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Sports

Schedule for '06 offers new face among familiar foes

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar 

In the 2005 season, the UH football team broke tradition when it played crosstown-rival Rice in the last game of the regular season instead of the first, as Rice had become a new member of Conference USA. 

Apparently it's true tradition dies hard -- when the Cougars announced their 2006 schedule, the first game listed was a match-up against Rice on Sept. 2 at Rice Stadium. In addition, UH will face off at home against C-USA foe Tulane in its second game on Sept. 9, marking the first time in school history the Cougars will start the season with back-to-back conference games.

"We open up against Rice, which is an intercity game," head coach Art Briles said. "There's really only one other city in the nation that can do that between two Division I-A schools, and that's L.A. 

"Then we got Tulane coming into the house … It would bode well to be sitting 2-0 after those first two conference games."

In 2005, UH (6-6, 4-4) knocked off Rice 35-18 at home and defeated Tulane 35-14 on the road at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La. There weren't too many things going right for the Owls and the Green Wave last season, as they both finished near the bottom of the C-USA West Division with overall records of 1-10 and 2-9, respectively.

The Cougars' non-conference schedule only features one elite team, but it doesn't necessarily guarantee them a few easy victories, either. 

On Sept. 16, UH will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., for its first-ever match-up against New Mexico State, which is reeling from an 0-12 season in 2005.

The Cougars will get another taste of the Big 12 Conference when they host Oklahoma State on Sept. 23, the first meeting between the two teams since 1987. The Cowboys were plagued by ineffectiveness in 2005, finishing 4-7 overall in their first losing season since 2001.

"(OSU) has done a good job recruiting in the state of Texas, specifically in the Houston area," Briles said. "And that's why we didn't have any trouble getting them to come play here. The thing I'm excited about is we're going to get to play them in our own yard. 

"We're not going to Reliant Stadium. To me, that's a big plus for us. We need to take full advantage of it and get out there and play well that day." 

The biggest name on the Cougars non-conference slate will be Miami, who finished last season 9-3 and was ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press poll. The Cougars will hit the road to face the Hurricanes on Sept. 30 at the Orange Bowl, UH's first visit to Miami since 1991. 

The Cougars will finish up their non-conference schedule with an Oct. 7 home game against Louisiana-Lafayette, who the Cougars defeated 21-14 on the road in 2003.

UH will finish up its regular season with conference matches against Southern Miss (Oct. 14, away), Texas-El Paso (Oct. 21, home), Central Florida (Oct. 28, home), Tulsa (Nov. 4, home), Southern Methodist (Nov. 11, away) and Memphis (Nov. 18, away). 

In all, the Cougars' schedule will include six teams that were bowl participants last year -- Miami, Southern Miss, UTEP, UCF, Tulsa and Memphis. 

"(Our team) gets excited to play any game. That's their duty and their obligation to this University. Whether we're at a scrimmage or playing the previous No. 1 team in the nation … It's our job to do our best every time we step on the field."

The Cougars will begin spring practices on March 8. 

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