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Volume 72, Issue 58,
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Sports UH plans to stick to what works
by MARK SUAREZ
Entrenched in a Wild West shootout for Conference USA superiority, the Cougars have utilized their quick-draw offense to rack up 987 yards of total offense in their last two home games. That amount of firepower has catapulted them to the top of the C-USA West Division. With two road games still on the horizon, Houston will saddle up and travel to Gerald J. Ford Stadium for a 2 p.m. showdown with Southern Methodist on Saturday. "You just have to go play and win," UH head coach Art Briles said. "There is a challenge every time you step out of the locker room whether you are home or on the road. We have to play within the lines and go win for 60 minutes." For Briles, the challenge of the road will bring many obstacles, including a dynamic speedster who will be donning a No. 16 license plate. "(Southern Methodist quarterback Justin Willis) is a good player and very efficient with the football," Briles said. "He does a great job of leading their offense." Willis has used his scrambling ability to account for 29.4 rushing yards a game this season to compliment 177 passing yards per game. Houston surrendered more than 100 rushing yards to Grambling State quarterback Larry Kerlegan earlier this season and will look to learn from its past mistakes. "Running quarterbacks have been pretty difficult for us," sophomore safety Ernest Miller said. "But as we're going on in the season I think we've gotten better … I'm pretty sure we'll be able to contain him to where doesn't do too much to hurt us." The stakes will be high when Houston (7-3, 5-1 C-USA) and Southern Methodist (5-4, 3-2 C-USA) square off this weekend. The Cougars can win the West Division if they win their remaining two games -- Saturday's match-up and a game the following week at struggling Memphis -- while the Mustangs can still crash the C-USA championship party by defeating Houston, Tulsa and Rice to close out the season. To stay in control of its own destiny, UH will first need to snap a two-game road losing streak. Away from Robertson Stadium, the Houston offense has averaged 327 yards per game and 26.6 rushing attempts, which is far below their averages when at home. The Cougars' recent three-game home stand yielded big numbers on the ground mostly thanks to the one-two punch of junior Anthony "Quick" Alridge and the power running of senior Jackie Battle. Houston's version of thunder and lightning will face a defense on Saturday that is holding opponents to 81 yards rushing per game. The Cougars rushed 38 times for 227 yards in their 27-10 win over Tulsa on Saturday and will look to take that formula on the road with them this weekend while shrugging off the stat sheet. "We approach every week the same," junior right guard Byron Alfred said. "We don't get caught up in stats or anything like that. Definitely we're going to get out there and try and run the ball, and we feel we have the weapons to do what we need to do." Lost in the stat sheet has been the production of the offensive line. After junior SirVincent Rogers suffered an injury earlier this year, the line has set the table for some big offensive games at Robertson Stadium. For junior offensive lineman Dustin Dickinson, the battle in the trenches against an SMU defense that is currently leading C-USA in sacks and tackles for losses can be won if the line can stay consistent. "We've gone out in the last three or four weeks and I've felt we've had some really good games on the offensive line," Dickinson said. "We've been feeling really good together; we've gotten a lot of reps under our belts together, and we're just going out and playing really well." Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu |
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