Houston 0, Cincinnati 34

The Cougars were supposed to make a road trip to Cincinnati last weekend. Unfortunately, they never bothered to show up. 

Ryan says there was no good or bad - just ugly - in this game, and I agree, so...

The Ugly: In addition to being shut out, the Cougars were outgained, 362 yards to 233 (they only managed 99 passing yards), managed only 12 first downs the entire game (the Bearcats had 22), turned the ball over three times (Cinci had no turnovers), missed what should have been an easy field goal, and were penalized seven times for 68 yards. 

In short, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong for the Cougars did.

What It Means: The team appeared to be making progress over the past couple of weeks, but took a big step backwards last Saturday. Through the season's first four games, UH's offense has been utterly abysmal, as Ryan explains: 

Houston is now 129th nationally (out of 133) in scoring at 13.0 ppg. The Cougars have scored 7, 12, 33, 0 for a total of 52 points in their first four games.

Yikes.

Next up for the Cougars is #18-ranked Iowa State at TDECU Stadium. This will be the very first meeting between the two programs.

Houston 33, Rice 7

The Cougars easily avenged last year's loss to their crosstown rivals.

The Good: After sputtering through the first two games of the season, the UH offense finally came to life. Quarterback Donavan Smith passed for 142 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for two more scores, and  threw no interceptions. RB Stacy Sneed scored on a 65-yard touchdown run of his own. Mehki Mews returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown as well. The Cougar defense kept the Owls off the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter, made an interception that led to an easy UH touchdown, and limited Rice to 159 total offensive yards for the entire game.

The Bad: While he had a good game overall, Smith only completed 12 of 21 passes and appears to continue to struggle with his passing decisions. The Coogs' third-down efficiency - they only converted 6 of 14 attempts - still isn't great. Two UH defensive players were ejected for targeting.

What It Means: Rice is unlikely to be mistaken for a good team this season, so it's hard to tell just how much this victory means in terms of the Coogs' prospects for the remainder of the fall. But getting the win - the first of the Willie Fritz era - and bringing the Bayou Bucket back to Cullen Boulevard is nevertheless a milestone in this team's rebuilding process.

The Cougars now travel to Cincinnati to begin Big 12 conference play.

Perugia's Minimetrò

One more post about our Thanksgiving trip to Italy almost two years ago. This one is inspired by a YouTube video I recently came across.  

The Italian town of Perugia, where Corinne and I stayed while visiting her nephew and niece-in-law over the holiday, is served by a automated people mover system called the "Minimetrò." Corinne and I rode the Minimetrò during our stay in Perugia, and I took some pictures.

The single-line system is explored in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the YouTube video linked above (the rest of the video is dedicated to another "gadgetbahn" in Bologna) and provides a pretty comprehensive overview of the system. Unlike the person in the video, we did not ride it end-to-end; we just took it a few stops from the Case Bruciate neighborhood (where Corinne's nephew and niece-in-law lived) to the city center to do some exploring and shopping.

The three-kilometer-long line opened in 2008. It has has seven stations and runs from Perugia's medieval city center, located at the top of a hill, to a large park-and-ride on the outskirts of town. The purpose of this line is to reduce automobile traffic in the old city center by giving people a way to get there without using their vehicle.

The system is serviced by small cabs that can probably carry a maximum 15 to 20 passengers each. They come at fairly-frequent intervals - as short as 60 seconds between cabs - so you're never waiting long at a station for one to arrive. Here's a picture of Corinne entering a cab (and carrying a bag of Perugina chocolate!) at the Pincetto station in the city center. 

The cabs are pulled between stations by cables, which are plainly visible in the picture above. A single ride currently costs €1.50, although a variety of fare options are available.

The Minimetrò also provides connectivity to Italy's larger railway network by way of a station near Perugia's main train station. It crosses just north of the main train platform (see photo above) and there is a walkway between the two stations.

The map of the MiniMetrò system on the urbanrail.net website suggests that a second, north-south line connecting to the existing line in the city center is planned. 

