Will someone please step forward and actually play the University of Houston in a football game?
I mean, seriously.
Enough is enough.
The still-undefeated (and winless) Cougars had enough last week when Baylor backed down at the last minute.
What do Washington State, Rice, Memphis, the Big 12’s Bears and North Texas have in common?
Normally, nothing.
But while the rest of the sports world is somewhat back to normal more than six months into the coronavirus pandemic, UH’s 2020 season opener has been erased, postponed, moved up, canceled and canceled again.
The Coogs’ new normal: waiting and waiting for a real opponent to suit up, step on a football field, and crack helmets at the scheduled time and date.
“I am disappointed for our student-athletes who have continued to focus on competing this season and were ready to play this Saturday,” UH vice president for athletics Chris Pezman said in a statement Wednesday after Saturday’s home contest against the Mean Green at TDECU Stadium was abruptly canceled. “We will continue to work to adjust our schedule with the hopes of playing as soon as we can.”
I feel for the Cougars.
UH’s stuck-on-pause 2020 season has also done something that was impossible in 2019: turned second-year coach Dana Holgorsen into a sympathetic public figure.
“We were ready and we will stay ready... #GoCoogs #%$@&$,” Holgorsen tweeted at 1:52 p.m. last Friday, with a photo of a Cougars equipment truck strategically placed in front of a socially distanced McLane Stadium.
Tell ’em, Coach.
A year ago, the tanking and redshirting Coogs finished a very uninspiring 4-8. Less than 10 months later, September is set to pass without a single UH football game being played. And apparently, no one wants to lace up against the mean ol’ Cougars.
Heck, ex-UH QB D’Eriq King has been allowed to play two games for No. 12 Miami, throwing for 469 yards and four touchdowns in two early-season victories for his new school.
The Texans are still trying to win their first game of the 2020 NFL season. The Rockets are searching for Mike D’Antoni’s replacement after falling short in the playoffs again. The Astros are still trying to stay above .500 almost 60 games into the weirdest season in MLB history, with the postseason less than a week away.
Those are relatively simple and straightforward problems compared to what UH has been put through since the embarrassingly weak Pac-12 followed the Big Ten and wiped Washington State off UH’s schedule.
Speaking of the Texans …
TDECU Stadium isn’t that far away from NRG Stadium, and Bill O’Brien’s 0-2 team could use a good fight before it flies to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers.
Then again, the way it’s gone for the Texans, raging-mad UH would end up 1-0 after a cross-city scrimmage. And Twitter would instantly demand that Holgorsen replace O’Brien as Deshaun Watson’s head coach.
I’d be a darned fool to joke about COVID-19 in a sports column. The pandemic that won’t end has now killed more than 200,000 Americans.
But the Coogs’ on-again/off-again schedule has almost become comical. I mean, if Baylor oddly backs out and you can’t play Rice and North Texas, who are you going to play?
I’m sure it will change before kickoff, but as I type this, UH’s official 2020 season opener is now set for Oct. 8 against Tulane at TDECU.
That’s still two long weeks away. And there are currently only eight games on the Coogs’ remaining schedule, which doesn’t exactly scream College Football Playoff, Power Five leap, national recruiting powerhouse, or 13-1 and winning the Peach Bowl against Jimbo Fisher’s old team.
Clearly, that is not UH’s fault. Heck, the Group of Five-leading American Athletic Conference deserves credit for trying to play a real conference and nonconference schedule during a time when huge conferences opted to follow the follower.
Memphis messed up.
Baylor ended up getting a bunch of “#%$@&$” from Holgorsen.
North Texas’ spot on the calendar was undone by four positive coronavirus tests and contact tracing.
This was going to happen to someone. It could still take down the SEC, ACC or CFP in 2020.
But no college program has been forced to go through what UH has endured since July. Holgorsen’s team became a national story Wednesday — by watching another scheduled opponent disappear.
The 0-0 Coogs deserve your sympathy. And a football game.
twitter.com/chronbriansmith
The Link LonkSeptember 24, 2020 at 05:30AM
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/brian-t-smith/article/Smith-Hard-luck-UH-won-t-be-seen-in-September-15592474.php
Smith: Hard-luck UH won’t be seen in September - Houston Chronicle
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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