Houston, We Have No Hype Problem

HOUSTON -- It's a long football season and as we've seen in the first month to expect the unexpected.

So forgive Houston coach Kevin Sumlin if he'd just as soon shelve the BCS buster talk or if he'd rather not put the Cougars last two wins into perspective.

Sumlin might not want to discuss it but his Cougars just became a legitimate threat to break into the BCS party with early Sunday morning's improbable come-from-behind 29-28 win over Texas Tech. It was the 17-ranked Cougars' second win over a Big 12 opponent in as many games after they went to Stillwater two weeks ago and left with a 45-35 win over then-No. 5 Oklahoma State.

This time, the U of H fans were at home and more than willing to show their gratitude for the program's biggest win in more than two decades by promptly storming field.

"It was awesome, I can't thank the fans enough for coming out and being loud. It's the loudest I've ever heard that place," said UH junior quarterback Case Keenum, who engineered a huge late fourth quarter drive that ended with him running four yards for a touchdown to complete the rally. "Tech had a lot of people there, too. It was a great atmosphere. It was a lot of fun."

That's about as close as you are going to get to anyone in the Cougars camp admitting how big a deal the game that started late Saturday night really was for the program.

"We have to take it week by week," Keenum said. "By the way we put on a show, play hard and we have guys who can do pretty cool things with the football. We'll go out there and play hard and that's all we can do."

Art Briles began the rebuilding process of the once proud Southwest Conference team before leaving for Baylor.

Sumlin and his staff seem poised to take it to another level. But in doing so, Sumlin seems bent on not making any bold statements about what this season could bring or what it means for his Conference USA team to knock off two quality Big 12 opponents in a row.

"They're all big," said Sumlin, who is in second season coaching the Cougars. "As you win, every game becomes bigger. It's what it is: If we win, the next game is bigger than the last game. That's just the price of poker."

And if you believe Sumlin's poker face, you believe that he has fascination with the BCS or where his team might be in this week's polls. But the safe bet is Sumlin and his staff are stacking their chips.

This season more than other could be interesting for how it's setting up. It seems every week a BCS member takes a hit, perhaps never more than Saturday when teams like Miami, Florida State, Penn State and Cal all got exposed.

In the meantime, non-BCS teams like Boise State, TCU and Houston could all keep rolling to potentially create a huge headache for the BCS behemoths. In the past few years, one or maybe two non-BCS schools entered into the conversation for the big-money bowl pie.

How about three teams to decide from this year? It's very possible if Boise State, TCU and Houston all keep winning as they head into play in their respective conference without the worry of knocking off each other. The BCS schools could be so lucky, but they have rules in place just in case..

In this world of parity where USF can upend Florida State on given night, so why can't expect South Carolina to be able to do the same to Florida or Alabama? Baylor could have something in store for the No. 2 Longhorns, too.

But a month into the season, Sumlin isn't quite ready to hit the campaign trail to get his team in the BCS mix once the big boys get done swapping beat downs.

"I'm not going to be a advocate for that," Sumlin said of starting the push of non-BCS teams for inclusion. "My concern right now is keeping my guys focused."

The Cougars (3-0) head into C-USA play next week at UTEP riding a strong wind of confidence. Facing a Mike Leach team that completely flipped the script on its quick passing attack Saturday night, the Cougars stood strong in their belief, even after playing from behind for most of the game.

Finally, their chance came late in the fourth when they turned a bad situation -- being pinned at their 5-yard line and needing a touchdown to take the lead -- by marching undauntedly toward their goals. There were third-and-longs and a fourth-and-four even. But that was no problem for Keenum, who one series earlier had thrown a costly interception.

Keenum lifted the Cougars during that series with both his legs and arm.

"There were a lot of emotions that go with it," Keenum said of that final drive. "If I have to pinpoint one emotion, I would say awesome."

Leach would like say something quite to the opposite. Leach and the Raiders had stifled UH early by going to a power running game for the first time this season. Running back Baron Batch gashed the Cougars defense for big runs at a pop. Texas Tech's first three touchdowns came on runs while Taylor Potts' first and only touchdown pass wouldn't come until 4:19 remained in the third quarter when he found Tramain Swindall for a 24 yards scoring pass.



The man who had seemingly perfected the possession game fell in love with the run Saturday night. The Raiders actually rushed for 163 yards, which had been unheard of this season.

But in the end, Leach might have called one run too many when Potts got stuffed on a one-yard quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1one at the goal in the fourth quarter.

Had the Raiders, who have now lost back-to-back games, elected to kick the chip shot field goal, they would have gone up by eight points to force UH to score a touchdown and make a two-point conversation at the end for the tie.

"We had to play defense, you never know what Mike Leach is going to do, and he never has a pattern," Sumlin said. "Whoever can figure out what Mike Leach is going to do is a better coach than me."