Houston Chronicle's version

by **giacfsp** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:45 pm

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/st ... 73091.html

Puzzler puts UH in bind
What Briles calls 'calamity of errors' against SMU leaves Cougars at 5 wins

By MICHAEL MURPHY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Huh?

That pretty much sums up Houston's 29-24 loss to SMU on Saturday. The Cougars had everything in their favor â€” 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 â€” 29-24 â€” 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 â€” 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.

"You saw it as well as I did," Cougars coach Art Briles said. "You just can't have the things that we had tonight happen. It's very, very unsettling and very tough."

Even tougher given how UH played. Or didn't play, depending on your point of view.

The Cougars (5-5, 3-4 Conference USA) exorcised so many demons last week by beating Southern Mississippi for the first time in almost a decade, but they opened up the door and invited all those same demons right back in Saturday.

Once again, Houston failed to capitalize on a monster game by running back Ryan Gilbert, who churned out 133 yards on only 20 carries. Gilbert, who was coming off a 144-yard effort against the Golden Eagles (on 23 carries), shrugged when asked if he wanted more carries.

"I wasn't asked to run the ball that much," said Gilbert, who has been playing on a knee that will need offseason surgery. "My knee has nothing to do (with the number of carries). When I'm on the field, it's nothing but football."

The Cougars turned the ball over three times, all by junior quarterback Kevin Kolb â€” two interceptions, one of which was returned 69 yards for a touchdown by SMU's Alvin Nnabuife, and a fumble.

UH then put its distinctive stamp on the game Briles called "a calamity of errors" when its last chance at a victory evaporated when the final snap of the game shot over Kolb's head for a safety.

Game over.

"This is real tough," said Kolb, who was 25-of-36 passing for 275 yards and a touchdown. "It seems as though every week we're playing down to our competition or playing up to our competition, you know?"

The Cougars rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, getting a one-yard plunge from Kolb and a 29-yard field goal from Ben Bell with 2:07 left to tie the game at 24.

But with bowl hopes hanging in the balance, UH let the Mustangs (3-7, 3-4) go from their 36-yard line to the the Cougars' 27 with 14 seconds to play. SMU coach Phil Bennett lined up for a 44-yard field-goal attempt on third down, but the Mustangs were penalized for a false start, moving the ball back five yards.

It didn't matter.

McMurtray drilled the field goal, giving SMU the win and sending the Cougars and their fans home with the same thought on their minds.

Huh?

"I think everybody in this offseason needs to realize who we are and what we can do," UH junior linebacker Wade Koehl said. "We just have to make that break from being a 5-5 team to a 10-1 or 11-0 team."

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