2006: Louisiana-31 Houston-28

[NewsCopy]

Kevin Kolb held up a hand, his thumb and index finger mere centimeters apart. "We were this close," said the senior quarterback. "Do you know how frustrating that is? We were this close." Kolb was referring to how close the Houston Cougars, who entered the game as 16-point underdogs, came to beating the Miami Hurricanes on their home turf at the Orange Bowl, dropping a heartbreaking 14-13 game Saturday night before 36,107 spectators. That minuscule distance Kolb hinted at was a pretty fair representation of how close Houston had come to beating the Hurricanes. The Cougars (4-1) were that close to keeping alive their dream — however improbable — of an undefeated season. That close to repaying the Hurricanes for the whipping they put on the Cougars back in 1991, a nasty 40-10 beatdown that signaled an end to the high-flying glory days of the run-and-shoot. That close to shrugging off a decade spent in the shadows, with UH teams sometimes struggling to win even a single game all season. The rest of the story By MICHAEL MURPHY Houston Chronicle

[ATXCajun]

36,107? Is that what the 'Canes are drawing? That's got to hurt the pocket book.

[Clutch0364]

36,107? Is that what the 'Canes are drawing? That's got to hurt the pocket book.

I believe the Orange Bowl only seats about 50,000.

[CDeb]

The Canes have never drawn very well. The year they won their last "national championship" they were something like 41st in attendance.

[oddtbone]

Website has the capacity at 72,319. I've only been in Miami a little over a year, and I have to say that I am not blown away by the atmosphere surrounding games at the orange bowl based upon the prestige of the program. The Florida State game on Labor Day was a completely different story altogether though and it seems to take major events to draw people out there. This nature combined with everyone screaming for Coker's head, along with the opponent being Houston, doesn't really bode well for attendance. I didn't attend the game either, since I wanted to listen to my cajuns whip up on EMU but I did watch it on ESPN2 and I have to say that houston impressed me. I really don't know how much of their success to pin on the recent drop in miami football, but the cajuns will have their hands full this weekend. That offense is tricky, they never stop moving people around.

[CajunProud]

I honestly believe that the Houston game will be the litmus test for where this program is, relatively speaking, on the road to recovery.

Yes, we all wanted and hoped we would beat LSU and TX a&m, but even the most die hard fans would have to admit that they did not really believe we would win those games.

It wasn't that long ago that Houston was where our program was before Bustle arrived. They have now strung together a couple of solid years and are seemingly still on the rise.

The win we had this weekend against EMU was huge. Not because they are a powerhouse, but because they are from a respectable conference, and they beat the tar out of us last year. In my opinion, the win was even more impressive considering the way that we completely doninated them. The game was not even close.

If we beat Houston, it will be the biggest win in the programs history. Yes, even bigger than the TX a&m win in 1995. Why? When we beat TX a&m they were ranked 25 and had lost the week before and were on the way out of the top 25 anyway and our program had experienced success in the previous years with Jake and company. Now, we are coming off of a decade of inept coaching and leadership at the top. We have improved every year since Bustle has been here. Houston is 4-1 with a narrow loss to Miami. They will be a bowl team this year.

If we lose, it is not the end of the world, and I will not be calling for Bustle's head. However, if we go up there and get blown out, I will be extremely disappointed.

This is not a must win for us in the sense that we can still win the conference and play in the NO bowl if we lose, but it is a must win on many other levels.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BirdofParadise]

I honestly believe that the Houston game will be the litmus test for where this program is, relatively speaking, on the road to recovery.

Yes, we all wanted and hoped we would beat LSU and TX a&m, but even the most die hard fans would have to admit that they did not really believe we would win those games.

It wasn't that long ago that Houston was where our program was before Bustle arrived. They have now strung together a couple of solid years and are seemingly still on the rise.

The win we had this weekend against EMU was huge. Not because they are a powerhouse, but because they are from a respectable conference, and they beat the tar out of us last year. In my opinion, the win was even more impressive considering the way that we completely doninated them. The game was not even close.

If we beat Houston, it will be the biggest win in the programs history. Yes, even bigger than the TX a&m win in 1995. Why? When we beat TX a&m they were ranked 25 and had lost the week before and were on the way out of the top 25 anyway and our program had experienced success in the previous years with Jake and company. Now, we are coming off of a decade of inept coaching and leadership at the top. We have improved every year since Bustle has been here. Houston is 4-1 with a narrow loss to Miami. They will be a bowl team this year.

If we lose, it is not the end of the world, and I will not be calling for Bustle's head. However, if we go up there and get blown out, I will be extremely disappointed.

This is not a must win for us in the sense that we can still win the conference and play in the NO bowl if we lose, but it is a must win on many other levels.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe that, on a neutral field, that Houston beats A&M this year.

I believe Houston is the second best team we will play this year.

[CajunProud]

Based on the way that Houston is playing right now, I would have to agree with you.

I also think that we are a much better team than we were the second game of the season.

It should be a fantastic game this weekend. I think the game will be decided by 10 or fewer points either way (or at least it should be).

[Just1More]

If we beat Houston, it will be the biggest win in the programs history.

I was thinking the same thing. TAM is a higher profile win, but I believe like you that Houston is at a level that TAM was not in 1996. That does not take away from that tremendous occasion. But, I agree with your reasoning in stating "IF we beat Houston". I was at the A&M game in 96 and will be at the Houston game in 06, but I don't think we will storm the Houston field like we did Cajun Field back then.

Houston is a very good team. I like this UL team, and think it has the attitude to play a very hard fought game. I would love to keep this game close, or of course pull the upset, but the conference games are starting to loom big on my mind. I seriously want to be in that New Orleans Bowl watching the Cajuns. HOWEVER... that is a long way off... and it is one game at a time.

Geaux Cajuns!

[cajunlove]

I believe that, on a neutral field, that Houston beats A&M this year.

I believe Houston is the second best team we will play this year.

Maybe...but does UH have the beasts that aTm has?

[CDeb]

I believe that, on a neutral field, that Houston beats A&M this year.

It would be a damn good game considering how poorly the Aggies play the pass.

It's all about matchups.

Our offensive strength matched TAMU's defensive strength, ergo, our offense was quite ineffective in College Station.

[CajunRebel]

I believe that, on a neutral field, that Houston beats A&M this year.

I believe Houston is the second best team we will play this year.

I agree. It's nice to see a C-USA team have so much success. We picked a bad year to play them.

[rhineaux]

I agree. It's nice to see a C-USA team have so much success. We picked a bad year to play them.

Not if we win...

[ulforlife]

Not if we win...

Presto

[Kal]

I honestly believe that the Houston game will be the litmus test for where this program is, relatively speaking, on the road to recovery.

This is not a must win for us in the sense that we can still win the conference and play in the NO bowl if we lose, but it is a must win on many other levels.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think this is a MUST WIN. I think with the way houston is playing this year, it's a MUST KEEP IT CLOSE game. We can't go and get beat by 30+. If in fact we do lose, it needs to be by less than 7.