My overall impression of the Minimetrò was that it was prompt, comfortable and easy to use (it didn't hurt that the signage was in English as well as Italian). Given the relatively small volumes of people the system can carry, I'm not sure if it is truly an efficient mode of transportation. However, since Perugia's population is just over 160 thousand people, maybe it doesn't need to carry large volumes of people in order to be effective. 

In terms of public transportation technologies, it is certainly unique.

Houston 12, Oklahoma 16

Well... The Coogs covered the spread:

Jackson Arnold threw two touchdown passes and No. 15 Oklahoma held off Houston 16-12 on Saturday night.

The Sooners (2-0) struggled to move the ball and punted eight times. The Cougars (0-2) outgained Oklahoma 318-249 in total yards, including 260-174 in passing.

Oklahoma got a late interception from Robert Spears-Jennings to end one drive and a late safety from Gracen Halton to extend a slim lead.

“We did enough things wrong to deserve to lose,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “We were fortunate to find a way to win. Overall, our body of work on offense not very good today. I’m really proud of the guys that stepped up when they had an opportunity."

The Good: The UH defense only allowed OU to score 14 points - none after halftime - and seven of those were the result of a short field caused by a muffed punt (more on that in a moment). They picked off Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold once, sacked him three times, and limited the Sooners to 4-14 on third down conversion attempts. 

The Bad: If Oklahoma's offense sputtered, Houston's wasn't much better. They themselves could only manage 4 third-down conversions on 15 attempts and only gained 58 rushing yards. Ryan takes note of Houston's abysmal offensive numbers through two games:

The Cougars are 129th in scoring (out of 133) at 9.5 points per game. Only three teams have scored fewer touchdowns than UH.

The Coogs are 130th in third down conversion percentage. UH was 4/7 converting on 3rd and short (1-4 yards) vs. OU, with the notable difference in attempts being way up from week one (UH was 0/2 vs. UNLV). UH is 2/14 converting on third and long this season (9+ yards).

The Ugly: Punt returner Mekhi Mews was charged with a muffed punt on Houston's ten yard line early in the game. Although reviews suggested he didn't actually touch the ball, the referees did not reverse their call and the Sooners subsequently scored. The Cougars failed on their two-point conversion attempt after they scored early in the third quarter (way too early to start chasing the points, IMO). And a poorly-executed run from the Coogs' own five yard line resulted in a safety that effectively ended the game.

What It Means: The Sooners made just enough mistakes to lose; however, the Cougars made just enough errors of their own to be unable to take advantage and pull off the upset. I don't want to take anything away from this result; facing the 15th-ranked team in the nation in front of 83,653 fans and losing by only four points is an accomplishment, especially given how poorly the Cougars played a week ago, and certainly suggests that this team is improving. 

But wow... What could have been.

Next up for the Coogs is crosstown rival Rice, at TDECU Stadium. Can they avenge last year's loss?

Houston 7, UNLV 27

 Yeah, it's going to be a long season.

The University of Houston Cougars football team endured a tough 27-7 loss to the UNLV Rebels in their home season opener on Saturday evening.

It marked a challenging start for Houston, as the Cougars went scoreless through the first three quarters, trailing 14-0 at halftime. The Cougars' lone score came in the final minute of the fourth quarter when wide receiver Joseph Manjack IV managed a 2-yard touchdown, narrowing the deficit to 27-7. However, this late effort was not enough to overcome a sluggish offensive performance.

If the 7-27 score, with the Coogs' lone touchdown coming in garbage time, sounds familiar, that's because it is. (They were passing out rally towels to fans commemorating the tenth anniversary of TDECU Stadium's opening. I guess the team decided to do some commemoration of its own...)

The UH defense, in spite of some lapses, actually held its own. They gave up a respectable 20 points and 308 yards of offense, even though they were oftentimes put in bad positions by the offense. They intercepted Las Vegas once and stuffed them on fourth down once. 

The offense, on the other hand, was abysmal. Quarterback Donavan Smith had his worst game in a UH uniform, completing only 15 of 30 passes for 135 yards and two interceptions. He looked tentative, held on to the ball too long, and made poor decisions; it simply wasn't a good game for him. It certainly didn't help that he has no protection from what is probably the weakest offensive line in recent UH football program history. It can neither pass block - Smith was sacked six times - nor run block, as evidenced by the Cougars' pathetic 38 total rushing yards.

