University of Houston Athletics
Football Begins Preps for Memphis on Tuesday
10/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2005
HOUSTON - After more than a month on the road, the University of Houston football team began practice Tuesday in anticipation of its first home conference game.
The Cougars worked out for about two hours in full pads Tuesday afternoon at the UH Athletics Complex and wrapped up the day with a vigorous workout in the weight room.
Following back-to-back road wins against Tulsa and Tulane, the Cougars are tied with the Golden Hurricane atop the Conference USA West Division. With four of the final six games at home, head coach Art Briles said he was glad of his team's current position.
"We have set ourselves up for a pretty fun little run," said Briles, who is in his third season at the helm of the Cougar program. "Now, we have to understand how we got to where we are at. These guys are mature enough to know that. We just keep doing what we are doing; we take care of us and everything else will fall into place."
UH continues its C-USA slate as it plays host to Memphis at 4 p.m., Saturday, at the friendly confines of John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN 790 AM with Tom Franklin handling play-by-play and Tony Fitzpatrick providing color analysis. Former All-Southwest Conference center Chuck Brown serves as the roving sideline reporter.
In addition, the game will be televised live on College Sports Television on DirecTV channel 610. Tom Hart will call the play-by-play action, while Bill Burke will provide color analysis.
This weekend's game against the Tigers will be the first home contest for UH since taking a 31-10 win over area-rival Sam Houston State on Sept. 10. The Cougars were scheduled to face C-USA rival Southern Miss on Sept. 24, but the threat of Hurricane Rita forced the team to evacuate for Tulsa a week ahead of schedule.
Senior running back Ryan Gilbert led the Cougars in last weekend's dominating 35-14 win over Tulane in Lafayette, La., with 130 yards and three touchdowns scored. In addition, the Dallas, Texas, native became the first Cougar running back since 1998 to score a touchdown rushing and receiving in the same game.
When incumbent starter Anthony Evans went down with an injury earlier this year, Briles and his offensive coaches took advantage of UH's considerable depth at running back to fill the void.
"For the last couple of years, that has been an area we felt pretty good about because we do have quality guys there," Briles said. "We are fortunate to have quality guys that can do the job there."
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With the changes in the Cougars' schedule during the month of November, fans also should note a ticket exchange policy. The Southern Miss game, originally scheduled at Robertson Stadium for Sept. 24 was rescheduled for 4 p.m., Nov. 13, due to Hurricane Rita.
For the Southern Miss-Houston game to be played on Nov. 13, Cougars' game against SMU, originally scheduled for Nov. 12, was postponed one week and will now be played in Houston on Nov. 19.
Any fan that purchased a ticket for either of these games may do one of the following:
1. Keep the current tickets, as it will be valid for the new rescheduled game dates. 2. Exchange your tickets for one of the remaining 2005 home football games.
The Homecoming game against SMU originally scheduled for Nov. 12 has been changed to the Southern Miss game on Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. If fans had tickets for the Homecoming game and still want to attend Homecoming weekend, they MUST Exchange their SMU tickets for Southern Miss tickets. The SMU tickets WILL NOT BE VALID for the Southern Miss game.
All tickets must be exchanged in advance of the game date. Tickets can be exchanged at the UH Athletic Ticket Office located in the Athletics/Alumni Center or by mailing to:
University of Houston Athletic Ticket Office 3100 Cullen Blvd., Ste. 1003 Houston, TX 77204 For more information, please call the ticket office at 713-GO-COOGS.
