Behind the scenes at football practice, silly Big 12 rumors, nearly 55 years of the best fried chicken in Houston, and Hoops heads north to play the Australian National Team.
August 8, 2023 | the daily #8
Week Two. Media members had another look at football practice on Monday. Dana Holgorsen took questions for about 15 minutes in the lobby of the Indoor Practice Facility, and then we watched about 45 minutes of indoor practice. Then the team went across Holman to the outdoor fields – that was our cue to leave.
Here’s a four-minute look behind the scenes of what we saw:
Big 12 Rumors. There have been some wild rumors flying around since Sunday night that the Big 12 was making a play for Washington State and Oregon State. Ell Oh Ell. There’s no play to be made. If the Big 12 wanted them, it would be so. The schools would say yes before the Big 12 finished asking the question.
Unless Clemson and Florida State fell into the league’s lap, there’s really no move left in football expansion. Wazzu and Oregon State are exactly where UH was in February 1994. Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and UT voted to join the Big Eight, and UH was left holding the empty purse. The Cougars had no good option and, at the time, did not offer much that conferences were looking for. The same is true with WSU and OSU.
But UH’s issue was being in a league that did not make sense from a TV perspective. While there’s some of that in play with the Pac-12, it’s more about an arrogance that pervaded the conference, leading to poor decision after poor decision, eventually sealing the league’s fate. More on that later this week.
Scott Street Specialty. I went to Frenchy’s after Monday’s practice. Sitting there, I thought about how today’s UH students will never understand how great the original Frenchy’s was. Trying to park in that impossibly tight lot, the window slamming shut after you ordered, the metal tables and chairs. But man, it was worth it. The best fried chicken and french fries in town.
It’s been almost five years since the original location closed. Where has the time gone?
The National. Cougar Basketball left Sydney and headed north Tuesday to play the Australian National Team Wednesday morning (Tuesday 7 p.m. Houston time). The National Team, as you might expect, isn’t allowing streaming of this game.
Kelvin Sampson said this is the game he wanted most on the trip. The Boomers, as the Australian National Team is known among locals, have an NBA-laden roster.
“It’ll be a great opportunity for us to play against those guys,” Sampson said recently. “I wish we could play (the National Team) all four games. That’d be awesome for us. I don’t know how much it would help them, probably not much, but for us, it would be great.”
Click below for all of our preseason football coverage
Full coverage of UH’s trip to Australia
Follow GoCoogs on YouTube
No one has more fun with Cougar Athletes, showing their personalities, quirks, and behind-the-scenes action, than GoCoogs.com. Follow us on YouTube today!
