University of Houston Athletics
Rivalry Game Against Rice Creeps Closer for Cougar Football
11/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 23, 2005
HOUSTON - Rivalry Week kicked into full swing as the University of Houston football worked out in the morning on the Astroturf inside the Athletics/Alumni Center before spending the afternoon on natural grass completing a solid day of workouts at the UH Athletics Complex.
UH (5-5, 3-4 C-USA) will face Rice as a conference rival for the first time since 1995 when both schools were member of the defunct Southwest Conference. The Cougars are looking for an all-important sixth win of the season to become bowl-eligible. Houston will also attempt to win back the Bayou Bucket from its Space City USA, which the Owls most recently claimed with a 10-7 win in the 2004 season opener at Reliant Stadium for both teams.
"This is a huge rivalry, and it's a must-win game," linebacker Wade Koehl. "If we want any chance of going to a bowl, we have to win this game. Rice got us last year. We have something to bring back to them. We need to step up and make the plays this game."
The Owls (1-9, 1-6 C-USA) are coming off a 31-28 setback to East Division champion, UCF last weekend. Rice held a 21-9 advantage at half before the Golden Knights stormed back to take a 24-21 lead in the middle of the fourth quarter. The Owls had a chance down by three in the final minute deep in UCF territory, but Joe Burnett picked off a Chase Clement pass.
Joe Armstrong headlines the Rice triple option attack. The sophomore signal caller is second on the squad with 493 rushing yards, including 17 carries for 108 yards last weekend against UCF. Armstrong is not afraid to put the ball in the air, completing six of 12 passes for 185 yards and three scores against the Golden Knights.
John Wall and Mike Falco are the other two pieces of Rice's triple option attack. Wall is the hard-nose runner who gets the touches up the middle, while Falco provides a threat for Armstrong to pitch the ball on the outside. A key to upending the triple option is pursuit and defensive responsibility. During the previous two meetings, the Cougars had an entire summer to prepare for this offense, but Kade Lane talks about scrunching that gameplan into a week.
"Over the past three years, we have hung with it pretty well because we have had the whole off-season to prepare for it, because we've had them in the beginning of the season," Lane said. "It's going to be pretty hard. They're very different from what everybody else runs that we have played against. We are going to have to key in and make sure we do all of our jobs."
Defensively, Rice is giving up 41.2 points per contest not only last in C-USA but 116th in the nation. Adam Herrin and John Syptak headline the unit with 64 and 61 tackles, respectively. The duo has also combined for 5.5 sacks and 15 tackles for loss on the season.
Saturday's football game can be heard live on ESPN 790 AM with the pregame slated to start at 1 p.m. and kickoff set for 3 p.m. The voice of the Cougars, Tom Franklin will call the play-by-play action, while Tony Fitzpatrick will provide color analysis. Chuck Brown will patrol the sidelines. The Houston ISP Sports Network will be joined in the booth by Rice's Bobby Dixon and Chad Richardson. The radio broadcast can also be heard live on UHCougars.com as part of Cougar All-Access.
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This weekend's game also will feature a number of exciting promotions for fans. Along with a special game come special promotions for fans. Students from any college or university can get in free with their student ID at Gate 11.
UH main campus students can receive up to two free guest tickets to the game if they are picked up in advance at the Ticket Office.
UH season-ticket holders can get family members and/or friends into the football game for half price if those tickets are purchased in advance at the Ticket Office.
With the Thanksgiving holidays quickly approaching, fans also should note a change in the business hours of the Ticket Office. Due to the holiday, the UH Ticket Office will be closed Thursday and Friday.
However, the Ticket Office will reopen at 8 a.m., Saturday and stay open until noon. In addition, the Ticket Office will be open during regular business hours on Wednesday.
Once the football game is finished, fans will be sure to want to head to Hofheinz Pavilion where the Cougar men's basketball team will play host to Virginia Commonwealth with tip-off slated for 8 p.m. All fans who take their football ticket stubs to Hofheinz Pavilion after the game will receive a half-price, general-admission ticket to the men's basketball game.
