The Scott & Holman Pawdcast: Recent Episodes
Scott Holman
Dustin, Bobby, and Sam talk all things Houston Cougars sports, with a smattering of Big 12/general college sports talk and bad puns.
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Oh hey its a throwback pawd, as the gang of 3 current and emeritus Pawdcast hosts convene to discuss the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Revealing our categories/nominees for the 9th edition of our season-ending Pawscar Awards
- Top performances from Cougar track & field athletes at the NCAA Outdoor championships
- A big football recruiting update earlier this month from consensus 5 star QB recruit and UH commit Keisean Henderson & the 2026 football class at large starting to take some shape
It may be mid June and by any definition, the dog days of summer, but the boys are still back to talk everything current in the world of Houston Cougar sports, including the following topics:
- Reacting to UH's newest head coach: Chrissy Schoonmaker, previously of George Washington. What we like (the pitching track record & not being Kristin Vesely) and still are unsure about with this hiring process (lots)
- Previewing Cougar track & field's entrants at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field championship
- A quick look at a group of new assistant coaching hires from the baseball, soccer, and tennis programs
- At the end the boys treat themselves to a little general sports talk during this lighter month of college sports
The boys are back (echoing) the boys are back, and on this pawd where the month turns to June on the calendar, there are still Cougar sports topics to kick around and the regular co-hosts talked the following topics:
- UH's unsurprising, but not wildly encouraging decision to bring back baseball HC Todd Whitting for a 16th season in 2026
- What the lack of an update on the softball head coach tells us about who UH might be hiring
- Track & Field sends several athletes and a relay to NCAA Outdoors, with some heartbreaking near misses and one injury absence
- Kicking around some interesting Coog-related questions from our followers on the slime infested waters of social media... a summer tradition of sorts around here
The boys are back and its that, the most welcome of Houston Cougar offseason topics, an episode with a ton of good men's hoops offseason news which is included in a number of different Cougar sports topics covered in this episode, as follows:
- Milos Uzan officially returns to the men's basketball program! What Uzan's return means for the 2025-26 season & Pop Isaacs' corresponding de-commitment from the program
- Kelvin Sampson's extension becomes official
- Appropriately honoring Antoine Jean's incredible 2025 baseball season & the team's season ends at the Big 12 tournament
- Looking ahead to Cougar athletes competing at the NCAA Track & Field West Prelims
Just because the boys have reached the end of Houston Cougar regular season sports for the 2024-25 season doesn't mean there isn't a ton to talk about from sports in and out of their respective seasons, as Bobby & Sam kick around the following topics:
- A really encouraging 'ahead of schedule' performance from Track & Field (primarily, but not exclusively the men's team) at the BIg 12 Outdoor Championships
- Recapping the final regular season baseball series vs Arizona & looking ahead to a die or die week in Arlington (are there any other kind) at the Big 12 Baseball Championship
- The FINAL 24-25 Cougar Golf Corner, talking Moa Svedenskiold's NCAA Championship appearance & the latest commitment to the women's golf program
- Tennis has its first offseason roster movement with 2 interesting transfers commiting in the past couple of weeks
- Eddie Nuñez drops some interesting men's basketball news items
- A teaser of the otherwise Patron-exclusive '2025 Coog Vibe Check, Part 2' episode that's dropping this current week
We're partying like its an early season Pawd episode, because both co-hosts are in person in Vegas with the following Houston Cougar topics on offer:
- Bobby gets the chance to weigh in on UH moving on from Kristin Vesely, bigger picture thoughts on everything uncovered in the past 12 months, and talking specific candidates for UH's newest vacancy
- Baseball clinches (maybe?) at least a trip to the Big 12 postseason
- Another Golf Corner featuring the Coogs in an NCAA Regional
- Previewing the Coogs at the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field championships
- SNEAK PREVIEW of our premium "Cougar Athletics Vibe Check, Pt 1" pawd
The original co-hosting duo returns to discuss UH letting go of longtime softball head coach Kristin Vesely, including returning to reporting last summer of a toxic environment in the Cougar softball program, things the co-hosts have learned in the time since, and what UH did right (very little) and didn't do right (lots) institutionally in reaching today's outcome and what the program should look for in its next leader.
The boys are back, as the lazy days of May certainly don't equate to the lazy Pawdcast co-hosts of May as there are a number of Houston Cougar sports topics to discuss on this show:
- Baseball finally earns their way to lead the show, with a 4-0 week that puts the team in prime position for the Big 12 postseason & looks ahead to a big road series in the Valley of the Sun
- Golf Corner: checking in on women's golf at the NCAA Columbus Regional and the men's trip early next week to the NCAAs in Champaign-Urbana
- Men's Hoops makes a rare outsider hire for new assistant coach Mike Ekanem
- Bobby has Sam rank five songs that'll be near and dear to all Coogs' hearts
- Checking back in on an unsurprisingly poor softball season & telling ourselves some variation of "surely Kristin Vesely can't be the coach here much longer"
For the last time in the month of April 2025, the boys have returned to discuss a mixture of Houston Cougar sports topics, both of the in season and offseason news variety, including the following:
- A triumphant Golf Corner following an impressive 4th place finish by the men's team at the Big 12 championships & the women's team learned their postseason destination and Bobby gives a listener refresher on the golf postseason format
- Football sees 4 new transfer arrivals and more departures from the defensive backs
- Talking Matthew Mitchell's first 3 transfer adds to the women's basketball program
- Catching up with the standout performances from the last few weeks of the Outdoor track & field season
- A 2-2 baseball week that the boys don't feel terrible about & a BIG weekend series with Utah looming
You better believe the boys are back for a late April Pawdstravaganza of Houston Cougar sports content... sports in their offseason (or spring season), sports in the business end of their seasons, sports right in the middle of their season. What we're saying is we're talking Cougar sports, including the following topics:
- JoJo Tugler, Emanuel Sharp, and others confirm their very welcome returns to Cougar men's basketball
- Diving into the '25 spring football practices, position groups/players the guys are most intrigued by, and some notable recent transfers in and out of the program.
- A Big 12 championship Golf Corner as the men have a solid first couple of rounds and the women are doomed by a poor final round after a strong start
- Our final in season Tennis Corner of 2025, with things we're encouraged about and areas the team can improve after year 1 of Kat Adamovic's tenure
- Baseball completes a season sweep of Rice and splits games in a weather shortened series at OK State and looks ahead to a big road series at K State
The boys are back here at the beginning of the hot part of the year with a variety of interesting Houston Cougar sports topics, including the following:
- Looking at the 2 newest men's hoopers: Pop Isaacs of Creighton and Kalifa Sakho of Sam Houston, what they've done in their careers prior to arriving at UH and how they could fit onthe 2025-26 team.
- Terrance Arceneaux departs men's hoops, our best memories & what went right/wrong in his time at UH, plus Milos Uzan's unsurprising decision to test the NBA draft waters
- Matthew Mitchell makes some intriguing hires on his 1st women's hoops staff
- A Cougar Golf Corner featuring the women's team winning an event in Dallas that Bobby caught in person & beginning competition at Big 12 championships & an encouraging event finish in Arizona from the men's team ahead of Big 12s next week
- A Cougar Tennis Corner where Sam finally got to watch the Coogs in person for 2 very different matches in Utah that showed how far the team has to go & also the positive signs of the culture Kat Adamovic has started building in year 1
- Baseball gets swept for the 2nd time in 3 home Big 12 series and it feels like another week of 1 step forward, 2 steps back
The boys return to discuss a tough loss from an absolute classic of a national championship game against Florida and the unbridaled joy of the semifinal come from behind win against Duke and its crew of uber talented freshmen.
The boys are back in town again in classic pawdcast fashion to talk about an absolutely jam packed week of Houston Cougar sports and news, including the following topics:
- A titanic men's basketball Final Four showdown with Duke, previewing everything about the Blue Devils and their various uber talented freshmen
- Matthew Mitchell takes over as UH women's basketball head coach, unpacking his impressive coaching resume & what he can realistically achieve here
- A TRIUMPHANT Tennis Corner off of a 1st ever Big 12 victory
- What we learned about Track & Field's top performances at the Texas Relays
- A disappointing baseball series loss to TCU that has the boys asking a lot of the same questions as before
This is an episode where we can dispense with the usual preamble as HOUSTON COUGAR MEN'S BASKETBALL IS GOING TO THE FINAL FOUR... thanks to wins over Purdue and Tennessee, which Bobby and Sam talked about in this here pawdcast.
Bobby and Sam are back to discuss what is certainly the highest profile Houston Cougar news of the week that was, plus everything else current in the world of UH sports, including the following topics:
- Previewing the Coogs' Sweet 16 men's basketball opponent, the Purdue Boilermakers, what they're good and areas where the Coogs can take advantage
- A historic performance at the NCAA Swim & Dive championships
- Baseball has us feeling sort of optimistic (?) again
- Track & Field opens Outdoor season at home
- A mostly positive Cougar Golf Corner, featuring both the men's and women's teams
The boys are back (the boys are back) approximately 18 hours after the Houston Cougars punched their 6th straight ticket to at least the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Talking takeaways and best moments from Saturday night's win over Gonzaga and finding time to recap a comprehensive thrashing of SIUE in the round of 64 on Thursday.
The boys are back... with some slightly more marinated thoughts about the Houston Cougars' opening round NCAA men's basketball tournament opponent, included among the following topics:
- Preview the SIUE Cougars with help from beat writer Matthew Kamp and additional thoughts from the guys
- Looking at a future, potential round of 32 match up in UH's future
- Recapping the Cougar performances from the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships
- A triumphant Cougar golf corner with our best men's result from the current season
- A much less triumphant return to talking Cougar baseball after getting decisively swept at home by Texas Tech on opening weekend
The boys are back on the joyous occasion of the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket reveal, with the Cougars getting a 1 seed for the 3rd straight season and thoughts about the remaining teams in the Coogs' part of the bracket, including a possible heartburn inducing 8-seed lurking.
A little taste of what the wonderful people who financially support the work that Bobby and Sam do on a weekly basis get for their support and in this case that's a meaty full Big 12 men's basketball preview, featuring the guys' thoughts and 7 different school-specific experts to talk about the teams in and around the NCAA Tournament, without getting bogged down in the usual bracket minutiae.
