University of Houston Athletics
Football Ready to Face Conference USA Rival TCU This Weekend
10/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 3, 2002
HOUSTON - Re-energized after their first bye week of the season, the University of Houston football team wrapped up their preparations for this weekend's road contest at Conference USA rival TCU.
The Cougars, who meet the Horned Frogs at 2 p.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, worked out for about two hours Thursday at the UH practice fields. Following the workout, UH head coach Dana Dimel said his team took advantage of the off week but was ready to return to action.
"It's important for us to use the bye week to improve," said Dimel, who is in his third year at the helm of the Cougar program. "It's important for us to use the bye week to rest and also to improve. Now, we will see if we show some improvement between the Texas game and this game in taking advantage of an extra week of practice."
This will be the second road contest of the year for the Cougars, who opened the 2002 season with a convincing 24-10 win over crosstown rival Rice on Aug. 31. However, it will be UH's fifth consecutive game to open the year in the Lone Star State. The Cougars won't leave the state of Texas until their Oct. 12 showdown at C-USA foe UAB.
Junior quarterback Nick Eddy will make his first start of the season Saturday after a knee injury at Texas on Sept. 21 felled incumbent starter Barrick Nealy for the remainder of the year. The bye week was especially important for Eddy, who took advantage of the extra time to reenter a leadership role on the offensive unit, Dimel said.
"We're just back to square one with Nick and I feel comfortable with him running the football team," Dimel said. "Torrence (Botts) is continuing to get better so we feel like we have two quarterbacks that we are comfortable with."
TCU (3-1, 0-1 C-USA) comes into the game on a three-game winning streak and has been equally effective against the Cougars in recent meetings. The Horned Frogs have won the last four meetings, and five of the last six against UH.
