University of Houston Athletics
Cougar Football Notes
9/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 19, 2001
With the biggest game of the year for the University of Houston Cougar football team just three days away, the focus in Wednesday's (Sept. 19) practice once again turned to the mental preparation a big game entails and a concentration on the Texas Longhorns' style of play.
"Today was a great day, a good practice," Cougar head coach Dana Dimel began. "All the things we didn't do well enough yesterday, we nailed today, from the execution of the plays that we've been working this week for Texas and having the extra day for preparation (last Saturday) has really gone a long way for us."
Considering this will be Houston's first game-time competition in three weeks since the season opener against Rice on Sept. 1, Dimel and his coaching staff have continued to stress the mental toughness for the upcoming game against the Longhorns and not falling into a "practice only" routine.
"Last Saturday we started working on Texas, then Monday, Tuesday, and today we could really see ourselves starting to click. And now we have tomorrow to really polish things up," he said, contending that despite not having played a structured game in nearly a month, the extra time of practice has been a plus.
"The extra couple days of work for this ball game really started to show their head a little bit today. This is like getting over the mountain right now. From this point on, they'll start to say 'hey, we've got a huge game coming up this weekend.' And what we're trying to do is work them as hard as we can--this has probably been the hardest work week we've had--so that they feel prepared to win the football game."
As far as the Cougars' mental toughness, Dimel was pleased. "We were still dragging just a little bit, but that was because of the heat. The heat affected us a little bit."
Looking ahead to the game itself, Dimel spoke of every aspect of the Texas game that the Cougars have practiced time and time again, including the defense of their strong running game and halting the passing efforts of quarterback Chris Simms.
"We're trying to focus on everything, especially the running game. Once we stop the run game, then we have to try to make a big plays in the passing game defensively. Offensively, we've got to get first downs and move the chains."
Next up for the Cougars: Houston kicks off Conference USA action next weekend when C-USA newcomer, TCU, ventures to Robertson Stadium on September 29. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Houston holds a 13-7 lifetime record against the Horned Frogs, and next weekend's game will mark the first time these two schools have faced each other since the 1995 season.
