficiently down the field to score and take a 7-0 lead they would never relinquish against a talented Navy squad determined to make their own history with their Heisman Trophy candidate senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds.

Navy quickly answered, but UH took a page out of the Midshipmen playbook by executing long clock eating drives and capping them off with touchdowns, helped immensely by going 16 for 19 on third down and going 2 for 2 on fourth down to forge a 24-14 lead at halftime.

But it was the Cougar defense stepping up big once again by forcing a critical turnover on Navy's opening drive of the third quarter and converting it into a touchdown that gave them a 31-14 lead.

But Navy didn't quit.  They fought until the final whistle. but UH was just too good on offense and prevailed 52-31 to clinch the AAC West Division title, move to 11-1 on the season and ensure the AAC Championship game would be held in H-town.

They will face AAC East Division Champ Temple (10-2) on December 5, and I'm hoping I can get tickets for that game.  I'm also hoping they make more history by winning the AAC title and getting that spot in a New Year's Six bowl game.

NFL Hires First Ever Female Referee

The 2015 NFL officials pool will have a groundbreaking member added to it in Sarah Thomas, who was recently hired as the NFL's first ever full time female official

The 41 year old Thomas is a mother of three and pharmaceutical sales rep when she's not on the gridiron, and growing up played softball and basketball.   She began her officiating career at the high school level in Mississippi and by 1996 was officiating at the Division I-A level in the state.

At that  time, the NFL wasn't the goal, but by 2007 Thomas was working games at the collegiate level in Conference USA.   In 2009 she became the first woman to officiate a college bowl game, the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl, and has worked the Senior Bowl, the Fight Hunger Bowl, and the Medal of Honor Bowl in addition to the C-USA Championship Games in 2010 and 2014.

She also worked two seasons as an official in the defunct United Football League.

In 2011 she became the first woman to officiate a game in a Big Ten stadium when Rice played Northwestern,, and was in the NFL's officiating development program in 2013-14 working NFL preseason games, minicamps, and training camps.

"My goal has always been to be the best line judge I can be any time I get the opportunity,"said Thomas at a Wednesday press conference. "I feel honored and blessed to be in the National Football League now."

Thomas won't be the first woman to work an NFL regular season game.  That honor went to Shannon Eastin, who was called up during the 2012 NFL officials lockout and worked preseason and regular season NFL games until the lockout ended.

While Thomas is downplaying her role in sports history, it's still a big deal to a league which is decades behind the NBA, Major League Baseball and FIFA when it comes to having female officials calling their games.

TransGriot 2014 NFL Picks-Week 2

"I want to get off to a good start and lay the foundation.  This week and the next four weeks of the 2014 NFL season will reveal which teams are contenders and which teams are pretenders fighting for the first pick of the 2015 NFL Draft next May. "
TransGriot, September 4, 2014.

Mission accomplished with an 11-5 opening week.

Week 1 of the NFL season is always a crapshoot, especially when you're trying to pick what teams are going to win games.  You don't have much solid info to base your picks on.  Players and coaches have moved on to new teams during the offseason.  There are retirements, suspensions, and rookies altering team chemistry from the previous season to also factor in your decisions along with track record over the last few season and whether it's a home or away game.

It's usually the most nerve racking week, and I got through it better than expected.  

So did the Texans, who thanks in large part to JJ Watt and his defensive teammates, helped snap their 14 game losing streak dating back to last season with the 17-6 season opening win against the Washington NFL club at NRG Stadium. 

Now it's NFL Week 2, and I want to keep the positive prognostication contest momentum going from the better than expected first week while my esteemed opponents both had .500 weeks.

I'm getting right to it.  Another sixteen games, and the team I'm selecting to win will be in underlined bold print.   Mike and Eli's picks are here.

