It is nice to see UH have success again, given the number of former students I have go there to play football -- and Rice hasn't been to a bowl game in my lifetime. To have both going to bowls in the same year is nothing short of amazing.

For years they've been crosstown rivals in despair, suffering loss after loss while fans waxed nostalgic about long-vanished gridiron prominence. At times their supporters could only empathize with the bittersweet lament of the perpetual loser: "Been down so long it looks like up to me."

As Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice observed, "Every year around this time, we gather to bury football at Rice and Houston. We hurumph that the Owls and Cougars will never again be respectable, that their time has long since passed."

Not this holiday season. Both Rice and UH can hold their heads high. Tonight at Robertson Stadium, the latter faces Southern Mississippi for the Conference USA championship, with the Liberty Bowl on the line. Meanwhile Rice is packing its bags for a trip to the Big Easy and the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 22 to face the Sun Belt Conference champion.

Houston's comeback started in earnest in 2003, when coach Art Briles arrived and put gifted freshman quarterback Kevin Kolb at the helm of his unorthodox offense that was initially as entertaining for its shifting formations as its scoreboard results. The Cougars went to the Hawaii Bowl that year, and after several disappointing seasons have bounced back to amass a 9-3 record.

Rice's rise has been meteoric, with first-year coach Todd Graham taking a team that was 1-10 last year and started 0-4 this season to a 7-5 finish and their first bowl appearance in 45 years. It's fitting that the two Houston teams faced off at the start of the year; the Cougars scratched out a come-from-behind, 31-30 victory.

Both teams are reaping awards for their performances. UH's Kolb has been named C-USA player of the year, while Rice coach Graham is the conference coach of the year. Meanwhile, Cougar coach Briles is in the running for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award selected by the Football Writers Association of America.

Now that Rice and UH have discovered the formula for winning seasons, fans might just start getting addicted to success. Cougar supporters can do their part by bundling up tonight and filling chilly Robertson Stadium to root their hot team on to Memphis.

Looks like Houston may have something to root for this bowl season.

Posted by: Greg at 11:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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