The Houston Cougars have made a lot of strides in many different areas this season. Whether it's the efficiency of the offense, the opportunistic play of the defense or the consistency of the special teams, things have gone well for the Cougars. It's hard to find fault in a team that's 8-0 and ranked 14th in the nation.
One thing that hasn't gone as smooth for the unbeaten Cougars (8-0, 4-0 Conference USA) is their road trips. They've had to fight, scratch and claw for a couple of their wins away from home, and this weekend they'll hit the road for the first time in more than a month when they meet UAB at 6 p.m. Saturday at Legion Field in Birmingham.
Regardless of how the games played out, they've won, and coach Kevin Sumlin feels the Cougars are better for the experience after having three of their first five games of the season away from Robertson Stadium and having to pull out two of them late in the fourth quarter.
"Obviously, we've had some problems out there on the road, but I think it's really helped us," Sumlin said. "We're two-thirds of the way through the season; we've had enough home games. We just need to go play and win. We're not really approaching it any differently."
The Cougars never trailed by more than a touchdown in their road opener at North Texas and pulled away from the Mean Green in the second half. But in their ensuing road games at Louisiana Tech and UTEP, the Cougars trailed by at least two touchdowns in each, including falling behind 34-7 against Louisiana Tech.
The No. 14 Cougars, who are looking to achieve a 9-0 start for the first time in school history, would like to start fast Saturday, as they have in most of their home games.
"You have to bring your own energy," senior receiver Tyron Carrier said. "We've got to believe in one another. We can't start slow. We have to start fast. Without starting fast, it's going to be a long night, and it showed in previous games. Our main goal is just to start fast."
Senior quarterback Case Keenum said he feels the Cougars have grown throughout the course of the season. UH will have a chance to show that maturity when it takes the field for its first road game since Sept. 29 on Saturday.
"We haven't played great on the road when you look at the past few games, but I think we're at a different point in the season," Keenum said. "Teams grow and evolve and change. I think we're a totally different team and we've grown and matured as a team."
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