Week One Results

TransGriot    11-5
Eli                  8-8
Mike              8-8

2014 NFL Season Record

TransGriot    11-5
Eli                  8-8
Mike              8-8

Thursday Night Game
Pittsburgh over Baltimore

Sunday Early Games
Miami over Buffalo
Detroit over Carolina
Cincinnati over Atlanta
New Orleans over Cleveland
New England over Minnesota
Arizona over NY Giants
Tennessee over Dallas
Washington over Jacksonville

Sunday Afternoon Games
Seattle over San Diego
Tampa Bay over St. Louis
Denver over Kansas City
Green Bay over NY Jets
Houston over Oakland

Sunday Night Game
San Francisco over Chicago

Monday Night Game
Indianapolis over Philadelphia

UH Cougars New Football Stadium Opening In A Month

A month from now the University of Houston Cougars will start their 2014 season on August 29 in their new football stadium with an 8 PM CDT kickoff against the UTSA Roadrunners.

Thanks to a lucrative $15 million ten year naming rights deal, it will be known as TDECU Stadium

The new TDECU stadium is a significant upgrade from the old Robertson Stadium which was demolished after their final game versus Tulane in 2012. 

TDECU Stadium in addition to a 40,000 seat capacity expandable to 60,000, thanks to the new east-west orientation of it, will have spectacular views of the nearby downtown Houston skyline from both the upper and lower seating bowls.   It will also have premium seating options, a state of the art video board, luxury boxes, Wi-Fi access, improved concessions and more.   Open and spacious concourses with views to the field and plentiful bathrooms were part of the TDECU Stadium design. 

The lights and new S5-M turf field manufactured by UBU Sports has been installed.   S5-M is a slit-film turf blade with a sand/rubber combination for infill. 

It's a low maintenance surface designed to host a multitude of events, including but not limited to, high school football games, concerts, band practice, specific UH intramural events and more.  It has both dark and light green turf that alternates every five yards, a west end zone design that incorporates the Houston skyline into it and an east end zone that highlights the secondary Cougar athletics logo.

In addition, TDECU Stadium will be served by the Robertson Stadium/UH/TSU Station on the soon to be opened METRORail Purple Line.

Over the next four weeks construction crews will be feverishly working to complete any remaining interior and exterior landscaping work left on the $120 million stadium that is just four weeks from opening for business. 

And will be interesting to discover what nickname the Coogs on campus will chrtisten it with.

Dale Hansen Commentary On Michael Sam

My Houston area (Hitchcock, TX near Galveston) homeboy Michael Sam was the subject of another recent Dale Hansen commentary on WFAA-TV in Dallas.

Hansen has already blasted the NFL over the homophobia still in its ranks, and in this latest Hansen Unplugged video he takes on the people tripping about The Kiss and  other post draft commenatry.

Michael Sam Drafted By St Louis Rams!

It took three days and over 248 picks, but Michael Sam finally made sports and NFL history. 

The St Louis Rams on the 249th pick in the seventh round of the draft selected the SEC Defensive Player of the Year to hearty cheers in Radio City Music Hall.  

My fellow Texan has become the first openly gay football player drafted by a professional football team.

Sam was in San Diego at the home of his agent when the pick was announced by  NFL vice president of game operations Mike Kensil and an emotional Sam tweeted this moments after he was picked::

Thank you to the St. Louis Rams and the whole city of St. Louis. I'm using every once of this to achieve greatness!!"

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in an April 2013 document: “The NFL has a long history of valuing diversity and inclusion. Discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation is not consistent with our values and is unacceptable in the National Football League."

The NFL added sexual orientation to its list of protected classes in September 2011.

Being drafted was the not so easy part of this BFD GLBT sports moment.   Now comes the hard work of trying to make the St. Louis Rams opening day roster not far from where he played his collegiate ball at the University of Missouri.

He will have three of his Mizzou teammates with him in Rams camp trying to do the same thing.

Congratulations Mike!    May you make the Rams opening day roster and have much success, except when you're playing against my Houston Texans.
 

TBLG Community, Can't Celebrate Michael Sam As An NFL Player Yet

Like everyone else in the community, I have been keeping up with the wonderful news that a collegiate football player who is an NFL prospect has come out as gay.

Congratulations and mad props to my Texas homeboy (Sam played his high school football down I-45 south from here in Hitchcock) for doing so and being tough minded enough to come out in the testosterone fueled football world.  

But before we get all giddy about the prospect of Mr. Sam spending his Sundays playing in the NFL, there are a a few things I need to point out.

