Miami Hurricanes 14 - Houston Cougars 13 recap

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our Houston Correspondent Patrick Mahoney recaps the Houston loss to the Hurricanes in Miami.

The Houston Cougars (4-1, 3-0 CUSA) dropped their first game of the year in the Orange Bowl on Saturday night, falling just a point short of beating a still potent Miami (2-2, 0-1 ACC) team. While Kevin Kolb started his 41st consecutive game, tying the Cougar record, the normally high-octane offense sputtered against a strong Miami effort, producing just 13 points on 276 total offensive yards. The game was exciting, but the real story occurred high above the field in the replay booth.

The Cougars held onto the lead throughout most of the game but near the end of the third quarter Miami finally scored the go-ahead touchdown. It was then that the Cougar faithful were left bitter over two bizarre calls along the way that left casual observers and partisans alike befuddled. Going back to the second quarter Miami running back Javarris James caught a pass, brought the ball into his body, and then tucked the ball away while taking at least a step and a half. He was then hit and coughed up the ball, upon which the Cougars then pounced. The referees ruled the pass incomplete and Coach Art Briles used his one challenge to force a review. Upon review it was determined the play was a fumble, despite the clear and obvious two-handed control of the ball. As if that bewildering ruling weren’t enough, late in the fourth quarter, with a one-point lead and trying to burn off the clock, Miami found themselves held to a fourth down with just a few inches to go. A quarterback sneak was called but the Cougar d-line held and Miami quarterback Kyle Wright went to his knees. Inexplicably, no whistle was blown and Wright quickly scooted forward from the ground to go over the pile and grab a new set of downs, thus allowing Miami to hold on until the final whistle. No review was undertaken for this crucial down and the Cougars had no challenges, so the kneeling rush will forever stay on the books, along with the one-point Houston loss. These two calls are the latest in a string of terrible replay errors this season, including one last week in the Cougars’ game against Oklahoma State for which Conference USA later apologized. Nevertheless, it is seldom that poor officiating is both so blatant and so poorly timed as to have a clear and obvious affect on the outcome of the game; this game was one of those few times.

On the bright side, the Cougar defense held the Hurricanes to only 14 points and picked off two of Wright’s passes, one each for Wade Koehl and Will Gulley. Though the Cougars’ four-game win streak is now over the narrow loss in the decidedly unfriendly confines of Miami’s Orange Bowl is still a major step forward for the team, which has struggled in such high intensity environments. The Cougars are still undefeated in conference play, however, and will take the confidence gained and the frustration built from the Miami game back home to face the University of Louisiana- Lafayette next Saturday before opening the remainder of the six-game conference schedule at Southern Mississippi.