The 2009 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 64th year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by second year head football coach, Kevin Sumlin. The team played its home games at Robertson Stadium, a 32,000-seat stadium on campus in Houston. The Cougars finished the season 10–4, 6–3 in CUSA play, were co–champions of the west division and lost to East Carolina 38–32 in the CUSA Championship Game. They were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they lost to Air Force 47–20. It was the second consecutive year that they had played Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Preseason
Spring practices The Cougars held Spring practices from March 24 to April 18, 2008. On April 4, the team played a public scrimmage. The Cougars' annual Red-White Game, which was the conclusion of the Spring practices, was abruptly halted after the first ten minutes of gameplay due to rainy weather conditions.
Recruiting
Coaching staff
Name Position Alma mater (Year) Kevin Sumlin Head coach Purdue (1986) Dana Holgorsen Offensive coordinator Iowa Wesleyan (1992) John Skladany Defensive coordinator Central Connecticut State (1972) Jason Phillips Co-Offensive coordinator Houston (1988) Leon Burtnett Linebackers Southwestern College (1965) Jim Jeffcoat Defensive line Arizona State (1982) Joe Gilbert Offensive line Hamilton (1987) Tony Levine Special teams Minnesota (1996) Clarence McKinney Running backs Mary (1994) Charles McMillian Defensive backs Utah State (1995) Zac Spavital Cornerbacks Murray State (2004)
Schedule
Denotes the largest crowd to have watched a football game at Robertson Stadium in its current capacity, and the largest Houston ever hosted on-campus. This was later broken the next season.
Game summaries
Northwestern State
The Northwestern State Demons of the Southland Conference traveled to Houston to meet with the Cougars for the first time in school history. Head coach Bradley Dale Peveto, a former Houston defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, led the Demons in his first game ever. With the first five touchdowns for Houston resulting from the Cougars' first five possessions, the Demons' first first down occurred only after the score was 28–0 in the home team's favor. With the game well in hand for the Cougars in the third quarter, starting quarterback Case Keenum was rested for the rest of the game.
Oklahoma State
The Cougars traveled to Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater to face Oklahoma State (ranked 5th in the AP football poll and 6th in the Coaches' Poll). Houston came out of the gate with a touchdown and field goal in the first quarter, but Oklahoma State responded with a drive to the endzone in the beginning of the second quarter. However, Houston parlayed an onside kick into two more touchdowns to close the half. In the third quarter, Oklahoma State dominated, with touchdowns coming from rushes by Keith Toston and Beau Johnston. A punt return for 82 yards by Dez Bryant yielded another touchdown for Oklahoma State. However, the Cougars clawed back in the final quarter, with the help of a Case Keenum pass that turned into a tipped ball caught by Bryce Beall, and a Zac Robinson interception that was returned for a touchdown. Following the win, Houston was launched into the #21 ranked spot in the AP Poll, which marked the first time since 1991 in which the Cougars had been ranked in the top 25.
Texas Tech
Houston faced-off against former Southwest Conference rivals, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, for the first time since the demise of that athletic conference following the 1995 season. The game also marked the first time that Houston hosted Texas Tech on-campus, as the Astrodome had served as the previous home for the Cougars during that era. During Houston's bye the week prior, AP and Coaches' Poll voters ranked the Cougars ahead in the polls to #17 and #23 respectively. It was the first time in eighteen years that Houston entered a game as a nationally ranked team.
Although attempting to recover from a loss to #2 Texas the week before, Texas Tech's starting quarterback Taylor Potts had passed for a career record of 46 passes for 420 yards.
The game received heavy media coverage, and was broadcast nationally on ESPN2. After a complete sell-out of public game tickets by Houston athletics, 1,500 student guest tickets went on sale the Monday morning before the game. With students arriving around midnight to await box office opening, all student guest passes were gone within three hours. The game marked a record attendance of 32,114 at Robertson Stadium in its current seating capacity including an appearance by U.S. Senator for Texas and gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison. Following a similar phenomenon from Monday, 5,500 students were allowed general admission into the game for no charge on gameday. Houston businessman Jim McIngvale donated a 9'x16' LED screen displaying the ESPN2 broadcast for use in the stadium parking lot during the game to accommodate the remainder of the University of Houston's 37,000 student enrollment who were unable to gain entry. UH Alumnus Hakeem Olajuwon facilitated the pre-game coin toss. Fellow alumnus and former Cougars basketball coach Clyde Drexler was also in attendance.
Although prior to the win, Texas Tech had been victors of the previous five meetings, the all-time record between the teams was updated to 18–10–1 with Houston leading. The Cougars' record improved to 3–0.