First, and most importantly, bear in mind GLBT community, he is an NFL prospect.   That means he hasn't been drafted yet and the draft won't happen until May 8-10. 

Being the Defensive Player of the Year and a first team All-American in one of the best collegiate football conferences in the nation (the SEC) would normally be a plus going into the combine and draft.

But it is interesting to note that after he made his coming out announcement and reports of unnamed NFL coaches and executives commenting that Sam's announcement hurt his draft prospects emerged, it resulted in him dropping from the 90th ranked prospect to the 110th overall ranked one. 

I'm concerned because the NFL Combine comes up February 18-25 in Indianapolis with Sam scheduled to participate in it.  With a good showing he can possibly improve those prospects, but it also depends on just how widespread the homophobia is in the NFL and whether those player personnel people would rank him fairly based on his combine performance and other evaluations despite the league's anti-discrimination policy.  

The code words are already starting to creep into the interviews with NFL coaches and player personnel people.  They are citing 'team chemistry' and allegations he would be 'a distraction' in terms of laying the groundwork to not draft him.  Some have cited homophobic players already on their rosters as a reason. And frankly, there are some NFL teams that just don't want to deal with the extra publicity that the first openly gay NFL player would bring from national and international media.

Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe is throwing the challenge flag on those comments. I call bull feces on it because you have had past NFL players that shot people (Aaron Hernandez) or did a long list of other stuff disruptive to team chemistry that isn't a 'distraction' but being gay is?

If Sam doesn't get drafted this May, then he would have to try to make an NFL team as a free agent.  He'll have to get signed, show up in mid July for training camp and survive all the cuts to make it to an NFL 53 man roster for the opening weekend of the 2014 NFL Season Sept 4,7-8.  

Once he makes an NFL team roster, then and only then can we officially say he is the first openly gay NFL player.   Until then, he is just an openly gay NFL prospect.

But as a longtime NFL fan and a member of the TBLG community, I hope he is successful in his quest to become an NFL player and one of the leagues 32 teams adds him to their roster. 

It would be even better for me if that team was my own Houston Texans. 

2013 TransGriot NFL Predictions- Championship Sunday

Well TransGriot sports fans, this was the weekend myself and other Texans fans hoped that we'd be getting to for the first time in franchise history, but didn't happen for us.  Instead of playing for an AFC title they are rebuilding their coaching staff with Mike Munchak and Romeo Crennel the next rumored hires. 

Enough Texans talk, let's get to discussing the teams that did make it to Championship Sunday in the 2013-14 NFL Playoffs.  Mike and Eli's picks will be here.   

Unlike the Wildcard round in which three of the four road teams won, the script was flipped in last week's Divisional round with three of the four home teams winning.   I also got three of those four games correct, with me missing on the Carolina-San Francisco one.   

So I'm now 5-3 in the 2013-14 playoffs and have the Championship Sunday games to go.   What two teams will punch their tickets to Met Life Stadium tomorrow?    Well, let's get to the picks.

AFC Championship Game

New England (13-4) at Denver (14-3)

This one is a rematch of a November 24 regular season game that was played at Gillette Stadium in which the Patriots won it 34-31 in overtime after trailing 24-0 at halftime.   The Patriots roared back to score 31  unanswered points on its first five second half possessions to take a second half 31-24 lead. 

Manning hooked up with Demaryuis Thomas for an 11 yard TD to tie the game and send it into overtime.  After the teams traded possessions, on the subsequent New England punt by Ryan Allen it hit Denver's Tony Carter after it landed and was recovered by Nate Ebner on the Denver 13 yard line to set up the winning Stephen Gostkowski field goal for the 34-31 comeback win.
 
The Broncos can thank the Miami Dolphins and their 24-20 win over the Pats as to the major reason why this game is being played in Denver.  

It's one more go around (the 15th time) in the battle between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and this time it's for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII. 

AFC West champ Denver was the best team in the AFC all year and AFC East champ New England despite all the drama surrounding the Aaron Rodriguez mess and injuries finished with the second best record in the conference and are in their third (boo hiss) straight AFC Championship game after sending the Colts parking with a 43-22 Divisional round win.   Denver won their rubber match with the San Diego Chargers 24-17 to punch their ticket into this AFC Championship matchup. 

