University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Look For Win Number Three
9/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 16, 2002
With just a day savor their Saturday night victory over Louisiana-Lafayette, the University of Houston Cougars returned to the practice field this evening, preparing for an epic battle against nationally-ranked University of Texas in Austin. The Longhorns are ranked number two in the ESPN/USA Today poll, while the Associated Press has UT at number three.
Sitting at 2-1 for the first time since 1999, UH head coach Dana Dimel worked his squad out in a light rain at Robertson Stadium, and the almost two-hour workout pleased the third-year coach.
"This was a good first day (of the week)," commented Dimel. "The kids are just excited. It was one of the best team meetings we (earlier) today, because of the excitement of the win (and) getting the second win of the season this early.
"They're also excited about the opportunity to go play the number two team in the country. Our guys are excited about the chance to play in front of 80,000 people."
The Cougars and Longhorns meet for third straight season and the first time in Austin since 2000. Houston and Texas spent 25 seasons playing one another in the legendary Southwest Conference, and the Longhorns own a 15-7-2. The last UH win in the series was in 1991, when the Cougars prevailed, 23-14, in the Astrodome.
For Dimel, the game plan is to approach the Longhorn contest just like he would any other game.
"More than anything, we are not doing anything really fancy offensively," added Dimel, "so we're really not going to try to deal with the crowd noise. We'll just stick to the basic game plan we've done all year. We feel we will not have to make a bunch of audibles and checks at the line of scrimmage."
Game time for Saturday's game has been switched to 7 p.m. to accommodate UT's desire to have the game televised on a pay-per-view basis.
-UHCougars.com-
