Rice beat UTSA. What a wonderful day

Reposted with permission from Gene Cross (father of Travis and former Baylor player)

A good POV well-stated from a guy with a better football resume than most of us...


If I want to win the next three games against Tulane, Tulsa and SMU: I am going to RUN the ball as much as I can with my Dual Treat QB and when I throw I will make safe passes, like a 6 inch jet sweep pass, a screen pass, bubble screen, outside WR screen. I do not want the ball to hit the ground and I want the clock running. I want to shorten the game, keep the risk low and let my Defense take their lunch money. I want to keep penalties to minimum and never never turn the ball over. I have my two hardest games on my home field and will never let O' MO move to the other side of the field. Penalties, turnovers, bad weather conditions and mistakes can change momentum. I do not want these three teams to sniff the possibility of an Upset win. I going to kick their *** from the time the get off the bus till i help them back on the bus to go home. When I go to Dallas I going to get in, play it safe, get a Win and Get out then go eat some Turkey.

I want to keep my players healthy, especially my defensive players. I have already lost two major starters and I do not want to lose any more. By running the balI, I shorten the remainder of the season almost by a full game. I will run about 30% fewer plays over the next three games by keeping the clock moving. Fewer snaps per game will reduce the possibility for my team to have fewer injuries at offense, defense and special teams. Short games fewer snaps less injuries

With a Dual treat QB and the renewed focus on the running game, I am giving my OL an opportunity to get after some people. They have been beat like dogs all season but now they are beginning to establish themselves on the field and developing some pride. Pass blocking every play really really sucks. You play on the back of your heals. The Defense is twisting and turning and they get to line up and come after you and you have to take it. Especially on the edge, those little Des get 5-7 yard running start (in a 5-7-9 stance like BYU did) and you are alone on a island and just trying to hold on. NO More. With a Dual Treat QB taking snaps their front 7 DL/LB have to maintain gap control at the line of scrimmage because if my QB breaks the line of scrimmage to the second level bad things happen to them. Now the DL and LB are on the back of their heels with their lane assignments and my OL (and blocking RBs) are coming after them from all over the place. This is why you see the PLAYERS energy and High Fives and butt slapping on the side lines. It changes their whole attitude and attitude is everything. This team now plays from a position of strength.

Most of you guys understand this but here is my POINT. This did not happen by accident. The team did not stumble into this position by happenstance. This is not some Jr High Offensive Scheme. This was planned, strategically installed and executed by the coaching staff and players at the University of Houston football team. It took some major STONEs to bench the existing QB who was the face of the UH football program and take a WR/Punt Returner and put him at QB. Most everyone bought in to the plan. It was discussed in detail with the players and HCTL picked up the flag and away they went.

And here we are with wins at Memphis, Temple and USF. Instead of celebrating these wins and the opportunity to win a AAC CC some of you want to run Polls about if you should fire your staff at the end of the season. You debate weather you want to Pass the ball more and keep up the Brand of the "Air Raid". You want to debate yards gained over Winning. I can not even comprehend a poll whereby you are asked to choose between winning a championship for your team or choosing to lose the Championship so you can have the leverage to dismiss a coach. Really? You guys can debate anything and everything about your team but the only real STAT that matters is the score at the end of the game. Winning Championships will bring people to the games and get you noticed. Everything else is secondary.

It would be a major accomplishment when UH wins the next three games and put themselves in a position to play for the AAC CC Cincinnati will be a different kettle of fish. We can cross that bridge when these three games are behind us. But now take pride in what they have before them over the next three weeks. I think we need to support them as best we can.

As for coaches ... there is more than enough time to discuss and evaluate the coaches at the end of the season. Can you just let that go for now?

I have been saying this for a long time, but especially since sitting through the Spring game...

Confirmed to me tonight was the fact that Bush is the problem and should not be an OC at UH.

I watched as Bush eroded what ability Piland had in 2012. I always thought Piland was a little dainty but he did have ability. Bush's consistent 3 and outs made our defense tired and resulted in losses where I scratched my head.

In 2013 after Meachum left and we prepared for a bowl game I thought he might be ready only to see signs that he was at it again. I like JOK because he is strong armed and seems to have mobility, not enough to be called a dual threat, but mobility.