This game will come down to which team doesn't make the crucial mistake they will ponder the whole offseason. 

Who will hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy at the end of the game?   Because they are playing at home, Denver

NFC Championship Game

San Francisco (14-4) at Seattle (14-3)

Call Seahawks All-Pro corner Richard Sherman Nostradamus.  He predicted back in march when the Seahawks traded for Percy Harvin and the Niners matched that move with the acquisition of Anquan Boldin that both these teams would meet for a thrid time with a Super Bowl berth on the line. 

He was correct, and now it's on and poppin'. 

This is the rubber match of the season series between the NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks and their hated NFC West rivals the San Francisco 49ers, who are the defending NFC Champions and playing in their second consecutive NFC Championship game. 

They split their regular season divisional games with the Seahawks blowing out the 49ers 24-3 at CenturyLink field during Week 2 of the season and San Francisco returning the favor with a 19-17 win during Week 14.

Now these two bitter rivals are playing each other in a battle that will decide who represents the NFC in the Super Bowl February 2 after knocking off their respective divisional round playoff opponents.  

While Seattle had to hold off a late charge from the New Orleans Saints to emerge as 24-15 winners at CenturyLink Field, San Francisco marched into Charlotte and handed the precocious NFC South champion Panthers a 24-10 setback to set up this winner take all NFC title game. .

Just as the AFC Title game is a showdown between two future Hall of fame quarterbacks, this NFC one features two of the young guns in the league with contrasting styles in Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick

Both have bruising defenses, can run the football down your throat with back Marshawn Lynch and Frank Gore, and excellent coaches in Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh. 

And the fanbases hate each other, too.  

The difference in this game is going to come down to turnovers and The 12th Man.   And yep, I see Seattle taking this game and hoisting the George Halas Trophy in front of their boisterous fans.

 

Told Y'all Some UT Fans Hated The Charlie Strong Hire

If you thought I was kidding about the less than warm welcome that greeted the news of Longhorn Elementary The University of Texas hiring Charlie Strong from some elements of their vanillacentric privileged, entitled and spoiled burnt orange wearing fanbase, well, you shouldn't be surprised.

UT megabooster Red McCombs, who has donated $100 million to UT, did his best Al Campanis impression when commenting of the hiring of the first African-American head coach for ANY UT men's sport.   

“I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,” McCombs said during a  interview on ESPN 1250 in San Antonio. “I don’t have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator.  

“But I don’t believe (he belongs at) what should be one of three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don’t think it adds up.”

McCombs was lobbying for former NFL coach and ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden to get the UT job. 

So tell me, how is the hiring of a coach who never had a losing record in his four years at Louisville, won a BCS bowl game, currently has a 37-15 record, won two Big East/AAC conference titles and has recruited and coached the possible number one overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft in Teddy Bridgewater a 'kick in the teeth' hire? 

Says more about Red McCombs.   And naw white peeps, don't even attempt to defend what McCombs said by using Dennis Green as a shield.   Dennis Green was hired in 1992 and was already in his sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings when McCombs bought the team in 1998, and as soon as Green had his first losing season in a decade as the Vikings coach in 2001 a year after narrowly missing a trip to the Super Bowl fired him. 

McCombs did apologize and walk back his comments, but McCombs is symptomatic of the arrogance I talk about in the UT fan base.  It's why I get gleeful enjoyment when their burnt orange wearing football team of four and five star recruits gets their butt kicked in Big 12 play or in bowl games..  

As I said in the earlier post, Charlie, good luck brother, you're going to need it.  Going to be interesting to see if they Ty Willingham you if you have one bad season there in Austin. 

UT Fans Welcome Their New Coach To Austin

As I've stated in other UT related blog posts, I'm not a Texas Longhorns fan because I've had negative run-ins with elements of their arrogant and racist fanbase while I was a student at UH during the SWC days. 

