ESPN Classic

Cougar Football
1

Had the opportunity to watch two of our previous games on TV this week:

2003 Hawaii Bowl vs Hawaii
2009 vs Tech at Robertson

Watching those games makes you appreciate how far we’ve come. It’s amazing where our defense is today versus where we were in those games.

In that 2003 game, the team also seemed to lack much discipline at times. Briles didn’t coach it (no surprise there)… between the 10 penalties for over 100 yards, and the fight at the end of the game that they fortunately edited out, it just wasn’t a great showing in certain facets of the game.

The 2009 game was great… the offense was definitely fun to watch, and it’s easy to forget just how precise Case was until you went back and watched a game. The defense was better than 2003, but still nowhere near what we have now.

All in all, it was a great look back and where we’ve been and again makes you appreciate what we have today, most notably from a coaching perspective. We are in the middle of some great times… enjoy the ride!

3 Likes
2

I remember telling my little brother, who is a Baylor grad, to get ready for tons of penalties when Baylor hired Briles. He has to be one of the most undisciplined coaches in college football (or at least formerly in college football). His UH teams were penalty magnets and that continued in full force at Baylor. I 100% agree we are WAY better off now than under him or Sumlin.

3

I recall that as a losing team we had penalty issues before Briles. I kept hoping he would coach it out of us but as you have pointed out, he didn’t.
I’m as big a Sumlin-detractor as you’ll find because of the way he left us. However, we did improve in that area under his regime. At the time, I was happy to see it.

But, yeah, now is SO much better!