Bobby and Sam return for a hoops-heavy, but not hoops-exclusive episode here in mid-March with the following Houston Cougar sports topics on offer:
- Recapping a men's hoops regular season finale win over Baylor, LJ Cryer's phenomenal performance, and Bobby's in person experience in Waco
- Thoughts before the Big 12 men's hoops tournament & what the guys would like to see from the Coogs in KC
- UH and former WBB head coach Ron Hughey part ways, where UH should look next and bigger picture program questions
- A quick look at the UH athletes representing at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field and Swimming & Diving championships
- Bonus baseball & women's golf thoughts
In what may be the most jam-packed episode of the 10th season of this pawd, Bobby and Sam move as efficiently as possible through a mostly very positive week that was:
- Men's Hoops grabs a 2nd straight un-shared Big 12 championship via wins over Cincy and Kansas, plus previewing a late Saturday night regular season finale at Baylor
- Swimming & Diving's 3rd place finish @ Big 12 championships in Washington. Talking standout performances and big picture thoughts, as this program's ridiculous consistency continues
- Talking Big 12 Indoor Track & Field championships, featuring a 5th place men's finish, several individual titles and numerous standout performances (plus a surprise appearance from Shaun Maswanganyi)
- Women's Hoops mercifully sees the 2024-25 season end, with a program coaching change looking imminent
- Baseball still has us actually feeling mostly positive, plus Bobby talks about his in person experience at the weekend series in Arlington
- Somewhat humbling Tennis and Golf Corner results to discuss
The regular hosting duo of Bobby and Sam return to discuss the following Houston Cougar sports topics from the week that was and will be, in the following order:
- Men's hoops gets a pair of top 10 Big 12 wins: defeating Iowa St and avenging the earlier loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock, clinching at least a share of the Big 12 title in the 2nd game. Recapping those games and giving big picture thoughts after yet another conference title in the Kelvin Sampson era
- Previewing the men's hoops opponents for the coming week: home games against Cincy and Kansas, which will wrap the season slate at the Fertitta Center
- Quick preview of the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field championships
- Baseball wins its 2nd weekend series in a row, this time at Cal, and the hosts are feeling optimistic?!?!
- Tennis corner returns! Recapping a nailbiter loss at UTSA to close non-conference and previewing the opening Big 12 weekend's roadies at OK State and K State
- Golf corner returns! Both the women's and men's golf teams returned to action at different Lone Star state events
The boys are back, Bobby and Sam have the enviable task of discussing a delightful week that will be from the world of Houston Cougar sports:
- Men's Hoops notches another road top 25 Big 12 win, knocking off the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson with a season defining performance from Milos Uzan and the boys do some time travel to talk about a Tuesday night, drama free win over Arizona State
- Previewing the top 10 Men's Hoops matchups to come w/Iowa St and Texas Tech
- Learning about new soccer head coach Ben Williams
- Previewing swimming & diving's Big 12 championship meet next week
- Thoughts after baseball's positive, but not decisive opening series win over Minnesota & road trip to the Bay Area
Another week, another opportunity to dive into a heaping helping of Houston Cougar sports happenings:
- Men's Hoops trudges through a road win at lowly Colorado, but leaves no doubt in Baylor's first Big 12 MBB trip to the Fertitta Center
- Previewing a massive Saturday game at a top 25 Arizona team w/1st place in the Big 12 stakes & a slightly less massive midweeker at Arizona St
- A departure & arrival on the football coaching staff
- Previewing the 2025 Cougar baseball season
- Tennis Corner off a tough, but encouraging loss in Dallas that Bobby watched in person
The boys are back in town (even though Bobby is recording from out of town) with a MEATY, 90+ minute episode filled with Houston Cougar sports happenings to talk about:
- Cougar men's basketball's jam packed 3-game week, with a super close OT loss to Texas Tech sandwiched in between workmanlike wins over WVU and OK State. Previewing Colorado and Baylor in the week to come
- '25 football schedule talk & one co-host has issues with the lack of a schedule release
- Catching up with Track's indoor season and the past couple of meets
- Women's golf has their spring debut & previewing the '25 spring season for men's golf
- A TRIUMPHANT Cougar Tennis corner off a 3-0 start to the season
The regular co-hosting duo is back, with Bobby back on terra firma in Texas, with the boys discussing the following Houston Cougar topics:
- An unbelievable win at Kansas by Cougar men's basketball, with big performances from Mylik Wilson and J'Wan Roberts, among others
- Previewing 2 challenging upcoming MBB conference games, at WVU and hosting Texas Tech
- Soccer HC Jaime Frias steps down, unpacking the last 3 seasons & where UH could look next
- Women's Golf HC Lydia Lasprilla joins the Pawd and afterwards we preview the '25 spring season
- Our first Cougar Tennis corner of the '25 spring season! Talking the first win of the Kat Adamovic era & 2 upcoming non-conference matches
For all listeners of the Scott & Holman Pawdcast, a free-mium 15-16ish minutes clipped from our regular Patreon feed instant react episode to Cougar men's basketball winning a 92-86 double OT classic at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
With Bobby off at the PGA Show in Florida, it was a return of the OG co-host lineup as Dustin tagged in to discuss the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- A busy 3-0 week for Cougar men's hoops with wins that ranged from the the extremely dramatic (UCF) to the somewhat dramatic (WVU) to laughably uncompetitive (Utah), with a big roadie to Kansas coming this weekend
- Women's hoops snags a top 25 win over Oklahoma State, but after blowout losses to Baylor and Texas Tech we still have some of the same questions
- Quick Tennis and Swim & Dive updates
The boys are back in tooooooooown, the boys are back (whispers the boys are back), and with a heaping helping of Houston Cougar sports stuff to discuss:
- Cougar men's hoops thrashes K State 87-57 on the road & looks ahead to challenging Big 12 opponents West Virginia and UCF
- The portal stops for no program and UH adds a couple of transfer defensive backs and we bid a fond farewell to Hershey McLaurin
- Tennis head coach Kat Adamovic joins the pawd for a 2nd time, discussing the fall that was and looking ahead to a new era for the program
- Track & Field kicks off the indoor season in style at the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational
- Swim & Dive start 2025 with an emphatic dual meet win over a Big 12 opponent
Back to the regular 2 co-hosts, this humble University of Houston sports-focused podcast returns to discuss the following UH sports topics of note:
- Recapping men's hoops' dominant 2-0 mini homestand w/victories over BYU and TCU, with a road trip to Kansas State on the horizon
- Women's hoops trudges through an 0-3 start to conference play and the boys try and assess what's wrong
- 3 intriguing late winter window football transfer adds
- Quick notations of immediately upcoming events for: Track & Field, Swim & Dive, and Tennis.
The co-hosts (wonder if that includes a special guest one) return for the first time in 2025 to discuss the following Houston Cougar and tangentially related topics:
- Recapping smothering defense & questionable offense from Cougar men's hoops' Big 12 opening win over Oklahoma State
- Special guest co-host Dustin talks about what he's seen from the partial men's hoops season to date
- Previewing BYU and TCU MBB
- More football portal talk, post winter window closing thoughts
- Dustin's wishlist for all of UH athletics in the year 2025
In the last episode before the Christmas holiday and 2nd to last of the calendar year, Bobby and Sam kick around the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Getting to know new Cougar football defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong
- Talking the official add of former A&M QB Conner Weigman & a number of other notable transfer pickups for Cougar football (and one BIG return to the roster)
- 2 pre-holiday buy games for Cougar men's hoops & what we can glean from these 2 contests
- Women's Hoops ending non conference on a high note & starting Big 12 play this weekend
- Tennis' 2025 schedule & a great final fall ranking for Santa Strombacha
- Some women's golfers competing at Euorpean Q School
- Sam's punishment for losing 2024 "Down with the Pickness"
Bobby and Sam return to discuss the following topics from the last week or two in the world of Houston Cougar sports:
- Men's Hoops showing a lot of really encouraging stuff, including a record setting defensive half, in wins over Butler and Troy
- Chris Cenac Jr becoming the latest blue chip recruit to join the men's hoops 2025 class
- Shiel Wood departs to become Texas Tech's defensive coordinator (candidates we like for the opening) & getting to know new UH offensive coordinator Slade Nagle
- Football portal departures & the impending arrival (later confirmed) of former blue chip QB Conner Weigman
- A positive end to the '24 volleyball season & early offseason thoughts
- Still short on positives for women's hoops, even in a week w/some positives
Is it already December?! Bobby and Sam return off of Thanksgiving week to discuss the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- The dismissal of former UH football OC Kevin Barbay, why it happened and where Willie Fritz may be looking next for the replacement
- An encouraging, but still flawed performance to end the 2024 football season at BYU
- Men's Hoops' tough week in Vegas at the Players Era Event
- And a week that truly might represent "rock bottom" for Women's Hoops
A little early release, pre-Thanksgiving breaking news as Bobby discusses UH dismissing football offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay and possible replacements for the position.
Bobby and Sam have both the unenviable and enviable task of discussing the following topics on this week's pawdcast (w/time stamps included):
- 1:49- Thanksgiving food talk
- 6:33- Recapping football vs. Baylor
- 44:28- Previewing football @ BYU
- 57:08- Recapping MBB vs. Hofstra
- 1:06:44- Previewing MBB @ the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas
- 1:14:28- Volleyball's week that was/will be
The boys are back with not all bad news in the world of Houston Cougar sports on the menu for discussion, but it certainly isn't all good news either here in mid-November. See below for the time stamped breakdown of this week pawd:
3:30- Blue chip 2025 point guard Kingston Flemings commits to men's hoops
9:34- UL-Lafeyette recap/Hofstra preview
25:21- Arizona recap
56:25- Baylor preview
1:05:29- Volleyball
1:10:27- Women's hoops
The boys return about 24 hours earlier for the usual weekly, heaping helping of Houston Cougar pawdcast goodness, talking about all of the following sports topics of recent relevance:
- Men's Hoops learns some tough lessons & still shows some encouraging signs from a marquee match-up and close loss to the #11 Auburn Tigers
- Previewing a potential statement game for football on the road at Arizona, with the Coogs' looking to stay on schedule for bowl eligibility
- Volleyball has extreme highs and lows over 2 Big 12 matches in the last week
- Women's basketball continues to find a Laila Blair-less early season schedule difficult
- Our longest ever Tennis corner: recapping 2 different events the Coogs competed at, with officiating critiques and some positive notes to end the fall season on
The boys are back, with the genuinely joyful task of discussing the 24-19 Houston Cougar football upset of #17/#15 Kansas State, how it happened and what it means along with the following Cougar sports topics:
- The triumphant return of men's basketball, with a dominant win to open over Jackson State and a big match-up with #11 Auburn waiting over the weekend
- Quick Big 12 football thoughts for the Cougar bye week
- Volleyball wins back to back in conference play!
- Women's basketball has a... less triumphant opener
- Swim & Dive and Tennis updates!
There's nothing quite like a Houston Cougar football win, even one that wasn't pretty or easy as UH won a 17-14 defensive struggle against the Utah Utes, which the boys discuss in detail along with the following Cougar topics:
- Previewing the K State Wildcats, with help from honored repeat guest Scott McFarland of the great Cats pod "Boscoe's Boys"
- Thoughts from last Sunday's men's hoops charity exhibition vs. Texas A&M
- Previewing the 2024-25 Cougar women's hoops season
- Volleyball's same story against a top 25 opponent, along with a redemptive road win
- Soccer is finally done, what can be done to fix a program that's won 4 conference games in 3 seasons under this head coach
- An encouraging fall performance from men's golf
To give those of y'all who don't listen a taste of what we're doing weekly on the Patreon feed: here's the latest instant react episode, from last Saturday's 17-14 Cougar win over the Utah Utes.