In fact, it makes my day when I see their precious $140 million dollar football team of five star recruits get its collective butt kicked by teams that have less cashflow and had to work harder to get their players 

But did have to comment on Charlie Strong becoming the first African-American head coach of their football program.  Word is that Strong has accepted their offer and is about to sign a contract that pays him $5 million a year over the next five years to break the UT coaching color line.  

Congratulations and good luck, brother, you're gonna need it. 

LSUFreek put up at his blog this awesome GIF of the reaction that Strong's hiring as the Longhorn head coach has generated with elements of UT's demanding fanbase. 

.

And yeah, also not happy about the problematic reporting coming out of the Dallas-Ft Worth area about it too. 

1993 Oilers Getting More Interesting By The Day

Well well, looks like the In Living Color 'Men on Football' Super Bowl skit joke about the Oilers wasn't too far off base.

This team gets more interesting by the day.   First there was the allegation on HuffPo there was a transfeminine Derrick Doll shaking her pompoms on the Astrodome sidelines during the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

Then there was the recent NFL Network documentary about the 1993 Oilers team and all the drama surrounding it.  1-4 start, Warren Moon benching, Babygate, the nationally televised punch of Kevin Gilbride by Buddy Ryan, the 11 game win streak that led to them clinching the AFC Central title with a 12-4 record and earning home field advantage throughout the playoffs but falling victim to one last hurrah from Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs 28-20 in their divisional round Dome playoff game.   

Now in the wake of the documentary comes this preview of a Houston Chronicle article scheduled to be published on Sunday (December 29) that stated there were two gay players on that 1993 team, the team knew about it, and didn't care. 

“Listen, those guys that we’re talking about were unbelievable teammates. And if you wanted to go to war with someone, you would get those guys first. Because I have never seen tougher guys than those guys,” said Oilers Pro Bowl linebacker Lamar Lathon. “And everybody in the locker room, the consensus knew or had an idea that things were not exactly right. But guess what? When they strapped the pads on and got on the field, man, we were going to war with these guys because they were unbelievable.”

It's interesting info in light of the fact that no active NFL player has come out, and only a handful of NFL players have come out in retirement.  It's also interesting to note that Brendon Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe, after expressing support for marriage equality and filing an amicus brief on February 28 in support of the Hollingsworth v Perry case then before the US Supreme Court, were let go by their respective NFL teams and were not signed by any NFL team during the 2013 season.  

But back to the 1993 Oilers and that gay players revelation.  That was the way it should have been.  Nobody giving a damn about those two gay Oilers except for how they did their jobs on the playing field.

As to who they are, I remember hearing a lot of rumors during that time about who those players were, but as long as my fave team was winning, I didn't care.  

Looking forward to reading that Chronicle article on Sunday.
 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Going Bowling

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights. This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
--TransGriot November 1, 2013

Damn, did I call it or not UH Cougar fans?  

My fave college football team was riding high at one point of this 2013 NCAA college football season   The freshman and sophomore dominated Cougar squad was 7-1, unbeaten in AAC conference play at 4-0 and hitting the most critical two weeks of their season with road games against UCF and Louisville.

If they win them both, they would be in the driver's seat for the inaugural AAC title and have the inside track for UH's first ever BCS bowl game.  

We're going bowling, but it won't be a BCS one.

In their November 9 nationally televised AAC showdown with Number 21 ranked UCF, UH came 30 seconds, two dropped end zone passes and seven agonizing yards short of walking out of Orlando with a win after coming back from a 19-7 deficit with 4:04 left in the game.

But the 19-14 defeat gave them their second loss of the season, their first in AAC play and dropped them into a second place tie with Louisville.

The Cougars took their 7-2 (4-1 AAC) record on November 16 to 'The Pizzeria' for their first trip to Louisville since 2003 and both were members of C-USA.   Sadly once again 13th ranked Louisville is bouncing for another conference (the ACC this time) just as we join them in the Conference Formerly Known As The Big East.

With a BCS bid still in reach for either team if they won, this first UH-Louisville tilt since 2004 was a far more competitive game than the one I had to hear about for several weeks as a Texan in Exile up there after they lost big in 2003 and 2004.  

But I did talk much trash after the 2002 upset win over the Cards in Houston.

