The University of Houston Cougars Fall to Southern Mississippi in C-USA Championship Game
HOUSTON -- With hopes high and expectations even higher, the Houston Cougars hosted Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA Championship game Saturday at Robertson Stadium and was unable to get their high octane offense rolling as they dropped their first game of the season 49-28 to miss out on BCS bowl appearance and a perfect season.
The Golden Eagle offense found some success against a Cougar defense that had improved over the final few games and they showed they had a defense that was just as capable. The held the Coogs to 35 points which was the first time a team held them to less than 50 points all season.
Southern Miss unleashed a ferocious rush on a U of H punt early in the third quarter and blocked the punt before picking it up and taking it all the way back to push their lead to 28-14.
Houston would score on a Hayes four yard touchdown run minutes later to pull to within 28-21 but the Golden Eagles were ready to see if they could put this one out of reach.
They may not have exactly put the game out of reach considering how fast the Coogs could score, but they did manage to hand U of H a tough task for mounting a comeback. The Golden Eagles scored 21 unanswered points to put the Coogs in a hole they could not climb out of. Their last touchdown came at the 2:41 mark of the fourth quarter to put their lead at 49-21.
U of H would pick up a late touchdown with just seconds to go in the game when Keenum connected with Johnson on a 13 yard scoring strike as the Coogs lost their first game of the year by a score of 49-28.
"It was a very tough locker room after the game. In general I told our guys to take a look around and congratulate and appreciate the senior class, who played their last game in Robertson Stadium. The seniors have set a bar that hasn't been reached and also passed milestones that have never been passed here at UH," said U of H Head Coach Kevin Sumlin.