Mama said there'd be days like this, Cougar football follows up their most complete win with a disheartening road no show against a hungry Kansas team. Bobby and Sam break down the good and mostly bad from the 42-14 loss at Arrowhead Stadium from last Saturday in addition to the following topics:
- The defensive wizardry and offensive inepitude of Utah football
- What we have our eye on for the upcoming men's basketball scrimmage vs Texas A&M
- Volleyball has a tough Arizona swing and a top 25 win opportunity
- Soccer... is almost done for 2024
- Bobby makes the case for why YOU should be getting on the Women's Golf bandwagon right now
Its truly a classic pawd, the boys are back for a meaty 100ish minute episode consisting of the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Previewing the 2024-25 Cougar men's basketball season with expectations, returning experience, and excitement galore
- Off a much needed bye week, previewing Cougar football's next opponent: the Kansas Jayhawks
- Volleyball's big, heart stopping win over Iowa St & a tough Arizona road swing to come
- We finally have a reason to be positive for 1 episode about Soccer
- Both golf programs were in action, the men at the Big 12 match play tournament and the women at the Illini Invitational @ Medinah
- Tennis' weekend in Ft Worth at the ITA TX Regional Championship, with Bobby giving an in person report of some of the action
Turns out, wins are really fun to talk about! Bobby and Sam return to dive into everything that happened in Cougar football's 30-19 upset win over TCU in Ft. Worth, with little picture and big picture takeaways galore from an incredibly morale boosting victory.
Unfortunately, the big story is shutout loss by Cougar football, a 20-0 defeat to the Iowa State Cyclones that saw a surplus of offensive futility and an unfortunate waste of a bounceback defensive performance. Bobby & Sam recap the ISU game, preview the TCU game with help from Jamie Plunkett of Horned Frog Blitz and the Frogs Insider podcast helps us preview the opponent and the guys also dive into these other Cougar topics:
- Release of the Big 12 men's and women's basketball schedules, our most interesting match-ups
- Volleyball opens conference play with a win & has their most encouraging week in over a month
- Soccer scores a goal against a conference opponent and they can never take that away from us
- Quick Golf & Tennis corners
While losing football games are scientifically proven to be less fun to talk about than their winning counterparts, the boys return to discuss a disappointing 34-0 loss by the Coogs to Cincy, how it happened and look ahead to a fearsome Big 12 home opener vs Iowa St along with a packed episode of Cougar topics featuring the following:
- Volleyball drops another 5-set heartbreaker in the last weekend of non-conference play. What that all means & how the Coogs will deal with K State and Kansas to open Big 12 play
- Soccer finds a new rock bottom... but hey those scarves are a nice fan giveaway
- The 2024-25 debut of 'Golf Corner' with both the women's and men's programs opening their fall season in the past few weeks
- Aaaaaand the 2024-25 debut of 'Tennis Corner' as Santa Strombacha represents the Coogs at the ITA All-American Championship and several other Cougar teammates also begin their fall seasons in Waco.
The boys are back, thankfully not to talk about a 2nd straight Bayou Bucket loss among the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Reviewing the many highs from a dominant 33-7 Cougar football win to get the 1st win of the Willie Fritz era & return the Bayou Bucket to Cullen Boulevard
- Previewing the Big 12 opener against the Cincy Bearcats
- Isiah Harwell becomes the latest (and highest rated ever) commit to commit to Kelvin Sampson's program
- Bobby's in person thoughts from watching Cougar volleyball up in Dallas to close out an expected tough week against a gauntlet of top 25 opponents
- Soccer & Tennis updates!
The boys, including Bobby fresh off of a plane, return to discuss a near miss loss by Houston Cougar football to the Oklahoma Sooners, among other worthwhile UH topics in a meaty 100+ minutes of pawd goodness:
- What we liked and didn't like from Saturday's heartbreakingly close, 16-12 defensive struggle loss at Oklahoma that revealed where the Coogs look quite good and where they have a long, long way to go (plus a couple of controversial calls)
- Previewing the Rice Owls and how they can re-gain the Bayou Bucket, PLUS Matt Bartlett from At the Roost joins to give the Rice perspective on week 3
- Volleyball has an uncharacteristic non-conference loss on the home opening weekend & looks ahead to a week with many opportunities for resume-building wins
Well, that wasn't what we hoped for, was it? The boys return to talk about everything they liked (yes, believe it or not some things) and didn't like (lots of stuff) from a humbling 27-7 season opening loss to UNLV.
There were also the following topics on offer:
- Previewing the week 2 opponents: the #15 Oklahoma Sooners and what they look like
- Evaluating the success (or lack thereof) from the week 1 game picks and trying to do better in week 2
- Positive weeks for Cougar volleyball and soccer, as the former opens their 2024 home slate this week at the Flo Hyman Classic
ITS HERE! Two sports weeks we've been looking forward to for a while, with the following topics as part of the veritable buffet of Pawd happenings:
- Mike Grimala of the Las Vegas Sun gives the guys an inside look at a hotly anticipated season from the Coogs' week 1 opponents: UNLV.
- The guys take a look at what the Coogs need to do on both sides of the ball, key players/position groups for Saturday's game
- Debuting this season's weekly UH pick 'em, henceforth known as: "Down with the Pick-ness"
- Previewing the 2024 Cougar volleyball season, who will be the biggest contributors, why this team was picked where they were in the Big 12 preseason and their opening slate of games in Omaha
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The long-awaited UH athletic director position has finally been filled! The boys discuss new AD Eddie Nuñez, what he did as AD at the University of New Mexico and how that experience could help him in his new role in the Third Ward.
AND preview season is still in full swing, as the boys preview the 2024 Cougar defense & special teams with some select discussion questions/topics.
Plus, actual Cougar sports to talk about... which is the nicest thing we can say right now about Cougar soccer.
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Martin Marroquin's "So You Want to Work In College Football": https://mahrowkeen.medium.com/so-you-want-to-work-in-college-football-201a8be02898
We're BACK, mere weeks away from the start of the college football season and mere hours away from the start of the 2024-25 Houston Cougar athletics season, with these topics to kick around:
- Previewing the 2024 Houston Cougar football offense, what we are optimistic about, how we think it will look, standout players, storylines, and question marks
- Martin Marroquin, former UH football assistant director of scouting, joins the pawd to tell his unique story and give the pawd insight on what goes into evaluating players in a Division 1 football program
- Previewing a pivotal year 3 of the Jaime Frias era for UH soccer as the team opens its season (and the athletics year generally) this week
At last, we have a brand new, 10th (!!!) season of the Pawd to debut and we do so in our customary fashion, with a couple of news item appetizers to kick us off:
- Making at least 1 prediction about every single Houston Cougar intercollegiate sports team for the 2024-25 season and reviewing our 2023-24 bold predictions
- The football non-conference schedule of the next few years takes shape and pondering the future of the Bayou Bucket game with Rice
- A quick round-up of Cougar current athletes/alumni at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games
Its nearly the end of the offseason, which calls for our every other year or so off-topic Pawd! So, Bobby and Sam are joined by friend/pawd graphic designer Bill to talk all things Formula 1, including the following topics:
- Biggest moments from the surprisingly compelling 2024 season so far
- Checking in with all 10 teams' big/little picture outlook
- Talking F1 'silly season' and the various announced/rumored driver moves
The boys have reached the end of Season 9! And what better way to commemorate a UH athletics and pawd season in the books than the 7th annual Paw-scar awards, commemorating the best athletes, teams and moments of the 2023-24 season.
Plus, we found time to discuss the following newsy topics:
- Cougar men's hoops alums Jarace Walker and Jamal Shead standing out at NBA Summer League and TBT with the Forever Coogs team featuring Rob Gray, Fabian White Jr, Justin Gorham and other program favorites
- Baseball loses Ross Kivett to his old employer: the University of Tennessee
- PAWDCAST HOST NEWS (bumbumbum)
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Twitter thread of 2023-24 Play of the Year Pawscars: https://x.com/SHPawdcast/status/1815755628817862742
We're back on our regular weekly recording pace, with the following Houston Cougar topics on the agenda:
- Introducing the nominees for our 7th annual Pawscar Awards, covering the 2023-24 UH athletics season
- Diving into Willie Fritz and the Cougar football staff's summer recruiting gains in the class of 2025
- A quick look at UH alums and current student athletes competing at this month's Paris Olympic Games
Oh hey, I guess our summer break is over. Its been a newsy last few weeks on many fronts in the world of Houston Cougar sports and the full trio of co-hosts return to discuss these topics:
- Discussing the rumored names for UH's athletic director vacancy, including but not limited to: David Fletcher, Oliver Luck, and Keli Zinn
- The bizarre decision to extend UH softball coach Kristin Vesely is finally revealed to the public at large
- Thoughts from Big 12 media days and where the Coogs were picked in the preseason poll
- Jamal Shead is a Toronto Raptor! Plus, Coogs in Summer League and TBT talk
- A trio of baseball pitchers get taken in this week's MLB Draft
- The much deserved extension for women's golf HC Lydia Lasprilla
We recap additional reporting on alleged unacceptable behavior by Houston Cougar softball head coach Kristin Vesely and the resulting toxic culture in the program under Vesely's leadership, as reported to us by players and staff members in the program and look at where UH appears to go from here with a subsequent AD change and other questions about who will even be coaching the program next year.
EMERGENCY PAWD! In a surprising and shocking move, UH leadership and Dr. Renu Khator dismissed Chris Pezman from his job as the UH athletics head honcho. We take a look at Pezman's 6-year tenure, successes/failures, what led to such a sudden and emphatic dismissal and what roles fundraising and other factors played in the decision.
And NOW for some fun summer content: Houston Cougar Tennis HC Kat Adamovic joins the Pawd to talk about her vision for the program, background, and gives listeners a little primer on college Tennis and what makes it uniquely awesome
The boys are back in town with some you might find a bit closer to the usual, standard pawdcast fare:
- Briefly addressing the 'elephant in the room' of what comes next from our most recent previous episode
- Louie Hinchliffe wins a natty (!!!!!) and Cougar men's track & field have a Big 12-best 6th place at NCAA Outdoors and the women grab their most points at Outdoors since 2007
- Breaking down UH's hire of new Tennis head coach Katarina Adamovic from Grand Canyon. Looking at Adamovic's strong resume & some of the new athletes that'll be playing next season for Adamovic
- Keisean Henderson and the seismic recruiting get he could represent for Cougar football in the c/o 2026, plus a quick c/o 2025 update after a summer recruiting weekend and catching up on a recent transfer addition in Ajani Carter
- Sean Kenny, we hardly knew ye and we get to know a familiar face in new baseball hitting coach Woody Williams.
