NCAA Football Houston Football

The Texas Bowl has aspirations. They want to see the Cotton Bowl move into the BCS rotation and then the Houston-based bowl can grab the Cotton Bowl's prestige. They want the not even 3-year old bowl to be a New Years Day game. Heck, they've moved the 2008 bowl game to December 30.

Of course to get that spot takes more than just throwing money -- well, that helps a lot -- they have to make sure they fill the stands for the bowl games. That's the problem.

For all their dreams, the Texas Bowl is a regional draw. It isn't a destination location like the bowls in Florida and California. To get people to attend, they need to feature teams that are geographically relevant (read: have strong alumni affiliations in the Houston area and/or local). Last year they featured TCU and Houston and drew over 62,000. The year before with K-State and Rutgers, they got a bit over 52,000.

Now the Big 12 has that, and that's why they are happy to take the 8th team from that conference. The problem was they also had affiliated with the Big East -- which just seemed ill-fitting for a bowl that proclaims itself as "a celebration of the culture, heritage and football tradition of the Lone Star State." Yes, UConn and Cinci would be perfect representatives

The Big East also recognized the problem and decided to disengage from the Texas Bowl. Instead Conference USA will be the contributing conference this year along with the Big 12. The Mountain West and occasionally Navy will be in the rotation. Between the MWC and C-USA they have shots at getting schools in Texas: TCU, Houston, Rice (okay, a longshot), UTEP and SMU. Not to mention a lot more schools within the region.

Last year at this time, there were threats of Congressional hearings, and all sorts of complaints over the NFL Network airing the Texas Bowl. Freezing out the fans of Rutgers and Kansas State lacking the channel (read: most cable subscribers), leading to last minute deals to show the game.

This year, nothing. No noise. No national outrage.

That of course may have had something to do with the retro-Southwest Conference feel of a Houston-TCU match-up. It probably helped ticket sales at Reliant Stadium in Houston, but outside of Texas very little interest.

The NFL Network, however, couldn't have been too happy. The lack of any broader appeal outside of Texas and teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West combined with the limited reach of the NFL Network; made this the bowl game of little consequence and completely forgotten.

TCU won the game 20-13. Houston hasn't won a bowl game since the unlamented Garden State Bowl victory over Navy in 1980. All of which, was little more than a footnote in this bowl season.

Baylor is the wild bronco every cowboy thinks he can break. The latest sucker coach to think he's up to the task is Art Briles, who until today was the head coach at the University of Houston. Briles takes over for Guy Morriss, who we all thought was nuts back in 2002 when he left Kentucky for Waco. Morriss was coming off Kentucky's first winning season since 1998 and one of only four they'd had since 1977. He would not experience a winning season at Baylor.

Enter Briles, who has done just about everything at Houston except win a bowl game. He has never coached outside the state of Texas. Makes sense. Baylor's coach needs to be Texan to the core, because there are a lot of big dogs recruiting the Lone Star State. Not only that, but he'll have to slug in out in the Big XII South, where there are no weak teams except, historically, for the one he'll be coaching. I mean, the only coach who's had any sort of success at Baylor is Grant Teaff, and even he had to eat worms to make it happen. Good luck, Art; you're gonna need it.

Meanwhile, now the Houston job is open, and one of the early names being kicked around is Alabama offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. However, a vocal contingent of Texas Longhorns fans are insistent that Chris Simms should get the job instead.

What ... wait, huh?

Alabama jumped to an almost ridiculous 23-0 first quarter home lead against Houston earlier this afternoon. I then tuned out to watch Tennessee romp over Georgia and Texas battle with Oklahoma.

So what to my wandering eye should appear but a Houston team in the fourth quarter causing great fear. The Cougars intercepted Alabama with under two minutes left. They then drove deep into Alabama territory before setting up a last desperation throw that fell innocently into the hands of an Alabama defender in his own end zone.

Alabama 30 - Houston 24

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued subpoenas for 39 collegiate athletic departments in a probe of their relationships with student loan providers. At its most basic, this investigation is asking whether or not cash, kickbacks, gifts and other bribes or misleading measures were communicated between various student loan providers and the cited athletic departments.

Cuomo is investigating whether athletic departments at these universities agreed to promote SFS loans to students in exchange for kickbacks.

"Students trust their University's athletic departments because so much of campus life at Division I schools centers around supporting the home team," said Cuomo. "To betray this trust by promoting loans in exchange for money is a serious issue, especially when Division I schools already generate tremendous revenue from their student athletes. Today's action is an important new step as we continue to examine the unethical conflicts that pervade the student loan industry.

"The Attorney General's office is specifically investigating whether athletic departments evaluated UFS interest rates before recommending their federal loans, or if their endorsement of UFS was based purely on payments from the lender. Such an arrangement would constitute revenue sharing, which is a violation New York state consumer protection laws, as well as a violation of federal law.

