University of Houston Athletics
Cougars Continue Preparations For Memphis
10/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 13, 2005
Houston - At least one streak will end this Saturday when the University of Houston football team plays host to the University of Memphis at 4:00 p.m. at Robertson Stadium on the UH campus.
The Cougars enter the game having won their last two Conference USA games and three of the last four contests overall after beating Tulane and Tulsa on the road the last two weeks. The other win was a 31-10 victory over Sam Houston State in their only game at Robertson Stadium this season on September 10.
Houston looks to go 2-0 in Robertson Stadium and win its first home game against the Tigers since 1998, having lost its last two home games in 2001 and 2003. Ironically, the Cougars have won two of their last three road games against the Tigers during that span.
The game Saturday matches two of the top three offenses in Conference USA. Houston leads the league in total offense with 468.2 yards per game and scoring offense with 32.2 points per contest. Memphis is third in total offense with 403.4 yards per game, and the Tigers boast the top rushing offense in the league with an average of 265 yards per game. The Cougars rank second with 204.8 yards per contest.
In addition, the top two running backs in Conference USA will be going head-to-head. Memphis DeAngelo Williams is the all-time leading career rusher in C-USA with 4,947 yards and leads the league in rushing this year with 885 yards. Houston's Ryan Gilbert is second with 491 yards after gaining over half of his total the last two weeks. Gilbert gained 134 yards at Tulsa and 130 yards at Tulane. He also gained 127 yards against Sam Houston.
Kickoff for the Memphis game is slated for 4:00 p.m., and fans are encouraged to head to Robertson Stadium earlier than usual due to possible traffic congestion caused by events being held in the downtown area Saturday afternoon. The Houston-Memphis game will air on ESPN 790 AM with Tom Franklin handling play-by-play, with Tony Fitzpatrick serving as the analyst, and Chuck Brown providing sideline reports. The game also is televised on College Sports Television on Direct TV channel 610. Tom Hart calls the play-by-play and Bill Burke provides commentary.
***************************************** Due to Hurricane Rita, the Cougars will now end the 2005 regular season with three straight home games at Robertson Stadium, and fans should note the ticket exchange policy for the Southern Miss and SMU games. The Houston-Southern Miss game, which was originally scheduled for September 19, has been rescheduled for November 13 at 4:00 p.m. The Houston-SMU game has moved from November 12 to November 19 and kicks off at 5:00 p.m.
Those fans, who purchased tickets for either the Southern Miss or SMU games may do one of the following: 1. Keep the current tickets, as they will be valid for the new rescheduled games. 2. Exchange your tickets for one of the remaining home football games. The homecoming game.
The Homecoming game will remain the same weekend and be celebrated at the Southern Miss game on November 13 at 4:00 p.m. Fans, who purchased only Homecoming game tickets, and still want to attend the Homecoming weekend, MUST exchange their SMU tickets for tickets to the Southern Miss game before the game date. The SMU game tickets WILL NOT BE VALID for the Southern Miss game.
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.
Houston's final regular season game is against Rice on November 26 at 3:00 p.m.