In this episode we recap a number of serious allegations relayed to us by multiple sources with firsthand knowledge (players and staff) of the Houston Cougar Softball program under current head coach Kristin Vesely, in addition to related inaction by UH athletic department leadership.
I'm going to level with you, its 11:31 PM and I am having of all things, writer's block writing a show description, BUT the full compliment of pawd co-hosts had plenty to say about the following Houston Cougar topics:
- Men's Golf comes heartbreakingly close to advancing past the Baton Rouge regionals. Looking at an end of season run to be proud of and what the future looks like with one big, probable departure
- Track & Field leaves its first Big 12 Outdoor Championship with a lot of performances to be proud of and taking an early look at NCAA West Prelims
- Football adds CB JD Rhym, recently of Auburn to a position group that could use a former highly recruited talent needing a fresh start
- Women's basketball adds a couple of promising transfers, but still has some of the same questions
- Baseball's unfortunately bad conference season mercifully ends
- Softball sees its top 2 projected returning hitters enter the portal and a complete lack of an answer on who'll be leading this program in 2025
The OG hosting pairing returns this week with a veritable cavalcade of Houston Cougar topics, in season and offseason, to discuss this week and those topics were as follows:
- Women's Golf comes heartbreakingly close to a historic season, falling a literal stroke short of advancing at the Auburn Regional, though we're still bullish on the program's future under coach Lydia Gumm
- Men's basketball's 2024-25 schedule gets a major boost from an inagural NIL-boosting Las Vegas event on Thanksgiving Week
- Football has an incredibly active weekend in the transfer portal
- Women's basketball makes a splash addition from a recent national champion to their coming season's roster.
- Softball ends their 2024 season and likely with it the Kristin Vesely era
- Baseball's Big 12 series woes continue
The boys are back (the boys are back), with Cougar sports questions to answer and a healthy offering of current sports happenings on Cullen Boulevard to kick around:
- A change in leadership for the Tennis program, with a chance for UH's leadership to revitalize a program that has historically struggled to get much momentum
- Patrick Paul goes in the 2nd round of last week's NFL Draft, plus you know we have some portal movement
- The bat & ball sports certainly could have had worse weeks
- Track & Field splits a really nice weekend performance between the Penn Relays and Texas Invitational
- Q&A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After a brief mid April hiatus, the Pawd is back to talk about a mixture of offseason and in season Houston Cougar sports talk, including the following topics:
- Cougar men's basketball adds Milos Uzan (formerly of Oklahoma) to the 2024-25 roster and we kick around who the newest Cougar is and what a successful 1st season for Uzan could look like
- Numerous football players enter the portal after spring practice, so we take a look at who is leaving and what it means for 1st year head coach Willie Frirz
- Solid showings at the 1st Big 12 championships for women's and men's golf, though showings tantalizingly close to something even more
- Baseball and Softball both continue to struggle in conference play
- Tennis season ends a very difficult, winless 1st year in the Big 12. We try and think creatively about how this program can improve its lot in (sports) life
The full group of co-hosts are back to talk about the 2 of the most positive things in Cougar athletics right now:
- Men's basketball gets the official returns of LJ Cryer and J'Wan Roberts, plus taking a deep dive on the 2023-24 season and what the roster could look like going forward
- Vibe checking the '24 spring football practice period under Willie Fritz and Saturday's on campus spring game
The OG co-hosts, Dustin and Sam, are back to discuss the end of a big and incredibly memorable season among the following Cougar topics:
- It ended in a way none of the Cougar faithful thought was just desserts, but we look back at the Sweet 16 loss and the downright cruel way Jamal Shead's season was ended early in this one. PLUS, the first portal entrant from the 2023-24 team.
- The women's hoopers have several players enter the portal and early thoughts on what the 2024-25 team could look like.
- Checking back in on baseball and softball
- Track & Field's downright excellent and for 1 athlete, a record setting weekend at the Texas Relays
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The gang is all here! Bobby, Dustin, and Sam are back in the saddle and somehow survived the roller coaster of emotions from Sunday night's Round of 32 win over Texas A&M to talk about the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Men's basketball's heart in mouth, absurdly stressful win over the Aggies in the Round of 32. We also find time to talk about a drastically less stressful opening round win over an outmatched Longwood
- Previewing the despicable Duke Blue Devils and the possible Elite 8 matchups of Marquette and NC State
- Quick updates on: Swim & Dive, Track, and Men's Golf
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2 of the boys are back in town to do what we all love to do and talk a little Houston Cougar sports, including these topics:
- Any additional thoughts on the opening weekend to come of men's basketball in March Madness
- Baseball drops a frustratingly close series at BYU and a big home series with K State beckons
- Softball's pitching goes missing again on the road in a series loss to Iowa State
- Bobby helps us catch up on the last week of both men's and women's golf
- A promising start to outdoor season for track & field and we talk about a new event for the pawd
- Tennis finishes the most brutal part of its Big 12 schedule and actually might have a couple winnable matches this weekend!?!!? Plus thoughts from Bobby watching the Coogs in person at TCU
Its the moooost wonderful time of the year, a mere minutes after the reveal of the 2024 NCAA men's basketball tournament bracket, Bobby and Sam joined to discuss the following topics:
- The Coogs' opening round opponent: the Longwood Lancers and what upset threats they pose, along with thoughts on possible Round of 32 matchups with Nebraska and Texas A&M and general South region thoughts
- Additional thoughts on Big 12 teams' seeding, tournament snubs, the collosal fuck-up of the NIT, and other parts of the bracket
- And some stray Big 12 tournament thoughts
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The full trio of co-hosts is back for what could be the best Houston Cougar regular season week in pawdcast history and since probably pre-dating all co-hosts' 17-18 years of fandom and discussed the following Coog topics:
- Men's basketball gives Kansas their worst road loss of the Bill Self era (and many years prior) after surviving a road trip to UCF where everything seemed to break against the Coogs... and oh yeah, won the Big 12 title by multiple games!
- Also, looking ahead to the Big 12 tournament AND talkin' the guys' Big 12 themed menu items
- Baseball sweeps its first every Big 12 series over the Baylor Bears, with plenty of help from a pitching staff we maaaaay be optimsitic about and clutch hitting
- SOFTBALL BEATS THE #1 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY! Taking down the Longhorns last Friday and competing far more than we expected vs Iowa St
- Recapping Coogs competing at NCAA Indoors
- A rare break from the positivity to talk about a disappointing end to the women's basketball season and an even more disappointing aversion from UH athletics leadership to make a change.
It was the best of times, it was... well, still pretty awesome times for the Houston Cougars (one host also came back with some good personal news) as Dustin and Sam soldiered on without Bobby who accidentally double booked us and dinner with his parents (understandably, the parents won out) to tackle the following topics:
- A nail biter of a road win at Oklahoma for men's basketball and an unfortunate season ending injury to a bright young star in JoJo Tugler as the regular season's final 2 games beckon
- A 2nd place at the Big 12 swim & dive championships for the Coogs that feels like a win
- Track & Field sends some potential high-placing athletes to NCAA Indoors
- Bat & ball sports start Big 12 play with very different expectations for very different opening weekend opponents
- Women's basketball forces us to ask some hard questions
The boys are back, all 3 co-hosts are healthy and in full voice with plenty of Houston Cougar happenings to talk about, including the following:
- A dramatic OT win for men's basketball at #15 Baylor, a slightly more stressful 11th straight win over Cincy, and a big homecoming for Kelvin Sampson this Saturday at Oklahoma
- Men's and women's track & field combine for 4 titles at the program's inagural Big 12 Indoor championship
- Baseball takes a weekend series with St. Johns & drops a heartbreaker midweek vs UTSA, plus the guys recount stories of watching college baseball at Minute Maid Park before this weekend's trip downtown
- Softball avoids bad losses in their first road trip weekend, but some of the same questions still persist
- Women's basketball fails to get any Big 12 momentum off their Oklahoma State road win with 2 straight double digit losses
- An encouraging weekend for women's golf and Santiago de la Fuente makes a PGA cut in Mexico!
- Tennis continues to vex us and opens Big 12 play this week
With Dustin sidelined due to illness, Bobby and Sam returned to discuss a really positive week from the world of Houston Cougar sports:
- A 2-0 week from men's basketball featuring a demolition of the hated longhorns and hard fought, wire to wire win over #6 Iowa State, plus looking ahead to a challenging road trip to Baylor
- Baseball's positive opening weekend and an absurd midweek win
- Softball takes care of business and gets their first series challenges this coming weekend in Baton Rouge
- A real life women's basketball road win!
- Golf updates!
The boys are back in to-ooown again, as all 3 co-hosts return to tackle the following Houston Cougar topics:
- Men's basketball gets a big road win over Cincy, an unbelievable 10th straight against the Bearcats and looks ahead to a challenging 2 game homestand against ut-austin and Iowa State
- Previewing the 2024 baseball season, with plenty of intrigue and some of the same questions of the past several seasons
- Softball has a mostly encouraging opening weekend and looks ahead to a compressed home weekend of nearly all must-win games
- Women's basketball... long sigh
- Quick hitters for (now top 25) track, men's/women's golf, and tennis
The full compliment of co-hosts, the trio of Dustin, Bobby, and Sam return with a metaphorical overflowing pot of Houston Cougar happenings to talk about:
- Men's basketball gets a tough introduction to Allen Fieldhouse, takes care of business against OK State, Kelvin Sampson takes some issue w/officiating and a big, difficult roadie to Cincy awaits
- Unfortunately, women's basketball has another tough week
- Football gets a late gamechanging 2024 recruit & an exciting new D Line coach
- Previewing the 2024 Softball & Women's Golf seasons
- Quick round up of Track, Swim & Dive, and Tennis recent results
With Bobby out due to a family obligation, the OG hosting duo of Dustin and Sam return to discuss the following Houston Cougar sports related topics:
- So long and farewell to Cougar football coaching stalwart Brian Early, who left for the same job at Mizzou
- An unforgettable week of men's basketball that has past and is to come, with a dramatic OT win in Austin over the hated burnt orange horns preceeded by a demolition of K State and looking ahead to an unforgettable upcoming roadie to Kansas that feels like its year's in the making
- Women's basketball splits games against the 2 fellow former AAC programs and we guess its not the worst case scenario?
- Quick Track & Field, Swim & Dive, and Tennis updates!
The original duo, the OG co-hosts Dustin & Sam re-convene with Bobby off in sunny Florida and proverbially chew on the following Houston Cougar topics:
- A 3-0 men's hoops week that featured career game from Jamal Shead in a demolition of Texas Tech, a historic defensive performance that saw UCF only make 7 field goals in regulation, AND the program's 1st ever Big 12 road win in a nailbiter at BYU
- Also previewing the men's hoops week to come: featuring a pesky and somewhat worrying K State team and the hated/enigmatic horns
- Back to frustration for women's hoops as the program goes 0-3 in conference play and hits rock bottom at WVU... but winnable games might beckon this week?
- A quick roundup of the finalized football staff and some transfer comings and goings
- Previewing the swim & dive and tennis seasons that have just started and are about to start, respectively.
