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News Nuggets, 10.02.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Memphis hopes to shed first half doldrums against Houston

MEMPHIS — The Memphis Tigers hope to kick the habit of getting off to a slow start.

The Tigers (3-1, 0-1 Conference USA) host Houston (1-3, 1-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday for Memphis' homecoming.

The Memphis offense, coming off the school's best season in three decades, is on a roll. But the Tigers' best efforts have often failed to show up until the second half this year.

That wasn't good enough last week when they lost their league opener at Alabama-Birmingham.

Down 21-3 at the half, the Tigers fought back to tie the game at 28 by the final period. But UAB scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left to play to take the victory.

A week earlier, the Tigers scored 31 second-half points to snatch a victory over Arkansas State, and the week before that they scored 35 second-half points in defeating UT-Chattanooga.

Overall, opponents have outscored the Tigers 52-46 before halftime. But the second half margin is 101-52 in favor of Memphis.

Coach Tommy West says the Tigers have to learn to get moving in the first half and that, despite Houston's record, the Cougars cannot be taken for granted.

"I've been very impressed with them. They've played an outstanding schedule," West said. "We thought last year that they would be one of the teams to beat this year in our league, and I think they are."

Two of Houston's losses were to No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 4 Miami, while the Tigers' victories came against Mississippi, Division I-AA Chattanooga and Arkansas State.

The Tigers have struggled on defense, giving up more than 500 yards in each of their past two games. But the offense has come on strong, averaging more than 470 yards a game.

Running back DeAngelo Williams is averaging more than 120 yards rushing, while quarterback Danny Wimprine is passing for more than 300 yards a game.

Though it lost to Miami 38-13, Houston scored the first offensive touchdown given up by the Hurricanes this year.

Cougar quarterback Kevin Kolb scampered into the end zone from six yards out near the close of the first half. The Cougars were without the services of leading rusher Anthony Evans, who was sidelined with a strained right calf.

Houston is averaging just over 140 yards rushing and 214 yards passing.

The Cougars lead 9-7 in the series with Memphis, but the Tigers beat them 45-14 last season in Houston.

"We've been granted another opportunity, so we'll see what we can do with it," said Houston coach Art Briles.

Memphis is 6-2 in home openers against C-USA opponents.

Briles said his offensive line put up a hard fight against Miami and he's hoping for the same thing at Memphis.

"Those guys have really learned to cohesively work together as a unit and have developed a mentally tough attitude," he said. "And if they continue to do that, then we'll continue to be able to get some yards against some people on the ground."

Joy of winning may be short-lived for SMU

BOISE — Now that its 15-game losing streak is over, Southern Methodist turns its attention to trying to end the nation's longest winning streak.

The Mustangs' opponent Saturday night is No. 23 Boise State, which has won 15 straight games and is unbeaten in its last 21 at home.

``It's a class program, and it will be a big chore for us to go up there and hang with them,'' SMU coach Phil Bennett said.

Both teams are members of the Western Athletic Conference, though SMU has accepted an invitation to join Conference USA next season.

By beating San Jose State 36-13, the Mustangs (1-3, 1-0 WAC) earned their first victory since topping Tulsa in the last game of the 2002 season. SMU went 0-12 in 2003, including a 45-3 loss to Boise State in Dallas.

The Broncos (4-0, 1-0) don't appear to have lost much on offense, averaging 48 points.

``Regardless of who they put in the game, they seem to know exactly what they want to get done,'' Bennett said.

But Boise State is coming off a close call, slipping past Brigham Young 28-27 last week when BYU missed a field goal with 19 seconds left. The Broncos trailed 27-22 in the fourth quarter before scoring a late touchdown. The Broncos also were down before beating Oregon State and Texas-El Paso.

``It was kind of a call to clean things up,'' Boise State tight end Andy Weldon said. ``Knowing we can come from behind again, just that confidence in knowing you can pull things out. We're going to rally and keep coming out of them.''

Actually, the Broncos hope they can stop having to rally. The win over BYU was the closest in Dan Hawkins' four seasons at Boise State, but the coach won't complain about the narrow margin. He's also not dwelling on it.

``We're such an emerging team right now,'' he said. ``There's little things everywhere.''

The Broncos allowed BYU to gain 415 yards, including 390 yards passing and two long touchdown throws by John Beck.

``A lot of it is in ourselves. We're trying to be technically sound, do everything right,'' cornerback Gerald Alexander said. ``We just learned that we can be a dominating team as long as we don't give up some of these big plays we've been giving up.''

Boise State was uncharacteristically out of sync with the ball, scoring only 28 points after averaging 55 through the first three games.

First-year starter Jared Zabransky was also sacked six times, failing to get rid of the ball in time on a few of them. But he also completed 20 of 28 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns.

``The bottom line is he's playing pretty good,'' Hawkins said. ``He's the reason that we're winning. There's not a doubt in my mind about that.''

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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