At halftime it was looking good for my UH boys.  Despite losing all world wideout Deontay Greenberry to a head injury in the first quarter, the Cougars were up 13-10 at halftime and had Teddy Bridgewater under control.   The Cards made their halftime adjustments and shifted to a runcentric attack behind junior Dominique Brown.  He rushed for a career high 137 yards on 27 carries as the Cards ate up 12:24 of the third quarter, got the go ahead TD and added a John Wallace field goal late in the third quarter to eventually send the Cougars to another frustrating 20-13 loss in the last game we'll play against the Cards until 2015.  

With the Cougars at 7-3 for the season (4-2 in AAC play) and their slim hopes for a BCS bowl gone, they focused their attention on trying to end their losing skid against Cincinnati on November 23 in a soggy and cold BBVA Compass Stadium.

The temp was 40 degrees at kickoff with intermittent rain and the UH offense was as sloppy as the playing surface. 

The offense once again sputtered, scoring only one touchdown and O'Korn coughing the ball up deep in Bearcat territory on UH's opening drive.  The Cougars fell behind 24-7 before starting their second half comeback.  It was jumpstarted by safety Trevon Stewart's 15 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to narrow the UH deficit to 21-14.

The Bearcats also gave John O'Korn and the Cougars one last chance to snatch victory from the jaws of  defeat after they missed a short field goal with 1:24 left and no timeouts. But the Coogs ran out of time at the Cincinnati 32 yard line to lose 24-17 and drop their third straight game in AAC play by a TD or less and go 7-4 (4-3 AAC) on the season.

On November 29, the day after Thanksgiving the Cougars and the 'Third Ward D' feasted on our AAC instate rivals SMU and rolled them 34-0 at Reliant Stadium. 

While the offense was breaking out of its malaise with a 67 yard bomb to Daniel Spencer from O'Korn on the opening play of the game, the defense was making life miserable for SMU redshirt freshman QB Neal Burcham. 

They sacked Burcham five times, forced four turnovers and allowed only one Mustang trip inside the 20 yard line to post the first UH shutout since they were members of the SWC.

On December 2, 1989 the Cougars beat Rice 64-0 in their last game of the season to cap a 9-2 SWC campaign in which they finished second in the league, were ranked #14 during a probation marred season and saw Andre Ware run-and-shoot his way to the Heisman Trophy.   

Speaking of quarterbacks, John O'Korn did finish the regular season setting a UH freshman QB record with 26 touchdowns

The Cougars finished their first season in the AAC with an 8-4 record and 5-3 in conference play to finish fourth.  Not bad considering they were picked to finish sixth and did this with a freshman and sophomore dominated line up. 

While it's not the BCS bowl they had designs on when they started the year, on January 4 the Coogs will travel to Birmingham, AL to play in the BBVA Compass Bowl against their SEC opponent, the 8-4 Vanderbilt Commodores at Legion Field in what should be a fun game. 
   
While this inaugural AAC season turned out to be much better for the Coogs and their fans than we anticipated, the future looks so bright for the UH Cougars they need shades. 

In addition to those freshman and sophomores getting valuable playing time in their maiden AAC campaign, they will be playing in the new on campus football stadium scheduled to open on August 30, 2014.

And hopfully you'll be able to ride the METRORail Purple line to the stadium when the new Cougar football home opens with a game against the UTSA Roadrunners.  

Now all we need is a few four and five star recruits to sign and come play in it. 

Rice Wins 2013 C-USA Football Title!

Some of my local TransGriot readers are Rice University students, and despite the fact as a Cougar alum they are one of our big rivals and we UH fans enjoy (and vice versa) beating the crap out of them in whatever sport we play them in, (baseball is a different story because Rice dominates us) us), have to give them a major TransGriot shoutout  for winning the C-USA title game that was played in Houston yesterday. 

The Owls knocked off C-USA East Champ Marshall 41-24 at Rice Stadium to go 10-3 on the season, earn a invite to the Liberty Bowl against a soon to be named SEC opponent and win their first outright conference championship since they were members of the dearly departed (sniff sniff) Southwest Conference in 1957.

