Sunday, September 17, 2006

Houston 42, Grambling 22

The game wasn't as close as the score suggests; Grambling scored the first touchdown of the game but the Cougars scored the next 42 points; the Tigers then scored 15 points against Houston's second-string defense after the game had been decided. UH quarterback Kevin Kolb had a good night, going 27-for-31 with 297 yards and 2 touchdowns. Running back Jackie Battle, who sat out last week's game with a hip injury, had three touchdowns of his own.

The 27,302 in attendance this evening represented the largest crowd for a University of Houston game at Robertson Stadium since 2001's infamous "bleacher game" against Texas. The crowd, obviously, was there to see the halftime show featuring Grambling State's famous marching band, and they weren't disappointed. Not only because of the Mighty Tiger Marching Band's typical high-stepping, gyrating performance which brought the crowd to their feet, but also because of the Spirit of Houston's own halftime show, which started out as a military-style march to John Philip Souza music but quickly morphed into their own tribute to Grambling's band: a freestyle breakdown to "Ridin' Dirty" by local rapper Chamillionaire that had everybody screaming with laughter. Finally, the Grambling band joined the UH band out on the field, the combined bands belted out Aretha Franklin's "Respect," and then this happened:



All in all, a fun night. The only drawbacks, I guess, were some sloppy tackling on the part of the UH defense, and the fact that both of the Coogs' starting safeties, Will Gulley and Rocky Schwartz, had to leave the game with injuries. Hopefully they'll both be okay.

The Coogs are now 3-0 and host Oklahoma State next Saturday. It's too bad I won't be there to see this critical game.

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