It's true that the football program is adjusting to new players, new coaches, new schemes, new everything. It's also true that the Rebels are not a bad team - they won nine games, were Mountain West Conference runners-up, and went to a bowl last year. But I was nevertheless very surprised at just how bad the Cougars looked last Saturday: aside from the poor offense, there were special teams miscues, missed tackles, and too many penalties (ten for 74 yards). This team has a lot of work ahead of them.

Ryan runs some numbers from Fritz's "horrific" debut, while Brad believes that, with this loss, the Cougars "set the bar so low that it is nearly impossible to not improve" as the season progresses:

I don’t believe that hardships build character. I believe that hardships reveal character, and your response to hardships is what builds character. You might also hear that competition makes you stronger. That is partially true because competition reveals your weaknesses. How you address those weaknesses is what makes you stronger.

Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Norman to play the Oklahoma Sooners. They are 29-point underdogs.

2024 Houston Cougar Football Preview

And there is much rejoicing, as college football season has returned.

Looking Back: Houston's first year in the Big 12 was a disappointment, as the team went 4-8 overall and 2-6 in their new conference. Of their four wins, three were decided by a combined total of six points. The Cougars lost to Rice, TCU and Cincinnati teams that all ended their seasons with losing records, and were shut out for the first time since 2000. At the end of the year, the University of Houston had no choice but to admit that their headline-grabbing gamble on Dana Holgorsen was an expensive failure and fire him.

The Big Story for 2024: For the Cougars, it's new head coach Willie Fritz. Fritz has extensive experience at almost every college coaching level and spent the last eight years at Tulane. 

Houston changes coaches as college football itself enters a new era: both conference realignment - welcome to the "Power 4" era - and an expanded, 12-team playoff will completely change the sport's landscape in 2024.

Reasons for Optimism: It's hard not to be optimistic about Willie Fritz, who brings a history of success to Houston. Tom Fornelli of cbssports.com explains:

After eight seasons at Tulane, where Fritz went 23-4 the last two years and beat USC in the Cotton Bowl, he's getting a crack at a Power Four job in Houston. The Big 12 is wide open for the foreseeable future. We don't know which, if any, will emerge as the league's dominant force. But given Fritz's successful history, don't rule out Houston.

At the very least, I expect Fritz will prove to be a better team motivator, and a better gameday coach, than Dana Holgorsen. That will hopefully account for some success this fall.

Some talent is returning as well. Donovan Smith (64.5% completion rate, 2,801 passing yards, 22 TDs and 13 interceptions in 2023) and returns as starting quarterback. Parker Jenkins (464 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 99 attempts last season) returns at RB, Joseph Manjack (46 receptions for 577 yards and 6 TDs in 2023) returns at wide receiver, and Tank Jenkins returns on the O-line. On the other side of the ball, defensive back A. J. Haulcy, who led the team with 98 tackles last year, and linebacker Jamal Morris return.  

Reasons for Pessimism: Stop me if you've heard this before (last year, in fact!), but both the schedule and significant roster turnover are reasons I think the Cougars are going to struggle in 2024. 

The schedule is going to be brutal; in fact, Phil Steele thinks it's the fifth-toughest in the nation. The new-look Big 12 has five teams ranked in the AP preseason top 25.  The Cougars face four of them, along with former Big 12 powerhouse Oklahoma (now in the SEC). 

As for the roster, there's been a lot of churn: 63 newcomers on this year's team, to be exact. While significant turnover is probably the new normal for every team in the era of the transfer portal, 63 new faces is a lot for the program to absorb. It will take time for the team to find cohesiveness.

Finally, with a new staff comes new philosophies, new schemes and new personalities. While I'm optimistic about Willie Fritz in the longer term, in the shorter term he's going to face struggles while he instills his culture and vision for the program.

What the Computers Think: The Cougars are ranked 78th (out of 134 FBS schools) in ESPN's preseason Football Power Index and their game-by-game matchup predictor gives the Cougars more than a 50% chance of winning only two games: UNLV and Rice. Massey makes the same prediction, as do Sagarin's beginning-of-season ratings (when home field advantage is taken into consideration). The Congrove algorithm is even more pessimistic, predicting a winless season for the Cougars. Ouch!