UTEP
Following the home victory, Houston went on the road to El Paso, Texas to face conference foe UTEP for the seventh time in school history. Having moved five spots up to #12 in the AP Poll prior to the game, the undefeated Cougars were heavily favored to win. UTEP's record was 1–3, and were coming off a 64–7 loss to Texas. Despite a remarkable attempt by Houston, where Case Keenum threw for a career record of 536 passing yards with 5 touchdowns, the Cougars could not contain UTEP's run-style offense. UTEP running back Donald Buckram ran for a career-high of 262 yards against Houston as the Miners completed a 58-41 upset. Houston's all-time record against UTEP fell to 3–4. The Cougars would fall completely out of both the AP Poll and Coaches' Poll top 25 rankings, but continued to receive votes.
Mississippi State
Houston attempted to begin rebuilding after the UTEP upset in Starkville, Mississippi meeting with the Mississippi State Bulldogs. It was the fifteenth meeting between the two teams, where the Cougars held an 8–6 record over the Bulldogs who first competed against each other in 1956. The last time Mississippi State defeated Houston was in 1972, as the Cougars won the last two meetings. The game was nationally televised on ESPNU. The Bulldogs were able to contain Houston's offense to 17 points in three quarters and enter the fourth quarter in a tie game. The Cougars offense scored two touchdowns in rapid succession with six and four minutes to go in the game, and then conceded a touchdown run to Anthony Dixon with 1:22 to play. However, the Cougars were able to recover a Mississippi State onside kick attempt and went on to win the game. Following the win, the Cougars regained a place in the top 25 list for both the AP Poll and Coaches' Poll with a ranking of #23.
Tulane
Houston completed its three-game road trip in New Orleans, Louisiana against the Tulane Green Wave. With a record of 5-1 after completing the game, Houston was off to the best start of a season since 2003. Having competed against each other for the first time in 1968, the Cougars held a 10-4 all-time record against Tulane, and had won their last seven games against the Green Wave. Heavily favored Houston started off the game slowly against Tulane's pass defense which stood as the best in Conference USA at the time, and the Cougars went into halftime leading only 9-6 against the Green Wave. However, in the second half the offense exploded for 20 unanswered points in the third quarter and 15 points in the fourth while conceding 10, and Houston left the Superdome a 44-16 winner. Following the game, Houston rose to #17 in the AP Poll and to #18 in the Harris and Coaches' Polls. When the initial BCS ranking came out the following Sunday Houston secured the #17 spot, marking the first week the Cougars were ranked in the BCS poll.
SMU
The Cougars returned to play in Houston for the first time since its September victory over Texas Tech to face the SMU Mustangs in their homecoming game. Another former Southwest Conference opponent, SMU was coached by second-year head coach June Jones. It was the 25th meeting between the teams, where Houston held a 15-9-1 record in the all-time series. The game was nationally televised on the CBS College Sports network. Houston took advantage of two SMU turnovers early in the game and utilized an effective running game to take a 24-3 lead into halftime. SMU's turnover issues continued into the second quarter as Houston kept going to freshman Charles Sims on the ground. Sims finished the game with 15 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Case Keenum finished with comparatively light duty, only collecting 233 yards and two touchdowns on 36 completions as Houston dispatched SMU 38-15. Following the victory, Houston moved up to #15 in the AP poll and to #16 in the Coaches' and Harris polls, but moved down to #18 in the BCS poll.
Southern Miss
The Cougars continued the 2009 season with a Halloween showdown versus conference rival Southern Miss. Houston came into the game at 7-1 and on its best start since 1990, in the days of the Southwest Conference. The two teams last met in the 2006 Conference USA Football Championship. The game turned into a shootout early as neither defense proved able to slow down quarterbacks Martevious Young and Case Keenum. Southern Miss led early 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, but Houston collected 23 points on three touchdowns and a returned blocked extra point to go into halftime leading 30-22. The game slowed down somewhat in the second half as Houston extended the lead to 40-22 in the fourth quarter, but Southern Miss's Young led the Golden Eagles to a late game comeback, scoring three touchdowns in eight minutes to tie the game at 43 with only 57 seconds left. However, Houston's Keenum calmly led the Cougars down the field in a scene reminiscent of the Texas Tech game and needed only 36 seconds to complete a game-winning touchdown drive. Keenum passed for a career record 559 yards that day. Houston escaped out of Robertson Stadium that day with a 50-43 victory. The following day, Houston found itself ranked 13th in the AP poll, 15th in the Coaches', 14th in the Harris, and 15th overall in the BCS poll, an improvement in all rankings.
Tulsa