Hurricanes to Face Houston at Reliant Stadium
Sept. 21, 2004
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The fourth-ranked Miami Hurricanes will make their first road trip of the season when they face the Houston Cougars at Reliant Stadium on Thursday night. Kickoff for the nationally televised game on ESPN will be at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Hurricanes are coming off a 48-0 victory over Louisiana Tech and are now ranked No. 4 in the AP poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
In search of their sixth national championship and their first-ever ACC crown, the Hurricanes have won three consecutive road openers, last losing to Washington in 2000. In the Louisiana Tech game, the Hurricanes jumped out to a 34-0 halftime lead and then rested their starters in the second half in preparation for the five-day turn-around. Devin Hester set a school record with two punt returns for touchdowns, scoring from 51 and 92 yards. Running backs Frank Gore and Tyrone Moss formed a strong one-two combo, with Moss leading the team with 69 yards and two touchdowns and Gore pitching in with 61 yards and a TD run. Brock Berlin threw only 14 passes, completing 10 of them for 122 yards and a touchdown to Darnell Jenkins. Berlin sat out most of the second half, giving way to Derrick Crudup and highly touted redshirt freshman Kyle Wright, who saw his first game action as a Hurricane. Defensively, the Hurricanes shut down Ryan Moats, who was the NCAA’s leading rushing going into the game. Moats gained only 81 yards and sat out the second half. Miami held Louisiana Tech to 183 yards on offense (nearly half of those on a 79-yard pass) and forced seven fumbles (recovering three) and 10 punts while making six sacks.
The Hurricanes have not played a team from Texas since 1997, a 45-14 victory at Baylor. They have not lost a game in the state of Texas since 1981, a 14-7 loss to Texas. Altogether, the Hurricanes own a 24-17 record against teams from Texas.The game is being played at Reliant Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Houston Texans, rather than the Cougars’ on-campus Robertson Stadium. After Thursday night’s game, the Hurricanes will have nine days before they return to action on October 2 at Georgia Tech.
THE OPPONENT: The Houston Cougars are 1-2 this season, having lost their first two games (10-7 at Rice and 63-13 at Oklahoma) before winning their home opener on Saturday night, 35-21 over Army. The Cougars are coached by Art Briles, whose first Houston team in 2003 finished 7-6, including an appearance in the Hawaii Bowl (the team’s first bowl game in seven years). A former Cougars receiver, Briles was four state championships as head coach at Stephenville (Texas) High School and spent three years as the running backs coach at Texas Tech before returning to Houston. Houston is led by running back Anthony Evans, who rushed for 304 yards in the team’s first three games, and quarterback Kevin Kolb, who averages 234.3 yards passing per game.
THE SERIES: The game will be the 17th in the series, with Miami having a 9-7 lead. It will be the first game between the two teams since 1991, when Miami won 40-10 at home. The Hurricanes have won the last five games in the series and have not lost since 1976.
A HURRICANES VICTORY OVER THE COUGARS WOULD: Give them a 3-0 record for the season and mark the fourth straight season the Hurricanes have won their first three games. It would give them a 10-7 lead in the series against Houston.