What the Humans Think: When it comes to the Cougars, not much. The Coogs were picked 15th (out of 16 schools) in the Big 12 preseason media poll. Three of the eight sportswriters at cbssports.com predict that Houston will finish dead last in the Big 12, and only one (Dennis Dodd) thinks they will end the season higher than 13th. Heartland College Sports foresees another 4-8 campaign for the Cougars, while 247sports.com predicts a two-win season. CollegeFootballNews is slightly more optimistic, setting Houston's win total at 5.5, but thinks the only "likely win" is Rice.

What I think: Willie Fritz is by all accounts a good coach, but he's not a miracle worker. He's dealing with a roster that saw a lot of offseason turnover and he's facing a tough schedule. While I hope to see improvement as the season progresses, the team is likely to experience growing pains.

I'm predicting a three-win season, with home victories against UNLV, Rice, and Baylor. 

It probably won't be pretty. Rebuilding years usually aren't. But at least the UH faithful can enjoy the new videoboard and Trill Burgers while they watch the work in progress.

An unsettling thought

Though now mostly forgotten, Nazi Germany's U-boat campaign targeting the United States and its allies in the early days of World War II was Pearl Harbor-level catastrophe. U-boats operated along the Atlantic Coast, in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico and torpedoed freighters, tankers and transports with impunity. Between January and August of 1942, when the Allies were finally able to deploy effective countermeasures, the Nazis were able to sink 609 ships, destroy millions of tons of vital shipping, and claim the lives of thousands of sailors, both military and civilian. The operation also caused Mexico to enter the war on the side of the Allies.

This chron.com article about the now-almost-forgotten campaign and Galveston's role in defense against it contained this tidbit:

Rumors flew wildly, of secret German submarine bases in Mexico and crewmen coming ashore to go shopping or to the movies in Houston or New Orleans.

Which got me to thinking: if we had the same vectors of misinformation and conspiracy theories in the early 1940s as we do today - namely, social media - would the United States even had won World War II? One can only imagine the discord, disunity and chaos that Imperial Japan or Nazi Germany would have been able to sow had such technologies existed at the time.

It's unsettling to think about, especially since entities that wish to do harm to the United States are employing these exact practices today. 

Houston's poaches New Mexico's Athletics Director

Welcome, Eddie Nuñez.

Eddie Nunez has agreed to a five-year deal to become athletic director at the University of Houston, the school announced Saturday.

Nunez will leave the University of New Mexico for the Cougars and the Big 12 Conference. He was named the Lobos' athletic director in 2017, and his title was changed to include vice president in 2021.

Nunez, who played basketball for former coach Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators, also worked for LSU's athletic department, and will now head a university trying to gain its footing in the clogged Big 12. He will be introduced Wednesday.

"Eddie Nunez brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success during a time of great transformation in college athletics," Houston president Renu Khator said in a statement. "His leadership will be critical as we continue to elevate our athletics programs, enhance the student-athlete experience and build on the tremendous momentum at the University of Houston."

Chris Pezman's six-and-a-half year stint as Houston's Athletics Director surprisingly and unceremoniously came to an end last June. Pezman never really lived up to his expectations at the helm of UH athletics; his contract extension for Dana Holgorsen was ill-advised and many of UH's non-revenue sports have been struggling. Apparently his relationship with President Khator became increasingly strained over time as well. After a two-month-long search, Nuñez was formally introduced as Pezman's replacement last Wednesday.

Nuñez seems to have been well-regarded at New Mexico, but he faces a tough set of challenges at Houston. UH's athletics budget is dead last of all Power Four schools, and fundraising has been anemic. In the NIL era, that's a recipe for disaster. Khator, for her part, has a vision to double the University of Houston's athletics budget. That's going to be a tall order for Nuñez; however, he was apparently successful fundraising in New Mexico. According to Miami athletics director Dan Radakovich, "Nuñez is a 'relationship person' who excels at raising money."

