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| Case Keenum, media darling, is ready to hit the field |
There has been talk this off-season of the Houston Cougars being a BCS-buster, putting them in some of the same conversations as Boise State and TCU.
With those kind of discussions, one would think that the Cougars would have to worry about getting overconfident and looking ahead. But the season doesn’t actually start until Saturday, and none of those discussions even matter until the Cougars have actually won some football games.
And as far head coach Kevin Sumlin is concerned, those BCS or not BCS discussions are pure nonsense that mean absolutely nothing to his football team.
“I find that there’s a bunch of people who say that [regarding the Coogs
being BCS-busters],” Sumlin said at Tuesday’s media luncheon. “Then I
turn around and we’re not in the Top 25, so we obviously still have work
to do. I wouldn’t worry about us having a big head.”
The Cougars
themselves don’t seem to care about that, either. For them, the big
thing is that the season is starting. They’re tired of hitting and
playing against each other, and the coaches are tired of seeing them hit
and play against each other. They all just want to play some football.
“This
is the first one of the year,” Sumlin said. “We’re excited. We’re
probably no different from any other team, any other coaching staff.
This time of year, we’re all pretty tired of looking at each other and
ready to play somebody else. If your team’s not in that position, then
you’ve got to worry.”
The opponent this week is Texas State, a
school from the lower-FCS division. And as easy as it should be for the
Cougars to take this game for granted, they’re not. Because they want to
play some football, and they want to impress some people. Especially
the defensive players who are showing off a new attitude as well as a
new defense after bearing the brunt of the blame for last season’s
failures.
“I feel like every year we have something to prove just
because we have something to prove,” defensive end David Hunter said.
“People want to see what we can do. The offense, they’ve been doing a
lot of good things, and they just want to see our defense, and what our
defense can contribute.”
Wide receiver James Cleveland, one of
the key members of last year’s offense, says that the win this weekend
is important. But he’s really looking forward to seeing what the defense
can do when they’re actually facing another team.
“What I want
to see this week is great energy from our defense,” said Cleveland. “And
great execution from our defense. It’s very complicated, and they
picked it up in a short amount of time…so it’ll be exciting to me to
see them execute and be on the same page and to gel as one unit against
another team.”
And Cleveland’s not really worried about what the offense is going to do.
“We’re
going to be tops in the nation again,” Cleveland said. “We want to take
care of business every time we’re out there. A big emphasis on ball
control this year. No turnovers, no fumbles. Statistically, we’re not
really looking at numbers. Numbers will take care of themselves. We’re
looking at what we can control, ball security, making plays, making
blocks for each other, making blocks for the running backs on screen
plays, what not.”
The fun starts on Saturday night at Robertson Stadium with kickoff set for 7 p.m..
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
The Cougars and Texas State have actually met three times, with
Texas State winning three times. But those games were in 1946-48, the
Cougars first three years of football….A warning regarding parking:
All of the lots surrounding Robertson Stadium are sold out to Cougar
Pride members. Access to those lots will be restricted to only cars with
the proper permit. Parking guidelines can be found here…..
The game is close to a sellout….James Cleveland bragged about a new
offensive weapon, senior receiver Kierre Johnson: “That’s another thing,
KJ, Kierre Johnson, the newest addition to our offense, will be a great
asset because he can do some things with the ball.”…UH quarterback
Case Keenum has been quite the media celebrity this summer, appearing
often on national radio and television. “It’s fun,” Keenum said. ‘It’s
better than being on the bad list. It’s better than nobody caring at
all. At the same time, I’m ready to start playing football and not talk
about it anymore.”
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.
