BCS or Bust for Houston

HOUSTON -- It seems every football season there is the push to find the ultimate BCS buster.

And there have been some good ones to crash the "Members Only" party for the big boys of college football. The interesting thing is the club of little guys capable of breaking through has been even more exclusive than the club entry they seek.

Boise State. Utah. Hawaii. TCU.

But this year those teams might have a new member with the University of Houston putting together a potentially impressive resume for entry. The Cougars, coached by second-year man Kevin Sumlin, has already caused quite a stir in the elite college football landscape when they rolled into Stillwater and rolled over then No. 5 Oklahoma State 45-35..

That was enough to earn the Cougars instant recognition with an entry into the Top 25. But now the Cougars have a chance to show the nation just how much of a BCS threat they truly are with a chance to defeat their second quality Big 12 opponent in as many games when Texas Tech enters a sold out Robertson Stadium Saturday night.

Talk about a BCS or bust opportunity for these Cougs.

"It's not really a goal, but it's an unseen goal," UH senior center Carl Barnett said when if the team hoped to be one of the rare non-BCS teams to break through to a BCS bowl game this postseason. "We are trying to take every game one by one and will just try to win the next game. You can't see the future; you just have to play the game that is right in front of you, take it day by day, and do what we need to, to get to the overall goal."

Sumlin couldn't have said it better himself as he tries to keep his team focused on his mantra that it's a 12-opportunity season and no opportunity is bigger than the next. But that will be much easier said than done, especially if UH gets past a dangerous Tech teams that mirrors the Cougars in offensive explosiveness.

Should the Cougars get past the Red Raiders, only a Halloween showdown with Southern Miss stands out as an obvious potential stumbling block.

Already the campus is buzzing, the city of Houston is tuning in and the alumni are already thinking back to the Jack Pardee days in the old Southwest Conference when the Cougs were a feared team.

Sumlin said when his staff and players showed up for 6:30AM workouts recently, they were greeted by cheering students wrapped around the athletic building on campus.

"For us it's great, for the University it's great, but for our team we can't get too high or too low because no matter what happens Saturday, win or lose we've still got to out and play nine or 10 more times, at least," said Sumlin, whose team opened the season with an overwhelming 55-7 win over Northwestern State. "We're appreciative but what we would like to have for this to be the norm instead of just a once in a while thing. If we continue to do our part, if we put the right product on the field, it shows me what we are capable of doing."

So far, Sumlin and his staff have put out a very quality product that starts with junior quarterback Case Keenum and extends to players like running back Bryce Beall, receiver Tyron Carrier and linebacker Marcus McGraw.

Art Briles got things back on track at UH during his five-year tenure before bolting for Baylor. Now Sumlin, who was an offensive coordinator under Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, has a chance to take what Briles started to the next level.

"He's doing fabulous, everyone recognizes that," Stoops said. "We're excited for Kevin and just really pleased that him and his staff are doing so well. Everybody here still remains close with Kevin and we are always following and seeing his scores. We're just happy for him and I'm sure he will continue to do well."

Sumlin's tenure got off to a great start in 2009 when one of the first hires he made was bringing in Dana Holgorsen -- a disciple of Texas Tech coach Mike Leach -- into the fold as his offensive coordinator. It wasn't long before the Cougs offense was putting up Red Raiders type offensive numbers.

Their confidence began to build with last season's 8-5 finish, which marked the programs fifth bowl berth in six seasons. But their belief in what's possible was cemented with the victory over an Oklahoma State squad that might still contend for the Big 12 title this season.

The Cougs (2-0) stood toe-to-toe with OSU and then swatted away a spirited comeback attempt in a hostile environment.

But instead of patting his team on the back for earning the program's most impressive win in years, Sumlin challenged his players to identify their mistakes and areas they needed to get better before their next opportunity.

"If we continue to get better, that's what I'm concerned with," said Sumlin, whose team had bye this past week. "The crazy thing about college football is we can play worse, too, particularly with a young team. It's our job to try to get better every week. If we can go out and play as well as we can play and it's not good enough that's alright.



"But I think we are getting to a point now where we can tell our guys if we can play up to where our potential is and eliminate mistakes, I think we will be successful."

It already seems just three weeks into the season, the Cougs have experienced an unexpected level of success. They enter Saturday's game ranked while the Red Raiders (2-1), who lost on the road to No.2 Texas last Saturday night, have yet to enter the Top 25 this season. And UH will actually be favored against its Big 12 opponent.

But Sumlin isn't buying into such role-reversal anecdotes.

"That's for everyone else to worry about because three weeks ago they would have thought it would have been flipped," he said. "But timing is everything. The game was on the schedule three months ago, it didn't matter whether we were ranked, whether they were ranked based on what's going on in the game. It's an important game for both teams.

"Something tells me there were going to be a lot of people at this game no matter what happens so it just kind of adds to it."