There hasn't been much for me to cheer about this football season. My Texans are jockeying for advantageous NFL draft positioning in a season in which for the first time since their inaugural season in 2002 they were projected to finally make the playoffs. To add insult to injury, the Tennessee Traitors (yuck) are still unbeaten. And no, I'm never gonna let it go about the Oilers being moved by Kenneth Stanley Adams for greed is good reasons.
But as a proud Cougar alum I have to give a shout out to first year coach Kevin Sumlin and the now 6-4 Coogs. They beat down No. 24 ranked Tulsa 70-30 last Saturday at Robertson Stadium to avenge last season's 56-7 blowout loss that knocked UH out of contention for the West Division title and a return trip to the C-USA championship game.It was also the Cougars second win this season against a Top 25 ranked club (the other was East Carolina). The last time the Coogs beat two ranked teams in a season, I was matriculating on the UH campus back in 1984. That year we knocked off No. 6 SMU and beat the hell out of No. 3 Texas.
The best part about last Saturday's game is that my Coogs are now bowl eligible.
The Cougars at 5-1 in the C-USA West Division are tied with Rice and Tulsa for the West Division lead. If they knock off UTEP this weekend at the Rob and win the annual blood feud at Rice Stadium on November 29 with our little brothers the Owls, the Cougars are the West Division champs for the second time in three years and play in the C-USA Championship game. Three more wins (the C-USA title game) and I get to gleefully make the five hour drive to Memphis to watch the C-USA champions play in the Liberty Bowl. I'll just make sure when I get to the Shelby county line and the Memphis city limits I'm not driving over the speed limit and steer clear of the Memphis PD headquarters.
Coach Sumlin did say when he took the job that the ingredients were there for the Coogs to be a consistent winner and a BCS bowl team. Shoot, I could've told you that. UH is sitting smack dab in the middle of the largest city in a football crazy state. Texas arguably has the best high school programs in the nation with much of that high school football talent playing on fields and stadiums within a 70-100 mile radius of the UH campus.
Texas knew it, too. That's why they fought so hard to keep us out of the Big 12 when it was formed in 1996.
But that's another topic for another day. I can hate on the Longhorns later. In the meantime I'm raising my right arm and doing the Cougar Paw hand salute.
If things go well for the Cougar footballers over the next couple of weeks, I'll be in Memphis singing the school song and hollering "Eat 'em up."
