Houston falls to 0-2 on the season; loses to Louisiana Tech 56-49

 

Louisiana Tech's Kevin Saia (57) loses his helmet
while trying to open a hole against the Houston
Cougars defense. Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La
Vita Loca Photography, Copyright 2012,
All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (September 9, 2012) "I told our team no side of football, offense, defense or special teams, should leave here feeling good or satisfied about what just happened,"

That was the message Houston head coach Tony Levine told his team and later relayed to the media late Saturday night after the Cougars lost their second straight game of the season, 56-49 to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

The Cougars got better on the field since their opening season loss to Texas State but they are still miles away from where they need to be this season.

Quarterback David Piland's performance against the Bulldogs was much improved, comlpeting 53 of 77 passes for 580 yards and four touchdowns,

He even had four carries with a fourth quarter scamper of 33 yards, however many big gains were nullified by penalties.

Houston committed 15 penalties for 138 yards and that very fact was addressed by Levine in the post-game press conference.

"Penalty wise those mistakes are largely technique. On holding call, if our guy gets a hand outside the framework of a defender's body that error leads to a penalty. On some false starts, there were some things going on the field, some communication errors and other factors. We had a number of face-mask penalties where our guys would be playing hard, but again that is mostly a technique related issue. Twenty-six penalties combined on both sides is a sloppy football game, and that will not be tolerated by us."

　

Offensively, Charles Sims got the ball more than he did against Texas State.

That was one of the issues involved in the resignation of offensive coordinator Mike Nesbitt and was stressed to his replacement, Travis Bush.

Sims had 21 carries for 65 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught 11 passes for 53 yards.

It was evident on the field that Sims needed to get the ball more and when asked after the game about that very fact, he replied, "I felt pretty good and going earlier. We need to get rid of the little things."

　
Houston will now have one week to prepare before they head to Los Angeles for their first road game of the season against UCLA.

The Cougars will be facing a Bruins team which is 2-0 in 2012, including a 36-30 upset win over No. 17 Nebraska on Saturday night.

UCLA stunned the Cornhuskers with 653 yards of total offense.

Houston will have to take their game to the level against UCLA if they want to avoid going 0-3 for the first time since 2001.