University of Houston Athletics
Vincent's Run Caps Successful 2003 Football Season
1/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 26, 2004
HOUSTON - Think of a football player. Ask most people to do just that, and what probably comes to mind is a lumbering, hulking, 300-pound behemoth intent on running over people. And yet for fans of the 2003 University of Houston football team, the most enduring image from the past season is that of a 5-foot-9 wide receiver racing to the end zone so fast that he nearly came out of his skin, literally.
With the Cougars trailing by seven points late at the 2003 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, wide receiver Vincent Marshall hauled in a pass from quarterback Kevin Kolb and outraced the entire Warrior defense 81 yards to the end zone with only 22 seconds remaining in regulation. After scoring the eventual game-tying touchdown, Marshall crumpled in the back of the end zone after straining his hamstring. That could happen when you display the kind of speed to fans in the stands and around the world watching on ESPN that made Marshall a member of the award-winning Cougar Track and Field team.
Although the team eventually fell to Hawaii in a triple-overtime thriller, there were many highlights and many stars on the 2003 Cougar Football team, and there is no doubt that "Vincent's Run" will rank among the greatest plays in UH's proud football history. But in a large sense, Marshall's run epitomized the toughness and character that the members of the 2003 team displayed all season long and during recent years.
When the 2003 season began, not much was expected of the Cougar Football squad. Head coach Art Briles was entering his first season at the helm of a collegiate program, and it appeared that a true freshman out of Stephenville, Texas, was going to be his starting signal-caller. Some Cougar players had endured an 0-11 season just two years prior, while older players were playing for their third head coach during the last five years. With all that in mind, UH was picked 10th in an 11-team field in the Conference USA Coaches Preseason Poll and was nowhere near being considered for ninth place in that poll.
Hired in December 2002, Briles and his entire staff talked about building a solid foundation for the Cougar Football program. In 2003, Briles and the Cougar coached laid that foundation; then they went ahead and added a couple of floors with a nice pool and garden in the back.
After opening the season with a 48-14 demolition of crosstown rival Rice and falling to then-No. 5 Michigan in front of the largest crowd ever to watch UH play, the Cougars took off on a four-game winning streak. That streak included wins over Louisiana-Lafayette and Southeastern Conference foe Mississippi State and road victories at C-USA rivals East Carolina and Tulane.
When a three-game losing skid hit midway through the season and dropped the Cougars' record to only one game above the .500 mark, some fans moaned and jumped off the Cougar bandwagon, dreading the sure-to-come collapse. But none ever came.
Briles rallied his troops to wins in two of their final three games, including a 56-28 thumping of league rival UAB that sealed the team's first bowl bid since the 1996 season and its first winning season since 1999. While there was some minimal sweating about the Cougars' bowl placing in the days immediately following that UAB win, UH was eventually rewarded with a trip to Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Briles entered the season with a reputation as an offensive mastermind. Flip through the Cougars' final statistics, and it's easy to see why. By the time that the smoke had cleared, the UH offense boasted a 3,000-yard passer in Kolb, a 1,000-yard rusher in sophomore running back Anthony Evans and a 1,000-yard receiver in senior Brandon Middleton. That made Houston one of only five teams nationally to brag of a trio like that.
The Cougar offense rolled through points like senior center Rex Hadnot and his offensive line mates at the buffet line. Only two Division I-A teams scored more than 40 points in a game more often than the Cougars, and UH hit that magic mark seven times in 2003 alone. The Cougars were one of only three times to score at least 40 points in a 2003 bowl game.
You could say that the future is bright for Cougar Football, kind of like saying that Chicago's Sears Tower is a fairly tall building.
UH loses only a handful of starters from the 2003 bowl squad with all but two offensive regulars returning next season. Many younger players gaining valuable experience over the course of the season and will be proven veterans by the time that August rolls around. Now, it is recruiting time, and with National Signing Day less than two weeks away, Briles and his staff are combing the state and the country, looking for their kind of players. Recruits who are the size of young moose are roaming the halls of the Athletics/Alumni Center with a football coach close by. Some of these high-powered youngsters are considering top national programs like LSU and Oklahoma, but Briles and his staff have made solid impressions on everyone they meet, and the Cougars are competing with the best programs in the recruiting wars.
"Vincent's Run" was the signature play of the 2003 season and will be long remembered and cherished. But get ready Cougar fans; more are on the way.
