University of Houston Athletics
Football Daily Practice Report
10/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 11, 2007
HOUSTON - With the 31st Bayou Bucket game only two days away, the University of Houston football team practiced in helmets and jerseys on the outside field today.
"It was a good practice," head coach Art Briles said. "We're into our game mode, installing all of our game plans and just trying to make sure our guys are fresh and ready."
After falling short in their second-half comeback last weekend to Alabama, the Cougars look to the intra-city rival Rice game to bring Houston even in conference play record. Currently 0-1 in Conference USA play, Houston needs to start bringing in the wins for a chance to repeat as C-USA Champions. In order to do that they need to overcome the turnovers that have plagued the team all season.
"I don't know if there's any magic answer to avoiding turnovers," Briles said, "other than awareness and conscious effort about ball protection. That's the stage we're at now. We were a little better last week and hopefully we'll be a little better this week."
The game will be an important one for their season record, but also for the players themselves. As the biggest rival game Houston plays, and with Rice recently taking out Southern Miss. a win here could mean big things for the rest of the season.
"A win on Saturday will do wonders for the team," Briles said. "We feel like we've played well enough to win on the field, we just haven't seen the results of it. So we're going to keep playing at the level we're playing and get the results that are desired."
Overall Briles is looking for his team to take care of the basics on Saturday against the Owls.
"In general we worked on what we know we have to do," Briles said. "That's take better care of the ball, play a clean game penalty-wise and have control of the emotion."
The Cougars face Rice at 2:30 p.m., Saturday in the friendly confines of John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium. Fans can hear the game live on 790 AM The Sports Animal with Tom Franklin calling the play-by-play action, David Klingler providing color analysis and Chuck Brown reporting from the sideline. The pregame show is slated to begin one hour before kickoff.
Fans also can follow live stats over the Internet by clicking the "Gametracker" link at UHCougars.com.
The game also will be shown live on CSTV with Tom Hart calling the play-by-play action and Trev Alberts providing color analysis.
