University of Houston Athletics
Houston Set To Go Bowling In Fort Worth
12/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Dec. 4, 2005
HOUSTON, Texas - For the second time in the last three seasons, the University of Houston football team will make an appearance in a postseason bowl game, this time traveling up the road to take part in the Fort Worth Bowl on Friday, December 23. The Cougars will face the University of Kansas from the Big XII Conference.
Kickoff is slated for 7 pm CST and will be televised live by ESPN.
Both the Cougars and Jayhawks are 6-5 on the season, and this game marks the third time the two teams have squared off on the gridiron. Houston is 0-2 against Kansas, including a 20-13 loss in Lawrence, Kan., on September 23, 1995.
UH head coach Art Briles is thrilled to be taking his take back to the postseason.
"I am very happy and proud for our players and coaches," said Briles, "because it is an accomplishment to get into a bowl game. (Making it to a bowl game) is a goal we set out to accomplish each season, and it bodes well for the university, the athletic department and the city of Houston, and it gives us a chance to showcase our football program, our athletic department and our city to the nation in a nationally televised game against a Big XII opponent.
"I cannot even put into words how important it is to us to be playing this game in Fort Worth, both from an image standpoint and a recruiting standpoint. A third of our players are from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We recruit that area very heavily, and it is a great benefit playing in the state of Texas."
UH Director of Athletics Dave Maggard sees this postseason berth as another stepping-stone in returning the Cougars Athletic Program to national prominence.
"For Houston to be in a bowl game two out of the last three years is a terrific thing for our football program," added Maggard. "It gives us tremendous exposure for our recruiting. It indicates that we're serious about getting back on the national stage. Our football program is serious about playing in a bowl game every year.
"This is an opportunity for our seniors to go out on a winning note. This is a great reward for them"
Houston is 7-7-1 in their 15 bowl appearances dating back to its initial bowl game in 1951. The Cougars are looking to snap a five-game losing streak in bowl games, since defeating Navy, 35-0, in the 1980 Garden State Bowl. In 2003, after a seven-year hiatus the Cougars returned to the postseason in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, losing a thrilling triple overtime affair, 54-48 on Christmas Day.
This contest in Fort Worth marks the 10th time Houston has taken part in a bowl game in the state of Texas. UH has played four times in both Dallas and Houston and once in El Paso, and the Cougars are 4-4-1 in those games.
Houston is no stranger to Amon G. Carter Stadium, the site of the Fort Worth Bowl and home to the TCU Horned Frogs. The Cougars are 6-6 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
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