So there was probably some celebrating happening on their South Main campus.   Even this die hard UH Cougar fan has to show them some love after winning their first outright conference football title in 56 years and their first since they joined C-USA in 2005.

Congrats to Rice and good luck in the Liberty Bowl!
 

2013 TransGriot NFL Predictions Week 14

Well, this trainwreck of a season for us Houston Texans fans at this point of the year was supposed to be a battle for the number one seed in the AFC as we cruised to our third straight AFC South Division title.

But this season went off the rails when they lost to Seattle in overtime at Reliant.   Now ten consecutive losses later they have an AFC South Division rematch with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday Night Football.  Because our local ABC station has the broadcast rights for that NFL Network game, it's going to delay viewing of Scandal here until way past midnight

Hopefully we'll be happy campers in H-town after that game and the losing streak will be history.  But only if they play four quarters of football, score30 points again this week while keeping Jacksonville to that 13 they scored in the last matchup. 

Hmm, maybe Bob McNair needs to consider hiring Pope and Associates to sort out what's wrong with this team.   Naah, this is more of a job for Dr. Dani Santino.  

It's also being called by my fellow prognosticators the 'Teddy Bridgewater Bowl'.  Whoever loses it probably will have the inside track on the number one pick in the 2014 NFL draft and possibly selecting the Louisville junior quarterback who is a Heisman candidate.

Speaking of that prognostication battle, it was Eli and I that tied for Week 13 top honors with identical 11-5 records.

So let's get to Week 14...no more byes, so it's 16 games for the rest of the season as we get loser to playoff time and teams clinching playoff berths people .. Mine are in underlined bold print,  Eli's and Mike's are here.

Week 13 Results
TransGriot     11-5
Eli Blake        11-5
Mike Watts    10-6

2013 Season Record
TransGriot      107-84-1
Eli                  121-70-1
Mike              118-73-1

Thursday Night
Houston at Jacksonville

Sunday Noon
Indianapolis at Cincinnati
Cleveland at New England 
Oakland at NY Jets
Kansas City at Washington
Minnesota at Baltimore
Atlanta at Green Bay
Buffalo at Tampa Bay
Miami at Pittsburgh
Detroit at Philadelphia

Sunday Afternoon
Tennessee at Denver
St Louis at Arizona
Seattle at San Francisco
NY Giants at San Diego

Sunday Night
Carolina at New Orleans

Monday Night
Dallas at Chicago

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Halloween Treat For The Coogs

My fave collegiate football team had a short week because this Halloween night American Athletic Conference game against the University of South Florida Bulls was being nationally televised on ESPN.  

It also had all the earmarks of being a potential trick instead of a treat for unbeaten in conference play UH but didn't start that way.

The Cougars took just three plays to score on their opening drive and sprinted out to a 21-10 halftime lead before the script flipped in the second half.

UH came into this game as the nation's leading team in turnover ratio at +20 but coughed the ball up in the end zone on the opening third quarter drive that would have given them a 28-10 lead.  The Cougars started shooting themselves in the foot on offense with mistakes, mental breakdowns and a personal foul penalty by Kenneth Farrow that stalled another drive as the Bulls mustered enough offense after going a month with scoring touchdowns to narrow their deficit to 28-23.

But the Bulls (2-6, 2-2 AAC) committed 19 penalties for 170 yards, with the most backbreaking one happening with UH clinging to a five point lead deep into in the fourth quarter.  USF's true freshman QB Mike White tossed a pass along the right sideline to Bulls receiver Andre Davis that had him stepping out of bounds just short of the goal line but was flagged for offensive pass interference for pushing off on UH cornerback William Jackson. 

The penalty wiped out a 27 yard gain and pushed the Bulls back to the UH 42 yard line.  On the very next play Cougar defensive end Tyus Bowser sacked White and forced a fumble that was recovered by Jeremiah Farley for their first and most critical turnover of the game.  

UH then put the game away with a drive capped off by a determined Kenneth Farrow 5 yard TD run and a late interception to help the Coogs close out the 35-23 win and go to a spotless 4-0 in AAC play.

It was also the 16th straight game that the Cougars have had 2+ turnovers. 

