Quote:Gilbert, Cougars grind out win over Sam Houston State
By MICHAEL MURPHY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

When Sam Houston State traveled to Robertson Stadium on Saturday night to take on the Houston Cougars, everyone expected fireworks.

After all, the Bearkats are one of Division I-AA's top offensive teams, happily throwing it as often as possible. And everyone in Houston knows what the Cougars can do with their passing game. So it was natural that the 15,649 in the stands were expecting a spectacular passing duel, winner take all.

But the Cougars surprised everyone by pulling a fast one on the Bearkats. And that fast one was wearing No. 8 — senior running back Ryan Gilbert.

The Cougars put a leash on their celebrated passing attack and rode Gilbert's career-high 127 rushing yards to a 31-10 victory.

"Coach told us that we were going to run the ball, that we were going to use our strength to pound them up front," said Gilbert, who had touchdown runs of 12 and four yards. "I felt that being a senior I had to pick it up and move the chains myself, to get the team motivated to keep moving the chains and put points on the board."

It obviously worked.

Gilbert not only helped move the chains, he also helped bump the Cougars' season record to 1-1 heading into Friday's Conference USA opener at UTEP. It's the first time UH has been at least .500 since 2003 — and this game looked remarkably like one from that season, Art Briles' first as coach of the Cougars.

Sprinkling in the pass with the run much like they did two years ago, the Cougars amassed 293 rushing yards, dominating the game in almost every way. And that was without Anthony Evans, the usual workhorse in the backfield, who was hobbled by a strained calf muscle.

So Gilbert assumed the load for the Cougars. Kevin Kolb still put the ball up, finishing with 206 yards passing, but the rushing game stole the spotlight. Kolb even got in on the action, rushing for 56 yards, while senior Jackie Battle bulled his way to 54 yards on 18 carries, six of which resulted in first downs.

"This was like an '03 game," Briles said. "We're just kind of feeling our personality out. ... And this was without Anthony, who would have had a big game tonight (had he been healthy). Sam Houston has a run-stop defense, loading up in the box, but we thought we had to come out and establish something running the ball."

And while it's easy to dismiss Sam Houston State as a Division I-AA team, the Bearkats are an offensive powerhouse, as evidenced by last week's 77-7 demolition of Bacone College. But while the Bearkats showed an occasional flash Saturday, they were never able to sustain anything against a fast, quick-hitting UH defense that deflected several passes at the line of scrimmage and blocked two Sam Houston State kicks.

Junior quarterback Noah Allen, a transfer from Oklahoma, was 10-of-24 for only 86 yards before being lifted for Phillip Daugherty, who didn't fare any better. The sophomore transfer from Texas Tech connected on only two of nine passes for 21 yards.

"It was definitely important for the defensive line to get pressure on the opposing quarterback," said UH senior Kade Lane, who moved from defensive end to nose tackle to replace the injured Marquay Love. "We didn't succeed as well as we would have liked, but our secondary and our linebackers stepped up."

Sam Houston State's only touchdown came in the second quarter, when Allen sprinted in from five yards out to tie the game at 7-7. Lance Garner booted a 38-yard field goal in the third quarter for the Bearkats' last points.

"Offensively, we dropped so many balls and didn't make many plays," Bearkats coach Todd Whitten said. "I thought we had good effort, but we have a lot of work to do. I knew there would be issues that would show up, and they certainly did."

The Cougars still used their passing game, with Kolb finding eight different receivers. Kolb had two scoring passes, a nine-yarder to Perry McDaniel in the first quarter and a 15-yarder to Josh Carethers in the second.

"All that matters this year is winning," Kolb said of relying on the running game. "That's all that matters."

michael.murphy@chron.com


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Houston-Sam Houston State Summary

Very special teams
For years the Sam Houston State special teams have been known for their outstanding ability to block kicks.

The Bearkats blocked eight kicks last season and 81 over the past 13 seasons. And in their season-opening 77-7 victory over Bacone College, they kept that tradition alive when Tony Jones blocked a punt.

But in Saturday night's game at Robertson Stadium, it was the Cougars who looked pretty special in that department.

In the first quarter, Trent Allen blocked an 18-yard field-goal try by the Bearkats' Lance Garner . Chris Pilot deflected a 38-yard attempt in the third period.


Not so special
While the Cougars were happy with the 31-10 victory over Sam Houston State, coach Art Briles was stewing a bit afterward because of his kickoff team.

While it was good that the Cougars were scoring, the bad news was the kickoff teams looked rusty. UH sent three kickoffs out of bounds, giving the Bearkats possession at the 35-yard line.

It was so bad that the crowd gave a standing ovation in the third quarter when T.J. Lawrence finally booted one straight down the middle.

MICHAEL MURPHY

Nice to see a positive write up on the game. From most of the stuff posted (including by me) you would think we lost this game.