Its the first TRULY meaty episode of the 2024, the usual Gang of Three is all here to discuss a lengthy list of Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Men's hoops continues to find out how hard it is to win a road Big 12 game, with an extremely narrow loss to TCU filled with missed opportunities and specific anger towards one Doug Sirmons
- The Big 12 account is now open for Cougar women's hoops, who put together back-to-back impressive performances at home
- Previewing the Indoor Track & Field and Golf Seasons
It finally happened, the Cougar men's basketball team lost a game and so the guys fight through incalculable sadness (okay, not really) to discuss the following topics on this week's pawd:
- Men's basketball opening its Big 12 account with a comprehensive thrashing of WVU and a tough, low scoring loss at Iowa State. Plus, looking ahead to a tough roadie to TCU
- Finding the takeaways from maybe the toughest road swing of the season for Cougar WBB and followed along live w/the Coogs eventual 1st Big 12 win over BYU
- A quick look at several new incoming transfers to the Cougar football program
The triumphant trio is back. Dustin, Bobby, and Sam return to discuss the following Cougar sports topics:
- Cougar football has another promising player withdraw from the portal and the early vibes continue to be positive around Willie Fritz and the new staff
- Men's basketball quickly goes full boa constrictor on Penn and AT LONG LAST we have Big 12 conference games to preview
- Women's basketball opens up conference play with a decisive loss to Texas Tech and looks ahead to their most daunting road trip of the season
Two of the usual three boys are back in town, with Dustin and Bobby taking the Cougar discussion to the following topics:
- Willie Fritz continues to fill out the new Cougar football staff and getting to know the new coaches
- Looking at the 2023 football signing class: D1 transfers and the usual high school/junior college signings
- A quick volleyball and soccer recruiting transfer update
- Men's Hoops gets a big non-conference win over Texas A&M, unfortunately sees an end to Terrance Arceneaux's 2023-24 season & holding Texas State to its fewest points in 10 years
- A less inspiring week for women's hoops who got massively outclassed by Wazzu, hut redeemed themselves a bit with a rivalry win over Rice
The boys are unambiguously back, with the following Houston Cougar sports topics to talk about from the week that was and will be:
- Willie Fritz's new Cougar football staff starts to take shape
- A number of key players enter the portal, including but not limited to: Matthew Golden, Tyler Johnson, and Chidozie Nwanko and the first commit of the Fritz era
- Men's hoops takes care of 2 outmatched opponents and look ahead to the first head to head with Texas A&M in 10 years
- Women's hoops also goes 2-0, including their first road win, and get 2 varying degrees of road tests in UTSA and Wazzu
It feels like 2 days ago that we were here pawding about a new football coach, but there's so much going on in the world of Houston Cougar sports that the full compliment of co-hosts wouldn't dare miss talking about the following topics:
- Willie Fritz won the opening press conference and we talked about things that caught our attention from the presser, plus: Fritz/staff contract talk, staff additions, and early portal talk
- Cougar volleyball had an incredible final weekend of the 2023 season: comprehensively beating a very good UCSB squad and then giving #2 Stanford everything they could handle. We also look ahead to 2024 and beyond for David Rehr's program
- Men's basketball passes its first road test over Xavier, overcoming overjudicious officiating and some offensive cold spells
- We reevaluate women's basketball's start to 2023-24 after a disappointing 25-point home loss to Middle Tennessee
Willie Fritz is officially the 16th head coach of the Houston Cougar football program and the 3 co-hosts are pretty stoked about it. Talking the news as its arrived, re: Fritz and the following related topics:
- Why specifically we're so excited about Willie Fritz coming to UH
- A quick biography of his ~30 years as a college football head coach
- Early vs long term expectations for what Fritz can do at a UH program in the Big 12 conference
- Roster and staff super duper early speculation.
The boys are back (echoes the boys are baaaack), with a menagerie of Houston Cougar topics that they are dying to discuss with you, the listening public, and amongst themselves:
- Football coaching rumors and looking at what the Coog fan public thinks about the various candidates to replace Dana Holgorsen.
- Volleyball finds out its postseason destination, plus an inspired come from behind senior day win & Big 12 postseason honors galore.
- Men's basketball makes easy work of Montana & looks ahead to its first true road test of the 2023-24 season.
- Women's basketball dominates an outmatched New Orleans team, but finally will get its first real test Wednesday night w/Middle Tennessee. Plus 2 co-hosts are emphatically buying stock in Kierra Merchant.
Its here, we kind of can't believe its here but its here. UH dismissed Dana Holgorsen as head football coach less than 24 hours after an uncompetitive end of season loss and a largely uncompetitive 2023 season. The full hosting triumvirate kicked around the following:
- How Dana Holgorsen's firing became inevitable after 5 years in charge
- Where Cougar football goes from here, including types of candidates and talking about semi-realistic individual candidates
- A quick break-in for where UH Volleyball ended up in this coming NCAA Tournament from the simultaneously airing selection show
The full trio of co-hosts, the hosting triumvirate if you will returns to discuss a variety of topics on this week's pawd:
- All the co-hosts' go-to Thanksgiving foods
- Men's basketball's extremely successful 3-0 week in Charleston, with the team answering its first serious tests of 2023-24
- Volleyball sees its 8 match win streak end, but no shortage of optimism abounds with the end of the regular season in sight
- Women's basketball does unprecedented things... against less than stellar competition, but gets their first big test next week
- Football ends its 2023 home slate and any hopes of bowl eligibility with a wet fart of a loss against Oklahoma State and mercifully ends the season in Orlando against UCF this Saturday
Bobby and Sam return bright eyed and bushy tailed (figuratively) to discuss a cornucopia of Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Volleyball continues to eviscerate Big 12 competition, this time on the road at Oklahoma & look ahead to an interesting but inconsistent TCU team
- Men's Hoops has a bright start against overmatched opponents and looks ahead to their first games away from Houston, plus a quick look at the 2024 program signees
- Women's Hoops surprises us with some unbelievable dominance in their first 2 games
- Aaaaaand football gets manhandled by Cincy, in a game that proves you can always be more unhappy with each passing week
Houston Cougar football got thoroghly taken apart in a 24-14 loss to a Cincinnati Bearcat team that hadn't won a football game in over 2 months. It really doesn't get a whole lot worse than that, and somehow we decided to talk about it.
Its a pawdcast original, Dustin and Bobby take the reigns to discuss the following Houston Cougar topics of recent import:
- Football wins a dramatic one in OT against Baylor, the program's first win in Waco since 1990, a game that featured a lot of things... but not much good football. Speaking of not good football, Cincy also comes to town this coming weekend.
- Women's Hoops opens their season on Friday against Air Force and the guys look at what the 2023-24 can do in its first Big 12 season
- Volleyball EMPHATICALLY sweeps a weekend back-to-back with UCF for its 5th straight conference win and goes on the road as heavy favorites to Oklahoma
- FINALLY, men's basketball opens their season with a whalloping of UL-Monroe
The boys are back in (their respective and different) town(s) again and with a variety of different Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Football finds a new rock bottom, getting shut out for the first time in 23 years on the road against K State. Additionally, Dana Holgorsen once again puts his proverbial foot in his mouth & the grim inevitability of Saturday's game with Baylor is discussed
- We have the release of 2024-27 Big 12 football schedules that we are kind... excited about?
- Volleyball dominates Cincy and looks ahead to a big weekend back-to-back at home against UCF
- Previewing the 2023-24 version of Houston Cougar men's basketball
- Our quick and dirty preview of the Big 12 men's basketball season to come
We're still not over the 2 missed spots, but we saw a lot to be encouraged about from Saturday's close, heartbreaking loss the horns... along with other topics of interest:
- Soccer ends a season with as many questions as they started with
- Volleyball has some road get right matches and dispatches Texas Tech easily
- Bobby's Golf Corner
- Big 12 week 8 recap and week 9 preview
Did a big football game happen or something? But seriously folks, the boys were back to talk about the following Houston Cougar topics:
- Piecing our thoughts together from an unforgettable first Big 12 football win by Dana Holgorsen's current employer, against Dana Holgorsen's former employer
- Big 12 football week 7 recap and week 8 lookahead
- An almost entirely vibes-based preview of the university of texas at austin's intercollegiate football program
- Men's basketball gets consensus 4-star wing Chase McCarty and low numbers in various preseason polls
- Volleyball gets record crowds and competed valiantly but unsuccessfully at home against the #7 Longhorns, plus looking ahead at a big road weekend
- And Soccer keeps its conference postseason hopes alive with a shock road result at TCU, but struggles to keep that momentum going at home
The OG co-hosts return (or you might say are back in town) for the 2nd pawd of the week to talk about this veritable menagerie of Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Cougar football gets a much needed off week and looks ahead to facing Dana Holgorsen's old employer: the West Virginia Mountaineers, who are off to their own surprising 4-1 start to the season.
- Volleyball gets its expected 1st Big 12 wins over West Virginia and stays at home for an enormous showdown with the #7 Texas Longhorns this weekend at the Fertitta Center
- Soccer gets its first Big 12 road win, still struggles against the soft part of the conference schedule
- Recapping week 6 Big 12 football action, including one co-host taking a deserved victory lap on his correct prediction of an Iowa State win
- Previewing week 7 Big 12 football action
With Cougar football off this past week, we had on Ryan Monceaux (publisher and founder of GoCoogs.com) to discuss the 2023 Houston Cougar football to date, looking at what we've seen through 5/12 games and big picture/little picture implications and of course looking ahead at the remainder of the season.
The boys are back in (their respective) towns again, to talk about some Houston Cougar sports topics of the moment:
- Football's inability to play complimentary football or 4 quarters of offense in a 6th straight loss to Texas Tech, by a score of 49-28 in Lubbock
- Big 12 football week 5 recap and week 6 lookahead
- Soccer gets UH athletics on the board w/a Big 12 win over WVU, encounters some of the same late match issues
- Volleyball's murderous road trip concludes in Kansas, finally gets a manageable home Big 12 slate
The boys are back and the vibes... aren't entirely bad, as Cougar football's surprisingly dominant 38-7 win over Sam Houston State is discussed, along with the following topics (Coogs and otherwise):
- Previewing 2023 Texas Tech Red Raiders football w/our friend Jeramey from our Ten12 Network friends Tortillas & Takes.
- Volleyball shows flashes against a truly excellent conference opening opponent in the BYU Cougars and looks ahead to the #20 Kansas Jayhawks
- Women's golf has an impressive showing in Oklahoma
- Soccer forces us to re-assess some of the non-conference optimism, with a big week ahead
- Big 12 football week 4 recap/week 5 lookahead
We unlocked our instant react premium pawd to a surprisingly and stress free 38-7 win over the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Saturday night. If you liked this pawd and don't do so already, please consider subscribing for $0.16/day at patreon.com/shpawdcast!