Next week the 7-1 Cougars travel to Orlando to take on their first ranked opponent of the season in the 6-1 University of Central Florida Knights.   The Knights are no slouches with their lone loss being a narrow 28-25 non conference one to South Carolina.  UCF is also unbeaten in AAC play and walked into the Pizzeria October 18 and knocked off then number 8 ranked Louisville 38-35. 

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights.    This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
  

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Routing Rutgers

Before the season started the media covering the American Athletic Conference picked the Cougars to finish sixth in the inaugural AAC season poll. 

That dissing didn't sit too well with the UH football players, and as they started their season 5-0 the Cougar players continued to be incensed by the lack of media love and perceived disrespect.

"I was watching the Louisville (Central Florida) game and the ESPN commentators were talking about they were going to run the conference and do this and do that," said Cougar safety Adrian McDonald.  "They didn't even say anything about us. Coach talked about it. This is motivation. We're coming from the bottom and we're just going to work our way up."

If the media wasn't paying attention to UH.and ignoring them when it comes to ranking them, they most certainly are now. 

McDonald had two of the NCAA leading Cougar defense's five interceptions that turned a tight game into a 49-14 rout over Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ. 


True freshman quarterback John O'Korn led a high octane Cougar offense that amassed 611 yards of total offense.  O'Korn was 24 of 30 for 364 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Cougars rebounded from last week's narrow loss to BYU in a major way.    

The Cougar offense scored two second quarter touchdowns in the span of 58 seconds, one being a 83 yard strike from O'Korn to Deontay Greenberry that broke open the game and gave UH a 28-14 halftime lead.

The Cougar defense came into this game having forced 24 turnovers and a +14 turnover margin and added to it with the six turnovers they forced in this conference matchup.

With the win the Cougars are now 6-1 on the season (3-0 in AAC play) and bowl eligible but have bigger goals in mind.

The AAC champ is eligible for a BCS bowl, and after narrowly mission out on one in that near BCS busting season in 2011, definitely have their eyes on that prize in addition to the inaugural AAC title.

Next up is another AAC game in Reliant Stadium against the 2-5 (2-1) South Florida Bulls on Halloween night that will be televised on ESPN.

Hopefully the Cougars after that game will be one step closer to a BCS bowl and an AAC title that no one thought this freshman and sophomore laden squad would be able to win.   

2013 Texans Watch-Close But Another Loss

I along with many ride or die Texans fans are not happy about the four game losing streak that our NFL ballers entered Kansas City with that has the potential to ruin what was supposed to be a Super Bowl season for us.  

Instead the Texans are staring at the possibility of missing the playoffs and Gary Kubiak's coaching chair is getting a little warmer.   

With Matt Schaub definitely out for this game Kubiak finally did what much of the fanbase wanted him to do and start Case Keenum at quarterback. 

And Case delivered.   He not only showed his ability to extend plays and scramble out of trouble to get yards as he did during his NCAA record breaking UH career, he kept this game competitive to the point they had a chance to win it.   Even better, Case was 15 for 25 for 271 yards and a TD in his first NFL start and had ZERO interceptions.

There was a little more fight in the Texans after that pathetic performance against the Rams last week and they were down 14-10 at halftime.   But a tough game got even tougher as Arian Foster was forced to leave the game with a first quarter hamstring injury and Ben Tate joined him on the sidelines later.  LB Brian Cushing was lost with a torn LCL and broken leg in the third quarter.

Despite the injuries and no running attack the Bulls on Parade did their job and kept the Texans in the game.  When they forced Kansas City to punt with 1:46 left in the game the Texans had the ball deep in their territory and the table was set for the storybook comeback to end the game.

But KC linebacker Tamba Hall stripped Keenum from behind on the Texans 2 yard line and Derrick Johnson recovered the fumble to seal the narrow 17-16 Kansas City win and leave them the NFL's lone unbeaten team at 7-0

With their fifth straight loss the Texans limped into their bye week at 2-5 and are assured to go 0 for October.  They return to action at Reliant Stadium November 3 in a nationally televised Sunday Night clash with our division rivals the Indianapolis Colts.        

Here's hoping Keenum is the starter in that game, too.

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.