Houston Cougars Football Tickets

Art Briles was a miracle worker in his first season taking over a team that had won 3,0 and 5 games the previous 3 seasons and had just 7 returning starters. His brand-new multiple offense, however, dumbfounded opponents and they averaged 34.5 ppg and 458 ypg despite using a true f rosh at QB. They were just 1 of 3 teams in the NCAA to score 40+ pts in 7 games. There is no offensive playbook as Briles keeps it all on film. Only six IA schools had gone from zero wins to a bowl in two seasons and UH accomplished that by playing in the '03 Hawaii Bowl. In 2004 13 starters returned including QB Kolb and in the 2004 magazine I pointed out that in their magical 2003 season, UH only played 4 CUSA foes with a winning record and lost all 4 of those games by an average of 20 ppg! They also had to take on four
CUSA contenders on the road in conf play plus Oklahoma (#2) and Miami (#4). In 2004 they outgained league foes by 20.1 ypg but actually went just 3-5 in CUSA and 3-8 overall. Last year I called for Houston to get back to a bowl as they had 14 returning starters and were a -3 in the net close win category (see pg 299). While UH finished just 6-6 (4-4 in league play) they actually outgained CUSA foes by 88.2 ypg, the BEST mark in the league. They suffered some tough losses including a 2 OT loss at UTEP, vs Memphis (trailing 21-20) they fumbled twice into the EZ for TB's and vs UCF they were stopped on a 2 pt conv which would have tied it. They also had a 392-241 yd edge vs SMU but lost 29-24. They did get their first road win vs an SEC opponent since 1999 (Miss St). Now they are trying to get to back-to-back bowls for the first time since '81. The offense loses a 1,000 yard rusher but with 7 starters back including QB Kolb, they should top '05's 28.1 ppg. The D has 9 starters back plus add 2004 starting FS Gulley who missed '05 and I will call for them to have their best ppg allowed since '99 with the best D in Briles tenure.

Houston Cougars Football 2006 Schedule