“He is also very gifted as a fundraiser,” Radakovich said. “You can get a lot of people together that you think might want to give some dollars, but it’s another thing to ask for them. And Eddie will ask for the gifts. The University of Houston has hired someone that is going to help take them to the next level.” 

I hope that proves to be the case. 

In addition to finding new sources of revenue fo UH athletics, Nuñez will also have to address the struggling non-revenue sports (baseball, softball, womens basketball) that Pezman essentially ignored.

Nuñez's contract will pay him a base salary of five million dollars over five years.

Another unique Houston air connection comes to an end

I always hate to see Houston lose direct connections to interesting international cities as well as service from flagship foreign carriers, but this doesn't surprise me: 

Singapore Airlines announced this week it will suspend its service between Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport and Manchester, England, in April 2025.

The route is the lone service from Singapore Airlines in the Houston market. The decision was made "in line with its capacity adjustments," according to a news release.

Manchester is the only airport with direct flights and from IAH via Singapore Airlines. 

As the article notes, Singapore Airlines has been serving Houston since 2008. Originally, the flights operated with a stopover at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow; however, in 2016 the stopover shifted from Moscow to Manchester.

The Houston-Manchester flights are considered fifth freedom flights. A fifth freedom flight is when a plane departs and lands in two different countries, neither of which is the home country for the airline. They are allowed when the flight will have originated or will end at an airport in the airline's home base.

In the case of the Houston-to-Manchester flight, the plane continues to Singapore following its landing in Manchester. The flight starts in Singapore when going in reverse.

After the service change in 2025, Singapore Airlines will still fly to Manchester; it simply will not continue on to Houston anymore. 

It was an interesting service, but it always seemed sort of odd because there doesn't seem to be a lot of economic or social ties between Houston and Manchester.  Ben Shlappig at One Mile at at Time seems to agree, suggesting a couple of reasons for the discontinuation:

• For those traveling between Houston and Singapore, the travel time from Houston to Singapore is comparable via Los Angeles or San Francisco (compared to via Manchester)
• I can’t imagine the Houston to Manchester market is that huge, especially on a year-round basis; if it had significant demand, you’d think it’s a route that United would operate, and United has a huge advantage, given its transatlantic joint venture and loyal customer base in the area

So my assumption has been that the route is just performing okay(ish), with a moderate amount of demand between Houston and Manchester, plus substantial demand between Houston and Singapore. Furthermore, obviously Singapore Airlines is committed to the Manchester to Singapore market.

Some of the commenters on Schlappig's post seem to think the reason is because Singapore's premium product isn't as good as other carriers flying between Houston and Asia, such as Qatar Airways, rendering it less competitive for high-end local travelers.

Singapore doubtlessly operated this service because it wanted to tap into to fellow Star Alliance member United's hub at IAH. In that regard, Simple Flying seems to wonder why Singapore didn't choose to operate the flight via another Star Alliance hub in Europe, such as Brussels or Zürich, in order to provide better connectivity to the alliance's network. (Nonstop flights from Houston to Switzerland would have been awesome!)

To be sure, Shlappig notes that Singapore Airlines is officially "suspending" the service, rather than cutting it entirely. But I'd be surprised to see it ever resume.

So, if you have a desire to fly nonstop from Houston to Manchester or direct to Singapore, you have until April of next year to do so.

No, I'm not still bitter

Last June, I made a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a family reunion. It was my first visit to Music City since I was a kid. 

While I was there, I spent some time walking around downtown. I listened to some live music, enjoyed some Tennessee whiskey, and took in some landmarks.

I got to see the Ryman Auditorium, which is the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry...

...and paid a visit to the interesting Johnny Cash museum. (Did you know Johnny Cash, while working as a radio interceptor for the US Air Force in Germany, was the first American to learn of Joseph Stalin's death? Or that the Man in Black appeared on Sesame Street in the early '70s?)

I also took a stroll across the Cumberland River on the pedestrian bridge. There I saw Nissan Stadium, the home of the Tennessee Titans. It opened in 1999, two years after Bud Adams moved what was then known as the Houston Oilers to Tennessee. 

As somebody who grew up a Houston Oilers fan, I saluted it appropriately.

I'm not still bitter. Not at all.