University of Houston Athletics
Cougar Football Notes
8/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 29, 2002
With the University of Houston Cougars set to kick-off the 2002 season against cross-town rival Rice in the annual battle for the Bayou Bucket on Saturday, August 31, just five miles down the road from the UH campus at Rice Stadium, practice on Thursday (Aug. 29) afternoon focused on polishing up all aspects of the game, particularily the special teams unit.
"We worked on solidifying the special teams and trying to cover every special situation that you might see in a game," said third-year head coach Dana Dimel. "Little things such as protecting the punts and the PATs, field goals, and making sure we're doing a good job on covering kicks, both on kick-off and punt cover.
In preparing the Cougars for Rice, who heads into Saturday's with a new look following the loss of 25 seniors who helped lead the Owls to a surprising 8-4 record a year ago, Dimel said the Owls' strength this year remains their heavy ground attack, and that the Cougars' approach will have to cover the field and simply halt the run.
"A big part of the game will be us stopping the run," said Dimel, who noted that Rice's running game was rated in the top five in the nation in 2001. "And us being able to run the ball efficiently will be a factor as well."
With the lingering question of who the Cougars' starting quarterback will be -- either redshirt freshman Barrick Nealy or junior Nick Eddy -- Dimel and his coaching staff have made it clear that whoever will be at the helm of the Cougar offense, the Houston offense will not look much different than it has in each of the last two years.
"As far as our offense goes, we're going to try to stay balanced in what we're doing (offensively)," continued Dimel. "We've always been a passing team and we're not going to get too far away from that.
"We just concentrated on polishing the offense. You have three weeks to prepare for your first game and want to take advantage of every practice and be as polished as you can be."
Houston carries a 20-8 lifetime mark against the Owls as it looks to snap a two-game losing streak to Rice.
Following the Cougars' opening game against the Owls, they head home to Robertson Stadium to host Conference USA foe Tulane on Sept. 7 in the first of six home games this season. This weekend's contest at Rice begins at 7:00pm.
