H-town Takeover

[Go Coogs']

Hangin' with the president, drinking bloody mary's and eating breakfast tacos. Having your mom as a tenured professor has it's privileges.

[BSmack]

2,3

[Carson]

Are you flashing The Shocker?

[Go Coogs']

Fingers crossed for Fiesta Bowl with Ohio St or ND

[Goober McTuber]

Fingers crossed for Fiesta Bowl with Ohio St or ND

tOSU vs ND is a much better matchup.

But rack the Houston Middle-aged Whores for earning a date with FSU.

[Left Seater]

I see a big minus button.

This.

[Go Coogs']

Fingers crossed for Fiesta Bowl with Ohio St or ND

tOSU vs ND is a much better matchup.

But rack the Houston Middle-aged Whores for earning a date with FSU.

I kinda figured the committee was going to put those two together. I'll take a major bowl regardless. It's good exposure for the school and I believe it'll be easier to sell those tickets than the Fiesta Bowl as it's only a 10 hour drive and there is a southern connection thing going on.

[Go Coogs']

Yeah, the Herman/Ohio St matchup had it's intrigue, but no big school wants to play the non-power five school except maybe one if the academy schools. Also, non-power five schools don't make money off these big bowl games unless they can put asses in the seats. I think I read somewhere UConn lost in the neighborhood of $1.7m for their trip to the Fiesta Bowl a few years back because they couldn't sell their half of the tickets. So, financially Florida St in Atlanta makes more sense than the Fiesta for Houston.

Personally, I was rooting hard for a game with the domers in Phoenix. It could have been a redemption game for the Coogs since they lost to Joe Montana in the Cotton Bowl when they had some national relevancy during Bill Yeoman's tenure.

[Left Seater]

Yeah no one wanted to see UH as their bowl opponent. Not because of the on field match up but mostly because of the nature of non power 5 teams and travel. Florida State was matched up with Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl a few years ago and while it was 90% FSU fans it still wasn't full. This matchup will be more of the same and likely much worse.

UH is trying, see their new stadium, but they are a commuter school. A grade 13 if you will. The majority of their students live at home and are not invested in campus life, sports included. The campus is smack dab in the middle of one of the worst hoods in Houston. It is so bad that the public housing project a block away is scheduled to be closed.

If 10,000 UH fans make the drive that would be impressive. That number is unlikely though. On top of that what appeal does UH bring that makes FSU fan say, "hey I need to see this game in person."

Look for horrible ticket sales and horrible tv numbers for this one.

[Goober McTuber]

Coogs, on a totally unrelated note, I still have the newspaper stories from the Houston win over UCLA that broke the Bruins' long winning streak. Elvin Hayes and company.

Never would have happened were it not for Alcindor's eye injury. But Elvin was a beast.

[Go Coogs']

Yeah no one wanted to see UH as their bowl opponent. Not because of the on field match up but mostly because of the nature of non power 5 teams and travel. Florida State was matched up with Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl a few years ago and while it was 90% FSU fans it still wasn't full. This matchup will be more of the same and likely much worse.

UH is trying, see their new stadium, but they are a commuter school. A grade 13 if you will. The majority of their students live at home and are not invested in campus life, sports included. The campus is smack dab in the middle of one of the worst hoods in Houston. It is so bad that the public housing project a block away is scheduled to be closed.

If 10,000 UH fans make the drive that would be impressive. That number is unlikely though. On top of that what appeal does UH bring that makes FSU fan say, "hey I need to see this game in person."

Look for horrible ticket sales and horrible tv numbers for this one.

I think you're selling us a little short, Lefty. The third ward is actually starting to see a little turnaround in real estate. Developers are offering big money for multiple lots so they can build town homes down there. If you go on HAR, you'll see what is happening in the 020 as a shift in demographics.

Also, it's not just the new stadium, it's what they are working for next that makes me think they won't be just a commuter school. Houston is renovating Hoffeinz Pavilion and they pretty much promised Herman a top notch indoor practice facility. Hell, they also just made him the highest paid non-power coach at 2.8m with incentives to go higher. He destroys Tubberville's deal by at least $600k a year. If TCU could do it, I don't see why Houston can't. It's going to take some time, but if they string together a few big bowls and steal an occasional blue chipper, then I don't see why they can't get an invite to a power five within the next few years.

[MuchoBulls]

Hopefully we'll see you in the AAC title game next season.

[Goober McTuber]

Maybe the Big East would have you.

[Left Seater]

Go Coogs,

Drop your wife off at the corner of Ennis and Alabama and have her walk the new stadium. Once that excercise is complete get back to me on the revival of the third ward.

As for UH not being a commuter school in a few years, best of luck. This has been an on going discussion for decades. At least as far back as when I was at Rice. Back then people were saying that the success of the football team (aware, Klingler, etc) would be the thing that brought students to the campus and kept them there. 20 years later that turned out to be a dream.

The new stadium while nice isn't going to get you any conference invites. The other facilities are pretty lacking and will need serious football stadium type upgrades to get close to an invite.

Hell, I hope they can pull it off. When people talk about Houston athletics it shouldn't include how easy the drive to Austin is or how short the distance is to College Station.

[Go Coogs']

Lefty, I know you mean well, but I'm not some hopeless optimist living in a dream world. I've seen my mother's east end home triple in value over the last five years because developers are beating down the door in those type of communities because the heights is done. The next hot bed area to build is East End and UofH. Again, this isn't going to happen overnight, but to compare today to the Ware/Klingler years is stupid. They were playing at the dome, there was no urban development going on back then and Houston's crime rate and economy was complete shit in the late 80s.

Everything is in line for Houston to grow it's fan base and the 2006-2010 graduates have Keenum, Kolb, Briles, and Sumlin to hang it's hat on. If you gather alum from previous years, it will continue to grow as long as sustainable success occurs over a decade. Houston is #32 in recruiting and the recruits got to see Saturday's game against Temple. All good stuff.

[Go Coogs']

Houston just nabbed it's 3rd ESPN-300 2016 prospect and two of them are in the top 60. If they stay committed, this will be the best haul by far for any Houston program since the Bill Yeoman days.