In 2014, I left the Spring game disgusted with the offense...Bush had done it again. I realized that many of our starters did not play so I hoped for a good season despite what I saw. UTSA came and I was excited to be in our new digs but the first play, a hand off for -2 yards, I knew we were in trouble. Bush has ruined JOK. Ward was the answer at the time but Bush's play calling or lack thereof, is killing this team. No QB we put in will be successful. I went to USF and I saw a Ward that got BUSHWACKED.

What did you learn from this Tulane loss???

any scuttlebutt out there?? just curious as to what you are hearing, if anything...Completely understand if you can't share any info, but just curious/hoping, there are some things happening behind the scenes...

Go Coogs!!
This post was edited on 10/7 9:45 AM by 96Coog

Unique opportunity awaits if we make change today
With bye week there is time to salvage something while signaling to the faithful that what we've seen is completely unacceptable

Waiting till after Dec serves no purpose at all

Vp of Athletics show some friggin leadership today - same for khator

Not only was yesterday's game mindful of Texas State and UTSA, but in 2012 after opening the season with losses to Texas State, La. Tech, and UCLA we went on a 3 game winning streak against Rice, North Texas, and UAB. The fanbase began to feel better about the team and discuss a salvageable season. Then came the SMU game: 72-42. Easily in the conversation as the worst performance in Cougar football history. The rest of that season speaks for itself. We only won two more games that year; UTEP, that we almost blew by letting them back in the game and ...wait for it...Tulane , 40 - 17.
This post was edited on 11/9 11:59 AM by jjCougar85

. . . eliminates any question that Ward can throw well enough to win at this level. That was a big league pass.

But like O'Korn, he's gotten worse too.

The Houston Cougars kicked off the Kelvin Sampson era with an Exhibition win on Saturday as the Cougars topped Northern Alabama 108-83 at Hofheinz Pavilion.

Sampson Era Opens with Exhibition Win

I will be completely honest on this one. I did not see that coming at all. I know Houston has been riding a bit of a streak since Ward has been implanted as the starting quarterback but for me personally I still wasn't ready to tab Houston as one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference.

I've been waiting on a game like this from Ward, granted I will never wish a kid ill but I had a feeling a game would come where his inexperience at quarterback would take over and he would try and force too many plays and end up hurting Houston more than it helped. Unfortunately for him and Houston, I think that day came today.

I know some may look at his numbers and see that he went 31-of-45 completing 68-percent of his passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns. The fact remains that he did seem to try and do too much at times. He was sacked three times and threw three interceptions.

The biggest surprise to me for this game was Tulane's ability to really limit Houston's running game. The Cougars averaged just 2.8 yards per carry on Saturday and Greg Ward was the leading rusher with just 59 yards on 18 rushing attempts.

Two thoughts on that, I don't think you really want your starting quarterback to be the top ball carrier in terms of rushing attempts, those hits will take a toll as the season wears on. My other concerns on that is Kenneth Farrow and Ryan Jackson had a combined 13 rushing attempts, eight by Farrow and five by Jackson. That to me doesn't signify that you were trying to establish the running game with your top two running backs. I know Tulane stopped Farrows and Jackson but 13 rushing attempts between two backs isn't really a legitimate effort to establish those two players if you ask me. But to give credit where it's due, Tulane did do a great job overall at slowing down the Houston ground game.

Defensively, the Cougars again had another turnover by standout safety Adrian McDonald who's turned into a turnover machine for Houston. The thing I was surprised the most by defensively for Houston was they let Tanner Lee a quarterback who had been struggling have a big day on the road. Lee completed 24-of-35 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns, with one interceptions and one sack.

Tulane's offensive line was quite effective throughout the game and did well protecting Lee who was only sacked the one time and only hurried twice throughout the entire game.

I'm growing increasingly impressed with true freshman Matthew Adams. The Missouri City (TX) Hightower product had his best game to date stepping in with 11 tackles and 2.5 tackles-for-loss.

