University of Houston Athletics
Robertson Returns To Starting Lineup
11/8/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 8, 2001
Houston, Texas -
University of Houston senior quarterback Kelly Robertson will return to the starting lineup this Saturday when the Cougars travel to Louisville, Ky. to play the 25th-ranked Cardinals.
"Kelly's wrist has improved a lot and we feel that he can play this weekend," Houston head coach Dana Dimel said. "He was the nation's seventh-best passer in terms of passing yards when he went down and I want to give him a chance to play down the stretch."
Robertson enters Saturday's game still ranked ninth in passing yards with 298.8 per game and ninth in total offense with 290.5 yards per game after sitting out the last four games with a broken bone in his right wrist.
He completed 89 of his 160 passes for 1,195 yards and seven touchdowns in Houston's four games. Robertson threw for a season-high 367 yards at Army despite playing the second half with the injured wrist. He also threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns against Texas.
In Robertson's absence, sophomore Nick Eddy has started the last four games for the Cougars. Eddy has completed 83 of his 155 passes for 908 yards and five touchdowns during that span. His best game came against Memphis when he completed 28 of 42 passes for 331 yards and two TD's.
Dimel is hoping that Robertson can lead the Cougars to their first win of the season. He sees some similarities to the same situation during his final two years as head coach at Wyoming.
"We were playing for the WAC championship both years and lost our final games of the season," Dimel said. In 1998, we lost our final two games against Air Force and San Diego State. In 1999, we lost our final game of the season at Tulsa."
The Cowboys had a 6-0 league record heading into the Air Force game in 1998 and had won three straight games to get back into the conference race before dropping the final game at San Diego State.
This year, Houston hopes to take on the role of spoilers heading down the stretch.