The boys talk about a disastrous Houston Cougar football Big 12 opener against the TCU Horned Frogs, and other topics that are all varying degrees of less painful, such as the following:
- Week 3 Big 12 football recap and week 4 lookahead... which may actually feature some teams that feel as bad about their 2023 prospects as our team of choice
- The debut of our new, Cougar golf segment
- Volleyball's encouraging bounceback week to close out non-conference play
- Soccer opens Big 12 play for the athletic department and why we're not sweating the 3-0 loss to Texas Tech too badly
LANGUAGE WARNING: We have to talk about it, don't we? The surprising and upsetting loss to Rice was the first topic of this latest pawdcast... but far from the only topics of Houston Cougar import to talk about tonight, including the following:
- Yes, recapping the Rice game, what happened and what it means
- Week 2 Big 12 football recap and Week 3 lookahead
- Anthony North of FrogsOWar.com and the Frogs Up podcast joins the show to preview the TCU Horned Frogs football program
- Season openers for both Cougar golf programs & a team title to talk about already!
- Volleyball gets another top 25 challenge and beats an old familiar foe
- Soccer opens Big 12 play for all of UH athletics this week
- COUGAR HOCKEY TALK! COUGAR HOCKEY TALK! COUGAR HOCKEY TALK!
The boys are back in a gridiron-focused, but not gridiron exclusive episode that talked about the following Houston Cougar, Big 12 and college football topics:
- Cougar football survives the UTSA Roadrunners in a 17-14 game with plenty of defense and special teams highlights... and some offensive questions to answer.
- Week 1 Big 12 football and larger CFB thoughts
- Previewing the Rice Owls and the 45th Bayou Bucket game
- Looking ahead to the Big 12's Week 2 football slate & the hosts' non-Big 12 games to watch
- Volleyball gets more top 25 tests this coming weekend in Indiana
- Soccer continues a high-scoring, undefeated and encouraging start to 2023
The boys are back and WITH AN ACTUAL HOUSTON COUGAR FOOTBALL GAME TO PREVIEW... but as you know we talked about all things current in the UH sports world including the following topics:
- Volleyball goes up to #13 with a 3-0 statement opening weekend in Houston
- Soccer takes care of business & remains unbeaten after 2 weeks of play
- Some quick football depth chart talk & Holgorsen's existential approach to the two-deep
- Jared & Adrian from Alamo Audible return to the pawd to preview the 2023 version of UTSA Roadrunners football
- The boys give their thoughts on UTSA, along with the week 1 Big 12/CFB slate
Please consider donating to the Reggie Chaney memorial fund here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/reggie-chaney
With a heavy heart we return this week to process the loss of a beloved Cougar athlete and someone who left us far too young. And acknowledging most topics are trivial in comparison to life and death, we talked about the following topics:
- Donovan Smith being named Cougar football's starting QB
- Soccer's fairly positive 1st week of games
- Previewing the preseason #19 volleyball program & what their 2023 could look like
- Also previewing the 2023 Big 12 football season, looking at each of the 11 (you read that right, 11) non-Houston programs in the league
The boys are back, just the OG host duo of Dustin & Sam, this week to talk about the following Houston Cougar topics:
- A quick look at the men's hoopers' tour in Australia and the basketball that was played amid some once in a lifetime experiences down under
- Preview the football offense, big picture thoughts and by unit breakdowns for a promising group with no shortage of unknowns, plus some 2024 and future schedule talk
- Aaaand last but not least previewing the 2023 Cougar soccer season, slated to start its 2nd season under Jaime Frias this week with a number of new, interesting transfers
The boys are back, with a burning (okay, maybe one step below that) desire to talk about the Big 12 Conference for the 2nd week in a row adding programs to its future ranks and take a passing look at what Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah bring to the table. PLUS, the beginning of the annual football previews: this week looking at the Cougar football program's defense and special teams units.
The boys are back, the boys are back for a 9th season and officially the boys now can be taken to mean Dustin, Sam and officially minted co-host Bobby.
On this season debut all of these fine topics were discussed on this Wednesday evening:
- The addition of the University of Colorado to the Big 12 Conference
- Where does conference realignment go next, who are the most likely schools to join the Big 12, and what this means for college sports at large (spoiler: not great stuff!)
- And of course the main topic: bold prediction(s) by sport for the 2023-24 UH athletics season and of course for all Cougar programs.
The boys had the pleasure of welcoming on Houston Cougar volleyball head coach David Rehr to talk about the exciting past, present, and future of that program.
Additionally, the '23 edition of Summer Pawd Talks concluded with 1st time K State guest and Ten12 network pal Scott of Boscoe's Boys and return guest (and other Ten12 network pal) Andy from the Rock Chalk Pod talked all things Kansas Jayhawks.
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The boys return tonight near the end of July and with some awesome happenings:
- Cougar football O Line vets/captains Patrick Paul & Jack Freeman join the pawd talking the 2nd year of Hogue Landscape NIL deal and a little ball
- Discussing the UH men's and women's basketball Big 12 opponent pairings
- The 2022-23 Pawscars Results, re-living the best athletes, teams, and games of the season that was
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The boys are back here in the mid-July 'dead zone' of the college football season to talk about the following:
- Big 12 media days, with Bobby giving us his 'on the ground' experience at Jerry World
- Cougar softball adding 2 really interesting hitters from the portal
- 2022-23 Pawscar nominees
- Phillip Slavin joins to talk Big 12 football and Oklahoma State
- Matt and Ryan of the Golden Hurricast do an 'exit interview' on Tulsa
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The gruesome twosome, the bad boys of millennial sports podcasting, founders and co-hosts of the internet's longest running Houston Cougar pawdcast are back! And it was a surprisingly busy last 2 weeks or so as Dustin & Sam talked the following topics:
- Its real, UH is a Big 12 school now
- An incredible 2023 NBA Draft for Jarace Walker and Marcus Sasser. Briefly assessing those guys' fits on their new respective NBA teams
- Maurice Williams Jr's enormous Cougar football commitment
- Bat & Ball sports updates
- AND our main topic: going back to our full review last summer of all 13 UH programs' readiness for the Big 12 and how our feelings have changed after the 2022-23 season.
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Houston Cougar head baseball coach Todd Whitting joined the Pawdcast for a state of the program, looking back at the most recent season, how the Big 12 will change things for the program and how this can return to being a regular postseason team.
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We're continuing with the Summer Pawd Talks 2023 edition, where we talk with new friend of the show Adam Eaton from our Ten12 Network friends at the Sons of UCF and longtime friend of the show Collin Sherwin (college sports editor at DK Nation), who's one of the Internet's absolutely most knowledgeable USF partisans.
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The summer pawd series is back in tooown again and this time our guest of honor is Jeremy Phoenix, of the West Virginia Mountaineers (and fellow Ten12 Network pod) Raspy Voice Kids! We talked about a variety of topics, including but not limited to:
- Bob Huggins' DWI arrest: instant reaction, legacy at his alma mater and what's next for Mountaineer hoops
- Making the optimistic case for Neal Brown & West Virginia football in '23
- Early thoughts on a much anticipated UH/WVU football game and Dana Holgorsen
- A 'would you rather'
- WVU's long term best fit conference
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Time for a little something different! To kick off our offseason/summer series, where we get to know the Big 12 conference and its new programs, as well as checking in with some old favorites from the American, we had on Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports to talk Big 12 football and Baylor and Clip Brock of Pirate Radio 1250 to talk ECU.
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The boys are back thin lizzy whisper (the boys are back), with a quite eventful mid-June pawd as UH may now be officially done with the 2022-23 athletics year, but the news certainly hasn't stopped including these topics:
- Cougar Track's strong week at NCAA Outdoors in Austin, w/podium finishes from De'vion Wilson and Shaun Maswanganyi
- Kelvin and Kellen Sampson get new UH contracts & a succession plan
- Baseball hires Sean Kenny to pitching coach & loses a couple key hitters
- Softball & Soccer add some interesting transfers from the portal
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The boys are back (the boys are back), with a surprisingly eventful mid-June episode as the Coogs may now be officially done with the 2022-23 season, but the news certainly hasn't stopped including these topics:
- Cougar Track's strong week at NCAA Outdoors in Austin, w/podiums from De'vion Wilson and Shaun Maswanganyi
- Kelvin and Kellen Sampson get new UH contracts & a succession plan
- Baseball hires Sean Kenny to pitching coach & loses a couple key hitters
- Softball & Soccer add some interesting transfers from the portal
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The boys are back and this specific case the boys can include Dana Holgorsen, the head coach of Houston Cougar football team joined the Scott & Holman Pawdcast to talk a variety of topics past, present and future!
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Sam and (plot twist) special guest co-host/friend of the show Bobby talk a variety of timely Houston Cougar topics from the past couple weeks that were, including the following:
- A dramatic end to an up & down Cougar baseball season
- The widely-reported as yet officially unconfirmed choice by UH decision makers to keep on baseball HC Todd Whitting after a 4th straight non-NCAA Tournament season
- Zooming out to UH's athletics leadership void on the verge of a big (12) conference move
- Track & Field sending athletes to NCAA Outdoors next week
- Men's basketball gets the welcome return of Jamal Shead, the official pending arrival of LJ Cryer and Kelvin Sampson's NBA dalliance ending
- Football gets another recruit & we get some official kickoff times
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We imagine you're here, either to comiserate about yet another frustrating Houston Cougar football loss (this week to the Tulane Green Wave) or in perhaps a few cases, delight in the program favored to be this year's G5 darling continuing to go off the rails.
Whatever your underlying reasons: we talked about the general and specific takeaways from Friday night's ESPN-televised loss, which provided the same general questions and no satisfactory answers to what ails the Coogs on the gridiron.
We're back, with a football conference opener to discuss and no shortage of other Houston Cougar topics on the menu for this particular pawdcast:
- The no good, terrible news of Derek Parish's 2022 season ending, 4 games in
- Volleyball's continued strong start to conference play, with a couple of need-to-win roadies on the immediate horizon
- Soccer has another fruitless roadie, short on offensive chances and looks ahead to another tough one
- Women's Golf gets a record-setting performance from Natalie Saint Germain and good rounds from fellow frosh at OU
- Top 100 big man Jacob McFarland commits to Cougar men's basketball
Oh yeah and we found time for Houston vs Tulane and week 5 CFB thoughts
We're back, and thank goodness we're talking about a Cougar victory over the Rice Owls, to extend the longest winning streak in Bayou Bucket history to 7 games. And yes, we did talk about some of the things we liked from Houston's 34-27 win. But we also didn't dance around some of the larger issues surrounding the football program. Basically, if you just won a rivalry game, and everybody from the head coach to the players to the fans seems to be frustrated, you might have some issues! So let's dig into those!
After giving the Rice game a thorough post mortem, including your #FourWordReviews, we also gave our thoughts on what was a wild, noteworthy week 4 of the college football season.
