University of Houston Athletics
Football Gears Up for UCF
11/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 2, 2005
HOUSTON - The University of Houston football team continued preparations for this weekend's C-USA showdown against UCF with a strong workout under sunny skies Wednesday afternoon at the UH Athletics Complex.
Head coach Art Briles talked about the competitive nature of practice among the squad.
"It was a pretty lively practice," Briles said. "The team is very anxious to get back out of the field and get to playing again. I feel good about personality and our attitude out there on the field."
Saturday's kickoff is set for 5pm in the Citrus Bowl. This will mark the first time that Houston (4-3, 2-2 C-USA) and UCF (5-3, 4-1 C-USA) will meet on the gridiron but not the first trip to Orlando for the Cougars.
Back in 1962 during Bill Yeoman's first season as head coach, the Cougars faced off against Miami (Ohio) in the annual Tangerine Bowl. UH emerged with a 49-21 victory over the Redskins.
UCF comes in winners of four of its last five games, including a 30-20 comeback victory at East Carolina last Saturday. Quarterback Stephen Moffett tossed two fourth quarter touchdowns to wideout Mike Walker as the Golden Knights picked up its first road victory as a member of C-USA. For his efforts, Walker was named C-USA Offensive Player of the Week.
"UCF is a good football team," Briles said. "They've got some momentum and confidence. They are playing as well as anybody right now in Conference USA."
The Golden Knights are one of the best turnaround stories in college football after bouncing back from an 0-11 mark last season.
Tailback Kevin Smith is fifth in the NCAA among true freshman registering 651 yards on the ground. Smith is also tied for second in 100-yard games for a true freshman with three.
Defensively, UCF sports an all freshman secondary. At cornerback, Joe Burnett headlines the defense with 40 total tackles to go along with a team-best three interceptions, while free safety Augustus Ashley is coming off a nine-tackle performance with an interception that garnered him C-USA Co-Defensive Player of the Week.
Briles is confident coming off a bye week, and with good reason. Houston picked up a 30-23 victory at Tulsa coming off an unplanned bye week due to Hurricane Rita earlier this season. Plus the Cougars have won three consecutive games on the road.
"If we take care of all three phases of the game, we'll let the chips fall where they may," Briles said. "We're going to go in there with our tank fully loaded and play as well as we can play."
The Houston ISP Sports Network will have a live radio broadcast on 740 KTRH in the Houston area. The voice of the Cougars, Tom Franklin, will handle the play-by-play duties with Tony Fitzpatrick providing color analysis. Former All-Southwest Conference center Chuck Brown patrols the sidelines. The live radio broadcast can also be heard on the web at UHCougars.com
In addition, the game will air on iTV, formerly known as PAX, and can be seen locally on DirecTV channel 255 or Time-Warner channel 7. Carter Blackburn will call by the play-by-play action with Ray Lucas providing color and James Bates reporting from the sidelines.
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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, the 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.
