University of Houston Athletics
Football Daily Practice Report
9/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 13, 2007
HOUSTON - The threat of tropical storm Humberto turned into sunny skies and the Cougar football team was able to return outside for their final day of practice before heading to New Orleans.
"What we've done is prepare for us," head coach Art Briles said. "We're trying to make sure that we do what we have to do to get ourselves the best opportunity to win. That's our main focus going into the game."
Today was a day of reviewing and perfecting for the Cougars as they took the field without any pads. With the past two weeks to prepare and be serious, this afternoon's practice was more relaxed with the view of simply getting into game-day mode.
`Today is kind of a clean up day," Briles said. "Come out and just go over everything we feel like we need to do for Saturday, defense in particular. Just get the mind right and get ready to go. "
Tulane stands at 0-1 as they prepare to take on Houston in both teams' opening Conference USA game match-up. Last weekend the Green Wave took on Mississippi State that resulted in a 38-17 home loss. After being tied in the second half, MSU turned the ball over three times and was unable to score any more points.
Houston shared Tulane's problem of not being able to hold on to the ball with four turnovers of their own, something head coach Art Briles said the team has been working on. Even though the Cougars out played the Ducks in statistics, turnovers mocked the team and Oregon capitalized on them to bring in two touchdowns.
"We're conscious of it," Briles said. "We know how important it is to win the turnover battle as far as winning the football game. That's our goal this week, we want to win the turnover battle. We would preferably not have any, that's our goal going into every game. If we can do that we feel good about the outcome."
While the weather has been a problem in Houston, it is one thing the team won't have to worry about in New Orleans. Saturday's game is set to be played in the Louisiana Superdome, which hasn't happened since the 2000 campaign.
"We kind of like the turf," Briles said, "because we know it's going to be a flat field, the weather is going to be perfect, there's not going to be any environmental distractions. It's a deal where for our style, offensively, it fits us."
The last Superdome meeting brought about a 42-23 loss for the Cougars, a result that coach Briles and the team are not looking to let happen this time around.
"If we play intelligently," Briles said, "with a lot of desire, dedication and discipline we'll win the game.
Cougar fans can hear Saturday's game at Tulane live on AM 790 "The Sports Animal" with Tom Franklin calling the play-by-play action, Ted Pardee providing color analysis and Chuck Brown reporting from the sideline. The pre-game show begins one hour before the 6:00 p.m. kickoff. Fans also can follow live stats over the Internet by clicking the "Gametracker" link at UHCougars.com.
