Model Of Inconsistency
Puzzler puts UH in bind (Michael Murphy, Houston Chronicle)
Huh?
That pretty much sums up Houston's 29-24 loss to SMU on Saturday. The Cougars had everything in their favor — they were playing at home, they were healthy, they were playing a hard-luck team that entered the game with only three wins and they were playing for bowl eligibility.
And they lost.
Huh?
The 14,650 at Robertson Stadium sullenly filed out, shaking their heads and staring at the scoreboard like it was an optical illusion. But it wasn't. No matter how hard you stared, those numbers — 29-24 — weren't about to change.
Among those walking out shaking their heads was a representative from the Fort Worth Bowl.
Maybe that's it. Maybe it was all the bowl talk in the preceding days, with the players perhaps dreaming of the glory and the university bean counters eyeing the fat paycheck that comes with a postseason game.
But UH wound up receiving a different kind of check on this night — a reality check, issued and endorsed by the Mustangs, who got a 49-yard field goal from Chris McMurtray with three seconds remaining for the win and then a safety on the Cougars' final play for the five-point margin.
While the SMU players celebrated the victory, Houston struggled to understand what happened in the game.
It's not hard to understand. Unfortunately, the reality is that UH had to take a gamble on high school coaches mostly unproven at the college level and hope that they would eventually grow into successful I-A college football coaches. I'm not criticizing that decision in hindsight because I have been as hopeful as anyone that it would work out, but that is the reality of the situation.
Unfortunately, the penalties and turnovers and untimely miscues and inability consistently to beat inferior teams just serve as an indicator to me that UH's collection of high school coaches still haven't matured into a quality division I-A college football coaching staff. They may never do so.
Sadly, the loss didn't come as a surprise. After Dave Maggard's giddy talk this past week that he has UH headed towards Big 14 membership, I consistently suggested it might be good to win these final two games against inferior teams before getting carried away, and I suggested on Tom Kirkendall's blog that I had my doubts whether this team would do so.
The loss jeopardizes UH's bowl chances. Meanwhile, new C-USA coaches George O'Leary and Mike Price have their teams poised to meet in the C-USA championship game (despite UTEP's loss yesterday). Coaching makes a difference in a relatively competitive, balanced conference.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/20/05 10:19 | Sports | Technorati
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Comments
As I said in my arguments FOR UH and a BCS conference: Winning is the key.
As I said on various UH message boards: I don't know nor have I ever thought Briles was the key to getting UH over the hump.
Posted by Sedosi @ 22:16 on 11/20/05
I was optimistic about the Briles hire, but it's just been frustrating.
But hey, DHL delivered my basketball tix on Saturday, and I'm looking forward to the Tuesday opener!
Posted by Kevin @ 22:30 on 11/20/05
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