University of Houston Athletics
Football Holds Final Practice Before UTEP
9/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
HOUSTON - The University of Houston football team concluded its short work week on Wednesday afternoon with practice at the UH Athletics Complex in preperation for its C-USA opener at UTEP on Friday night.
The two schools haven't met on the gridiron since 1948 when Harry Truman was in the Oval Office. UTEP head coach Mike Price was just two years old, while UH head coach Art Briles wasn't even born.
Friday's game also marks the first time in 16 years that Houston has played a game in the Mountain Time Zone. The Cougars came away with a 36-7 whitewashing of Arizona State in 1989.
After practice this afternoon, Briles touched upon how he feels his team stacks up going into the showdown at the Sun Bowl.
"It's hard to really see intensity and motivation," Briles said. "You feel those things when you get on the field. When we get out there on Friday night, we will be intense, we will be motivated, and we will play better than we've played this season."
Friday night also marks the first game that the Cougars will play away from the Bayou City in the 2005 campaign, but going on the road isn't a concern to Briles.
"These guys are comfortable traveling because they've been to some big road games before," Briles said. "This is a huge game for us. It's a big conference opener against a good team on the road on national television."
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 with kickoff slated for shortly after 7pm as Dave Pasche calls the play-by-play action and Trevor Matich and Rod Gilmore as the color analysts. Stacy Dales-Schulman will serve as the sideline reporter.
The Houston - UTEP tilt can also be heard live on ESPN 790 AM with Tom Franklin handling play-by-play duties and Tony Fitzpatrick providing color analysis. Former All-Southwest Conference center Chuck Brown serves as the roving sideline reporter. Fans can hear the radio broadcast over the Internet by logging onto www.UHCougars.com