Lets not forget Efrem Oliphant who's have a monster season for Houston and continues to do so in the absence of Derrick Mathews. Oliphant finished the day with 13 tackles and one sack and has really turned into a reliable option at linebacker for the Cougars.

The Cougars head into a bye this week and will have plenty of things to work on as the microscope for Levine and Co has likely now officially been turned back on. I'm not sure that he could make another switch at quarterback at this point as that could make him look like he's grasping for straws, but the fact remains that there are plenty of issues for this Houston offense. They just lost to a team they should have beat decisively for the second time this season. This bye week is coming at a great time for Houston, we'll see if they can use it to fix a lot of their offensive woes and work out some of the kinks at the quarterback position.

even though there's only about 125 FBS teams. At least 8 FCS teams are ranked ahead of Tulane. Bull shiite it's only one game.

Being old I like the flat red with legacy UH on helmets.

But enough about Tulane's performance today, we were worse.

Decent crowd, first game for many, supposedly inferior opponent........I Can't believe it!,,!!!,!!

With 95 % of our production returning on both sides of the ball this is what we get ?

Sounds like a coaching change to me.

O'Korn...had a very above average freshman year with a decent OC. This year we ruin him with no one to develop him and a terrible OC. He gets to learn from the sideline.

Ward...Our OC says (according to announcers) just go out and play, we cant coach you, just go have fun...WTF
3 INTs, throws behind receivers and high throws too. When the going gets tough a fumble into the end zone (UCF) and an INT in the end zone.

Hicks...RUN, RUN WHILE YOU CAN AND DON"T LOOK BACK

We lost to freakin Tulane. Sad, very sad.

or Lil Generals have sealed their fate, I do believe. This can't be the future of UH, they need a Sampson, Whitting hire for this team.

I have tried to be on his bandwagon, but this is another UTSA, Texas State loss
Tulane is a weak team, just like above. He must go

Defenders of the LeBush faith... Those that blame our failures on execution by guys that are 18-22 years old...

What are we setting the Tulane defense up for today?

Which kids fault is this?

Are we blaming it on the fans today?

We may still win this game, but we are in a fist fight for our life against one of the 5 worst teams in the country.

Please explain.

Greenberry all alone by the goal marker right in front of Ward. it takes more than one play to lose the game but that was hard to watch.

Houston by about 16 or 17 depending on the site. Vegas is practically begging Tony to cough up another hair ball.

It ain't easy being a Coog.

HOUSTON 0 5-3 (3-1) - TULANE 0 1st Qtr. 15:00

Houston won toss and defers

Cummings kicks to 5, returned to 23. Looks like maybe 18,000 fans* in the stands.

Tulane Drive 1
1/10 TUL 24 .. Play action pass broken up by Jackson under pressure by Stansbury
2/10 ... Handoff up the gut for 6
3/4 ... Houston in press coverage, poor throw. 3 and out.
4/4 ... Ayers back to return, fair catch at the 20. I'm revising the estimate. 15,000 in the stadium.

Houston Drive 1
1/10 ... HOU 20 ... Complete to Greenbury to gain five. Ball comes loose. Going to be ruled an INT. Tulane ball.


Tulane Drive 2

1/10 HOU 26 ... Sweep gains 1
2/9 ... Play action completion for 8 to the TE
3/1 ... 3 yard run.
1/10 ... HOU 14 ... Read option gains 2 on the dive
2/8 ... Corner route to back of end zone ... uncovered. Stewart got blown up. TOUCHDOWN

Tulane 7 - Houston 0 1st quarter 11:19

Thiss team has to win to keep their bowl hopes alive. We are playing bad but we are winning at half time despite it. Tulane knows that a loss to us tonight will keep them from going bowling.

We will win today but just know that we're getting tulane's best effort

I forked over the 10 bucks to watch this on College Sports Live; I'd like to hear everybody's opinion after it's over.

I am going to do the weekly thread, if for no other reason it allows me to take a little stress out of watching the game.
Thought long and hard about flying in for this week's game but I have a bird dog in a cast and just couldn't leave my wife to deal with him for a long weekend.

Game comes on in 12 minutes.

HOUSTON 0 - TULANE 0 1st Qtr. 15:00