We're back and ready to face the nerds across town, as Houston and Rice face off for the Bayou Bucket. We talk about why the Cougars are and should be favored to take their 7th straight win over their cross-town rival, but why the Owls may not be the pushovers they've been previously under Mike Bloomgren.
Plus we're in a happy mood talking non-football Cougar fall sports! Cougar volleyball had an impressive close to non-conference play, and opened up their final AAC campaign with a road win, while Cougar soccer opened up conference play by beating reigning AAC champs USF! Not to mention UH women's golf opened their fall slate with an impressive showing from a trio of freshmen!
The 2022 Houston vs Kansas football game won't be one remembered positively by the UH faithful, but we sure did talk about it along with your Four Word Reviews and some week 3 college football thoughts.
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If nothing else, we have quite the conflicting feelings about an eventful week that was and is to come in the world of Cougar sports, including the following topics:
- With the help of our Ten12 Network pal Andy from the Rock Chalk Podcast, we preview the newly competent and very intriguing home opening opponent: the Kansas Jayhawks
- Volleyball's big 3-0 weekend, which included a signature resume win over Mississippi State on their home court
- Soccer's very frustrating trip to Lubbock and looking ahead to conference play
- Men's Golf and Cross Country updates!
For the second week in a row, the Houston Cougar football team went on the road against an in-state foe and saw the game go to overtime, this time with a decidedly less enjoyable end result. We're back talking the many weird through-lines from week 1 to week 2 for the Coogs, things we're officially concerned about after 2 games, and even the positives to take away from the defeat.
Plus we're talking everything week 2 in college football, from UT-Austin's almost-win, to A&M and Notre Dame suffering shocking and hilarious losses, to Scott Frost becoming the season's first coaching casualty, and which AAC teams impressed us.
We're back to review a heaping helping of Houston Cougar topics from the week that was and will be, including:
- The immaculate vibes of a 3-0 Volleyball weekend at the Fertitta Center
- Soccer scoring a crosstown rivalry win (with a GOLAZO from Cece Cross) + looking ahead to a future Big 12 opponent
- Cross Country opens up their season in Lake Charles
- Football travels up to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders and we enlist the help of multi time guest Albie Shore of our network friends Tortillas & Takes to preview this week's opposition
- Week 2 CFB and brief CFP expansion thoughts!
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And speaking of treated, the Houston Cougar football team treated us to an exciting, frustrating and almost indescribable 3OT win over the UTSA Roadrunners in week 1 of the college football season. We look at how we got there and how we think the team played in its first 60 minutes of on field action.
Plus, four word reviews and week 1 CFB thoughts!
Cougar. Football. Is. Back. That's right, ladies and gentlefolk, it's game week for Houston Cougar football. The boys in scarlet and albino are headed west to take on the Roadrunners of UTSA. To better know Houston's opponent, we brought in Jared and Adrian from Alamodome Audible to talk UTSA's potent offense, areas of concern after the best season in program history, and where to get life-changing carnitas in San Antonio.
Plus for the first time this year we've got Houston Cougar victories to talk about, and in multiple sports! We're breaking down the wins for the volleyball and soccer programs, and the expectations for the coming week.
Not to mention, Cougar Cross Country is opening its campaign this week, and Cougar football picked up a couple of newcomers for 2023
The guys return once again, discussing the following Houston Cougar topics, of recent import:
- Previewing Cougar volleyball, a team looking to take that next step up to being an NCAA postseason caliber team in David Rehr's 4th season in charge.
- Looking at UH's conference and conference opponents, with an in depth look at the AAC football season
- Evaluating Cougar soccer's opening week of games and reevaluating expectations.
We're previewing actual Houston Cougar sporting events in the 2022-23 year, as UH Soccer is now mere hours away from kicking off the season at Oklahoma. We've got your full soccer preview, setting the scene for year 1 of the Jaime Frias era.
Plus, we're continuing our series previewing the 2022 Cougar football season, this time talking all things offense. We're talking Clayton Tune climbing the program leaderboards, our biggest questions, and what the ceiling for this offense can be.
Plus, Cougar women's hoops released their non-conference schedule, and you best believe we have some thoughts!
We're beginning our Cougar football preview series, as always, by talking about Houston's defense and special teams. And since four heads are better than two, we brought on Andy and Da'Yon from Pawd Slama Jama to help us break down Doug Belk's 2022 squad.
We're also talking a new addition for Cougar men's basketball, and Cougar football getting verbal commitments from the two highest-rated recruits in their 2023 class so far.
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As for the episode, though, we kicked our 8th (!!!) season off with a bang by bringing on Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle to talk all things Houston Cougars! We also addressed the current Cougar news of the past week or so AND gave our bold predictions for every Cougar sport for the 2022-23 season (while reviewing our 2021-22 predictions).
In our Season 7 finale, we're back to talk the latest Cougar goings-on, with Carl Lewis being promoted to Head Coach of Cougar Track and Field, Cougar baseball seeing a trio of players drafted and confirming some exciting returnees, and Cougar softball adding a pair of intriguing transfers.
And then we took a look at each of Houston's 13 athletics programs and asked ourselves, how Big 12-ready is this program? We're breaking down who is ready to compete for a conference championship, who will find themselves in the middle of the pack, and who has the furthest to go to be competitive.
While lesser podcasts might have taken the mid-July dead period off, Dustin and Sam return to talk with Cougar baseball assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Ross Kivett joined the Pawdcast to discuss a number of topics including, but not limited to:
- What Kivett took to UH from his time at Tennessee
- Houston Cougar baseball in the Big 12
- Everything that went into major hitting/defensive improvements in the 2022 season
- Motivation for athletes now vs 10 years ago
- Kivett's favorite Houston area restaurants
Last week saw the bombshell annoucement that USC and UCLA were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, with the shockwaves continuing to reverberate throughout college athletics. We're piecing together what this means for your Houston Cougars, the Big 12, and college sports as a whole.
Plus, we announce the winners of the 5th annual Paw-scar Awards! Sam, Dustin, and you the Pawdcast listener put our collective heads together and recognized the best and most impressive from the 2021-22 Cougar Athletics year.
And for some added good news, Cougar baseball added a trio of intriguing transfers! Do we have a full breakdown of the new additions? I think you know that we do.
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In addition to revealing our award nominations, we tackled the following Houston Cougar/Cougar adjacent topics:
- The surprising, but completely understandable departure of Leroy Burrell to take over at Auburn
- 'Houston Rise' begins the task of fundraising for the Coogs' imminent Big 12 move
- A favorite emerges for Big 12 commish
- Soccer releases its full schedule and MBB's non-conference schedule takes shape
- Football recruiting picks up for 2023 & one more portal add for 2022 and beyond
For the pawd's (semi or so ) annual off topic episode, Sam brought on long time in real life friends, and friends of the show: Bobby and Bill to discuss the following topics from Formula 1 auto racing:
- Introducing the 10 F1 teams and their respective driver pairings
- The race weekend format & Championships
- Favorite/Least Favorite Race from '22 calendar year
- Contracts & possible future driver movement
- Opening the 'time capsule' on our early season predictions
- Thoughts on the most recent season of the Netflix F1 smash hit "Drive to Survive"
It was an exciting week in Cougar athletics, as men's track & field put together a top-20 team finish at Outdoor Nationals, and because Outdoor Nationals signified the final event of the 2021-22 Cougar athletics calendar. And since the past week also saw official confirmation that UH will be joining the Big 12 next summer, we are officially in our last off-season as a member of the American Athletic Conference. So we're back and we're talking track, and we're talking Big 12, and we're also talking baseball players in the transfer portal.
You didn't think we (the royal 'we') wouldn't have an instant react on the return of Cougar men's basketball star Marcus Sasser? Then you were sadly mistaken.
Sasser wasn't the only Cougar men's hoops topic as a 2023 local recruit committed and the first D1 transfer of the offseason joined.
PLUS! Cougar baseball makes a run in the conference tournament (+ big picture end of season thoughts) and Cougar track & field goes to Prelims and sends athletes/relays to NCAA Outdoors.
We're back, somewhat overdue, and boy howdy do we have a lot of Houston Cougar goings on to talk about:
-
Intriguing transfer portal additions for Cougar football and women's basketball
-
The latest updates on Marcus Sasser's workouts at the G League Elite Camp and NBA Combine
-
Track & Field goes up 35 for AAC Outdoors in Wichita
-
Softball and both Golf programs end their seasons
-
Baseball finishes up an improved season on a sour note at home
In our second episode of the week, we're taking listener questions, and providing answers on subjects like the Robertson Stadium End Zone Facility, hypothetical lottery winnings, Star Wars, Rice sucking at baseball, and much more. What are the odds Marcus Sasser plays for UH next year? We have no idea, but we sure threw out some guesses.
Going solo with the day job temporarily sidelining Dustin, Sam strains his vocal cords to deliver a solo show from a meaty last 2 weeks of Houston Cougar sports... including the following topics:
- Several Cougar football alums start their pro careers, discussing drafted players and undrafted free agents
- A local product returns home to join Cougar football
- Baseball hits their way to a 5-1 conference record over the last 2 conference series
- Softball endures a tough weekend in Tampa, but ends the regular season on a high note
- TRACK AT THE PENN RELAYS!!!!
We (the guys) couldn't be more grateful to have so many Houston Cougar topics to discuss this week, which included the following:
- PORTAL WATCH: Cougar football added a couple promising underclassmen transfers from the portal (+ Updates on MBB targets)
- Baseball takes 2 of 3 over the previously league-leading Tulane Green Wave
- Tennis & Women's Golf show varying degrees of promise at their respective AAC championships
- Multiple Track & Field Athletes putting up top 10 national times in California
You thought we'd take a week off?! Not likely, as we're back and talking about the following Houston Cougar sports topics of import from this past week: * H-Town Speed City continuing the good times & putting up top Outdoor marks in Baton Rouge last weekend * Softball upping their conference win streak to 6, with 3 big series looming * Baseball approaches an inflection point in their season with league leaders Tulane coming to Houston * Believe it or not, much more!
We're back in our usual-ish Thursday night time slot (sponsored as always by the wonderful folks at Homefield Apparel), talking these and other Houston Cougar-related topics:
- Marcus Sasser doing something noteworthy, but not surprising with regards to his professional future
- Cougar football loses Alton McCaskill for 2022, but gains USC transfer/local product Brandon Campbell
- Another track record bites the dust
- Conference series wins for the bat & ball sports!
Its that time again! (Provided the antecedent of "that time" in this context for you means "Pawdcast time")
We, the guys, returned and talked about the end of an incredible run from the 2021-22 Cougar MBB team, rewound to how we got here in the first place (along with a quick look ahead at 2022-23 and beyond).
There was plenty else Cougar-related we talked about, but you'll have to listen to find out!
I AM NOT SURE I CAN FEEL MY FACE! Houston Cougar men's basketball not only survives a showdown with 1-seed Arizona, but gets yet another double digit win where UH never trailed and thoroughly outclassed a high-level opponent.
PLUS, early thoughts on Saturday's Elite 8 opponent Villanova.