D-IA football schools named (prominent schools in bold): Arkansas State, Auburn, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Colorado State, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Tech, Ohio, Oregon State, Rutgers, TCU, Tulane, Alabama-Birmingham, UCLA, UCF, Houston, Kansas, Louisville, Oregon, Pittsburgh, USF, UTEP. See link for complete list.

Of note: USC and Texas have also been scrutinized in a similar probe, but to my knowledge it has not been linked to their athletic departments but rather the university-wide financial aid offices of the schools.

It's good that athletic departments have an awareness of and working relationship with loan providers, but obviously there's a problem when that relationship gets too cozy and bad loan options are pressed upon students and student-athletes.

(Via: Yahoo!)

Early in the third quarter, Miami trails... Houston? Yep, Houston.

The once-great Hurricanes are 1-2 and looking like they might be 90 minutes away from 1-3.

However, they may have discovered the next great Hurricane back: Jarvarris James.

The name should sound vaguely familiar, as he is the cousin of former Miami star back Edgerrin James. Javarris James has 14 carries for 99 yards to go with a touchdown so far, and is certain to cross the century mark today. Unforunately, his play is about the only positive thing going for Miami today or this year.

Just as I write this, quarterback Kyle Wright threw the ball into an official trying to connect on an underneath pass on third down. That's just one of those plays that makes me think it just isn't Miami's night.

Anyway, stay tuned, as the Cougars and quarterback Kevin Kolb are looking for the upset.

During the Houston Cougars' last drive of the first half, a pass to Jeron Harvey turned into a fumble which OSU recovered. While trying to evade a two-man tackle, Harvey spun to his right, only to find a third Cowboy who induced the fumble, which was recovered by a fourth Cowboy. This stopped a steady Cougar march down the field and gave OSU the chance to get the last play of the half.

BUT WAIT, IT DIDN'T END THAT WAY.

Houston head coach, Art Briles contested the call. Briles did not argue the fact that Harvey dropped the ball or that OSU recovered. Instead, Briles' claim was that the first two OSU tacklers had stopped Harvey's forward progress and that a fumble should not be possible if the progress has stopped.

The OSU players, coaches, staff, and fans all agreed that such a claim was insufficient and that the Cowboys would retain the ball. Even the CSTV commentators said that they expected the call to remain unturned. The key issue was that Harvey, while not moving forward was twisting and turning, to evade OSU defense and that the play had not stopped, at this point.

Then, the call came from the field that the instant replay review had overturned the play. As OSU was in awe of the decision, the commentators openly stated their opinion of the error. From this, instead of sending out a Houston offense that wasn't putting significant pressure on Bobby Reid, the Cougars kept their offense on the field. Four plays later, the Cougars scored and were able to go into the locker room with the momentum and a seven-point lead.

To be honest, OSU had two more quarters to overcome that seven-point lead. But the call was unfair and it is easy to argue that it truly shifted the tone of the entire game. In the waning moments of the fourth quarter, OSU was down by nine points. If that bad call had not occurred, it is fully possible that the teams would have been separated by two points. The key to that is that OSU got close enough for field goals, in the fourth quarter - TWICE. But the lack of time and nine point deficit caused the Cowboys to push for the touchdowns that they didn't get. One of those field goals could have given OSU a one-point lead.

Granted, this also points out OSU's own shortcomings. Two red zone possessions could not be turned into touchdowns. So, the OSU faithful cannot fully blame the loss on a single blown call.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...

After the game, Conference USA came forward with press conference about the blown call. The conference announced that it was suspending the instant replay official, for his mistakes. The key error is that, "a runner's forward progress may only be reviewed to determine whether or not forward progress results in a first down." Because of this, the play should not have even been reviewed, much less overturned the original call of a Houston fumble.

To further redeem the Cowboys, Conference USA stated that the original ruling was correct.

Unfortunately, it doesn't change the results of the game. It merely gives OSU a little more confidence in the knowledge that they were in the right. None of this changes the fact that OSU's defense couldn't find a consistent answer for the Cougars' offense.

THE BEST NEWS FROM THIS...

While another university in Oklahoma was on the wrong end of blown call by the instant replay official, the OSU Cowboys approached the situation with a rational and humble attitude.

OSU didn't look to blame anyone for their loss, and rightfully so. That play MIGHT have changed the outcome of the game, but it would not have changed the fact that, statistically, Houston played a better game than the Cowboys.

OSU understands that bad calls, while unfortunate, are sometimes an unavoidable part of football. For that reason, the Cowboys put the situation behind them and quickly started looking forward to their improvement and preparation for the K-State Wildcats.

The conspiracy theorists will say that there is a coordinated effort to 'stick it' to Oklahoma-based universities, and that Tulsa University might be next.

But the rational OSU fan will finish being upset about such an atrocious call and start getting excited for OSU's first Big XII game, of the 2006 season.

Ordinarily, your thoughts and comments would be requested at this point, but Conference USA has already said that they were wrong in TWO ways. Further input from you is welcomed, but it's tough to be upset any longer, when the mis-deed is openly admitted and apologized for.

Nonetheless, any further thoughts and comments are always encouraged...

GO POKES!!!