University of Houston Athletics
Football's Hoping For Big Crowd On Thursday
9/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 22, 2004
HOUSTON - Having had only four days to prepare for the No. 4 Miami Hurricanes, the Cougars and their coaching staff have crammed a lot of game day preparation into practices to be ready to go at kick off and hope for your support.
Thursday at 6:30 p.m. the Cougars and Canes square off at Reliant Stadium before a nationally televised audience on ESPN that includes the network's top anchor team of Mike Tirico, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Jill Arrington, and the Cougars would like nothing more than to have Reliant Stadium full of enthusiastic Cougar fans.
"We are going to lay it on the line out on the field and we would like for our fans to be there with us," said head coach Art Briles. "Having our fans there is a tremendous advantage because it creates momentum for us and helps take away momentum from the opponent."
Briles and the Cougars are keenly aware of the power the home crowd brings to a football game and actually give much of the credit for Saturday's win over Army to the crowd for the momentum and energy the gave to the Cougars - the momentum that led to a 35-21 victory.
"We appreciate our loyal fans," said Briles. "They made the difference in the Army game, that's why appreciate them and need them."
To be ready for the nationally televised game, the Cougars have been working relentlessly on this week's preparations, but even with all of the hype surrounding the impending game, Briles and his staff feel they have their team calm and focused on their game plan.
Practicing in helmets, shorts and no pads today, the Cougars ran through their last day of schemes before tomorrow's pre-game run-through and finally the game.
"Today's practice was more mental than physical because we tee it up in 24 hours," said Briles. "We are just making sure we have everything covered that we need to cover so that we are prepared for tomorrow night."
Tonight at the hotel the team will go over video and address any last second changes that may need to be made before kick off.
Briles and his staff have worked relentlessly to prepare this team for the big game Thursday night and feel the team will bring all that it has to the field.
"People will see an inspired football team, an emotional football team, a hungry football team and a confident football team," said Briles. "We are going to come out of the blocks tomorrow night ready to play and ready to represent this university."
