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Confident Cougars pressing on

Postby smupony94 » Sat Oct 23, 2010 11:06 am

Confident Cougars pressing on
Win over SMU would keep UH in C-USA race
By STEVE CAMPBELL


DALLAS — The Hilltop is bustling with SMU Mustangs activity and anticipation. It's homecoming, and 1993 graduate Jack Ingram is booked for a concert on SMU's Boulevard and to sing the national anthem at the football game. SMU is calling for a "Blue Out," soliciting fans to turn Gerald J. Ford Stadium into a sea of blue.

It's not all fun and frivolity at SMU, though. SMU is touting today's 2:30 Conference USA encounter with the Houston Cougars as the first "carbon neutral" game in Texas. The school has bought renewable energy and carbon credits that will go toward offsetting the carbon and energy expended for all the activities revolving around the game.

The Cougars, they're just trying to win a football game.

Any football game would do, but defeating the Mustangs (4-3, 3-0 C-USA) would have an especially restorative effect on the Cougars (3-3, 2-1). Coming off a 34-31 loss to Rice, UH is in danger of falling two games behind the Mustangs in the C-USA West.

"I see it as a must-win game for us," said UH running back Bryce Beall. "I believe that everybody in the locker room still believes we have a chance."

The Cougars have lost two of three since starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Case Keenum suffered a season-ending knee injury during a 31-13 defeat at UCLA on Sept. 18. With freshman David Piland starting at quarterback the past two games, the Cougars have been outscored 81-47. The UH defense hasn't forced a turnover since senior Loyce Means picked off two passes in the final six minutes of a 42-23 victory over Tulane on Sept. 25.
Finding positives

"All our goals are still in front of us," coach Kevin Sumlin said. "In order to reach those goals, we've got to go on the road this week and win."

Sumlin has tried to get his players to zero in on fixing the malfunctioning parts of the team. Compounding the eight-quarter takeaway drought is a third-down defense that ranks 116th out of 120 Division I-A teams. The offense has been sporadic at best since Keenum's injury, though the Cougars did rally from a 20-point deficit in the second quarter against Rice to lead with less than five minutes to play.

"In any situation like Saturday, the big picture is a negative because nobody wants to lose any game," Sumlin said. "After that, you start looking at what kind of things you can build on. You can build on what happened in the second half - the ability to come out of the locker room and take the lead. At no time in either of those two games did I see a lack of effort."

Sumlin has seen a lack of leadership. He has been urging the proven producers to rally around the freshman quarterback, to elevate their games and alleviate the burden. Mission unaccomplished.

"That's something, quite frankly, we're struggling with," Sumlin said. "If you come into a season and you have leaders, there's kind of a pecking order of how things go in any organization. It takes some time for a guy to step outside of his comfort zone and say, 'I'll lead now.' That … just doesn't happen overnight."
'Cup half full'

The Cougars have gotten outscored 60-24 in the first half of the last two games, putting a burden on Piland. Despite piling up 583 yards in the air, Piland is averaging only 5.7 per attempt.

"You always want to think of the cup as being half full," said guard Isaiah Thompson. "The fact that we still have a chance, have a shot, is a blessing in itself. This is a position in which we're going to have to man up and take care of business."

Beall is quick to seize on the fact that a victory would give UH the upper hand in the division race. Plus, the Cougars would have the satisfaction of foiling another school's homecoming plans.

"If I have to say it in one word, we just feel confident," Beall said. "We feel like if we play like we did in the second half against Rice, we can play with anybody."
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