A 2nd episode in a week's time?! That's right everybody, the guys weren't satisfied doing just a MBB March Madness only episode and there was too much Houston Cougar goings-on to not talk about the following relevant topics:
- Cougar WBB showing off the clamp down defense and timely offense in 2 WNIT wins, and looking ahead to a quarterfinals rematch with a familiar foe
- Baseball's 4-1 record since a Tuesday midweek win over Texas A&M game and this weekend's final non-conference series
- Softball dramatics and this weekend's opening of conference play vs Tulsa
- The opening of H-Town Speed City's Outdoor season, and much, much more!
For the third straight season, your Houston Cougar men's basketball team is headed to the Sweet 16. Your co-hosts are back to marvel at this incredible accomplishment, breaking down Houston's wins over UAB and Illinois, and trying to put some proper context into the amazing run we're seeing from this program. Plus, we're taking a look forward to UH's next round opponent in the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats, both what makes them scary (and a deserving 1-seed) but also where Houston can have some success.
With March Madness now underway, we're helping you better get to know Houston's first round opponent by bringing in John from the Blazer Victory Podcast to talk all things UAB, from how they match up with the Cougar front court, to what the Blazers need to do to pull off the upset.
Plus, the women's hoops team keeps its season alive with an NIT bid. We're talking the matchup with Louisiana Tech as the Coogs try to continue their late season momentum.
Not to mention both bat & ball sports had eventul weekends, Track & Field sent athletes to Indoor Nationals, men's golf continued playing well, and more!
Its SELECTION SUNDAY, and we're back talking all of these juicy Houston Cougar men's basketball topics:
- The Coogs' decisive AAC championship win over the loathsome Memphis Tigers
- Looking ahead to the first round opponent: the UAB Blazers.
In what is far from a 'hoops only' episode, the guys return leading with the Cougar basketball exploits from both the women and men, including:
- The Cougar men suffering a 2nd defeat at the hands of the Memphis Tigers & looks ahead to the AAC Tournament
- The Cougar women getting an unbelievable week from Laila Blair, in an encouraging week in Ft Worth
PLUS! Bat & Ball sports updates and a couple winter sports approaching their respective championships.
You can't beat weeks like these! The Houston Cougars captured 2 more conference titles:
- Men's Hoops clinched their 3rd AAC regular season title in 4 seasons, as part of a 3-0 week that included 3 varying degrees of blowout win, including a beatdown of SMU
- Men's Track captured a SEVENTH straight AAC Indoor Championship, a somewhat closer than expected trophy with plenty of standout performances
And we also find time for Women's Hoops, Baseball, Softball and Men's Golf from an exciting week that was, and looking ahead to the week that will be.
We've got some dramatics this week, as Cougar swimming and diving won the AAC championship by an unbelievably close margin, and UH men's hoops won a double-OT thriller in Wichita. We've got all that plus your bat & ball spots, women's hoops coming up on the end of the regular season, and more!
In a ludicrously packed episode, we're talking a huge variety of Cougar topics, including
-Men's basketball loses its first home game in ages, to lose consecutive games overall for the first time in even longer ages
-Baseball season preview coming off a tough 2021 campaign
-Cougar soccer hires a new head coach
-Dana Holgorsen gets an extension
-Women's hoops picks up a solid win
-Track and Field finishes up the Indoor regular season
-And much more, it literally won't even all fit here.
Thin Lizzy voice The guys are back, the guys are back.
Lots and lots of Houston Cougar sports are on tap, as Dustin & Sam return to talk:
- Cougar MBB getting a pair of tough road contests and coming out with a 1-1 record, but many more positives than negatives from the week and look ahead to Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers
- Softball RETURNS to us, as the Cougars try and shake off a difficult 2021 with lots of new faces and improvement on the horizon
- WBB gets their most complete win of 2022 & falls a bit short to a league power once again
- Track continues to dominate at the throws and has a big relay weekend in College Station!
We are back, now with 50% of the Pawdcast back in terra firma in Houston, Texas and in the return we chew (not literally of course) on the following Houston Cougar sports topics: * Men's Hoops outlasting UCF on the road and a pesky Tulane team in the friendly confines, and looking ahead to the hardest week of the remaining schedule with road trips to Cincy and SMU * YET ANOTHER thrower sets a UH T&F record, as part of another weekend of strong performances in Indoor season * Football adds to the '22 class at the late signing day * Women's Hoops breaks their losing streak & looks ahead to a big challenge in UCF
Guess who's back? The Pawdcast's back, sadly this doesn't work to the tune of Eminem's "Follow Me" nearly as well as I expected when I began typing this.
Anyway, Dustin & Sam return to talk the following topics from the week that was and will be in Houston Cougar sports:
- Cougar MBB gets a historic win over ECU and looks ahead to spicy showdowns with UCF and Tulane
- H-Town Speed City scores multiple event wins and a host of promises performances up in Lubbock, highlighted by another BIG event win from Priscilla Adejokun.
- PLUS, updates on WBB and swim & dive
It's been nothing if not an eventful week in Cougar hoops. On the men's side, Houston held on against a wild Tulsa comeback even with a sidelined Jamal Shead, who made a miraculous comeback to help UH win comfortably against USF.
In women's hoops...it's been less encouraging. We dissect a week that saw Houston lose 3 winnable games.
Plus, now a week into Indoor Track & Field season, we've got your Cougar season preview, what to watch for, and the impressive performances we already saw on opening weekend.
Not to mention Cougar football got some roster news, with transfers heading in both directions. We're discussing the newcomers, the departures, and what positions we'd still like to see Houston address via the portal.
The guy (singular) is back! Sam hosts solo, breaking down the following topics from the week that was in Cougar athletics:
- Cougar football bids adieu to one assistant coach and whatever the French word for hello to another.
- Diego Bocanegra steps away from college coaching after a transformative 5 years with UH Soccer, plus who could the program look at from its present and recent arrivals.
- Football signs a high school recruit and welcomes a local product back home.
- Men's and women's basketball combine for a 2-1 week and look ahead to conference games where the Coogs will be big favorites
- AND WE HAVE COUGAR SWIM & DIVE AND TRACK BACK IN OUR LIVES!
We're opening 2022 on a high note, as the Cougar men's and women's basketball programs combined to open AAC play with a trio of road wins, despite some serious shorthandedness. We've got heroics from Josh Carlton, Ramon Walker Jr, Fatou Diagne, and others.
Plus, we revisit our mid-season Cougar football position grades, and reevaluate each group with all 14 games in the book.
Not to mention Karen Fredgaard is going pro, and Swimming & Diving has senior day coming up!
Hey there, hi there and ho there. Before you read this episode descriptor any further, please go and follow @Ten12Network and get 15% off your first order with the check out code HOLMAN12 at homefieldapparel.com
The guys returned to talk, in particular order:
- Cougar football dispatching Auburn in a dramatic 17-13 win at the Birmingham Bowl, how it happened and organizing our thoughts at the end of a really good and fun 2021 season
- For the 2nd week in a row, talking about a season ending injury to one of Cougar men's basketball's top players, and previewing what we hope to be a week with 2 conference opponents.
- And Cougar women's basketball looks ahead to its 2 first conference games after COVID issues knock out the non-conference finale vs SE LA.
The 2021 Cougar football campaign is coming to its end, and we're excited to be back and talking about a matchup with Auburn. We're talking who's opting out, who (we think) is actually playing, and why this figures to be a compelling matchup of two teams with something to prove.
Plus, both Cougar men's and women's hoops picked up key wins over P5 non-conference foes! We're talking that, as well as the final games of the 2021 calendar year for both teams, as well as our take on the state of AAC men's hoops as UH enters conference play.
Oh hey, we've got a new sponsor: Homefield Apparel (homefieldapparel.com) who does incredible unique vintage designs on the comfiest shirts you'll find out there, AND who you can 15% off your first order with the code HOLMAN12 at checkout.
We're also excited to officially announce that our little Pawdcast is a part of the Ten12 Network now, joining a great group of Big 12 pods as we look ahead to our conference future.
We also squeezed in some UH talk:
- Men's Basketball's eventful trip on the road to Alabama and a gutsy shorthanded win vs Louisiana
- Women's Basketball has an enjoyable 2-0 week back at the Fertitta Center & looks ahead to a big non-conference roadie
- Football opens up early signing day for the class of 2022 by inking 10 players, including 2 4-stars and a number of well-rated Cougars-to-be
Solo episode! The guys returns to talk about the big Houston Cougar sports stories of the past week or so:
- Cougar football trying their luck against a 'as good as advertised' Cincinnati Bearcat football team in the AAC championship game (+ Cougar bowl thoughts &
- Cougar men's basketball dismantling 2 outmatched opponents & looking ahead to their toughest non-conference opponent of the season in the form of the Alabama Crimson Tide
- And of course Cougar women's basketball had their own showdown with Alabama & a welcome return in their immediate future to the friendly confines of the Fertitta Center
We decided, looking ahead to the Coogs' appearance in the 2021 American Athletic Conference to keep things short and sweet, or we did over 90 minutes about Cougar football, including but not limited to last Saturday's regular season ending win vs UConn and previewing the Cincy Bearcats and how they match up with the Coogs... Yeah, we did the over 90 minutes one.
Oh, and we also talked Cougar men's/women's HOOPS, an end to an encouraging Volleyball season and all the latest AAC/Big 12 action (and some bonus rivalry week thoughts from around CFB).
We're back on turkey day, thankful first and foremost that Donavan Mutin appears to be okay with nothing more than a concussion from his frightening injury on Friday. And as a nice added bonus, the Cougars won comfortably against a Memphis Tiger team that, as usual, was acting childishly.
We've also got more breakdown than is genuinely necessary (which is to say, any amount of breakdown) of Houston's upcoming regular season-ending matchup with UConn. And of course, we're covering the week that was, and the week that is to come, from the AAC, the Big 12, and the wider world of college football.
And of course, men's hoops had a strong week, taking its first loss of the season in a failed comeback bid against Wisconsin, sandwiched between absolute demolitions of Butler and Oregon. We're discussing the good, the areas of needed improvement, and the Coogs' upcoming game against Northwestern State.
Plus, women's hoops got a much-needed big win over a strong New Mexico squad to get themselves headed back in the right direction. We also discussed Houston's challenging coming week in Cancun.
And last but not least, Cougar women's volleyball is coming down the home stretch, with its regular season finale on Friday. We're talking the last 3 matches, and what Houston's odds are of extending their season past Friday.
Oh hey, we returned in our usual midweek spot to talk about the following Houston Cougar sports topics:
- Cougar men's basketball dismantling Virginia 67-47 in a Tuesday night ESPN primetime game, plus an appetizer blowout of Rice and an interesting week ahead in Vegas
- Football looking ahead to a Friday night showdown with Memphis that'll give the team a chance to potentially host the AAC title game
- Volleyball increases their win streak to 6 and looks ahead to the last 2 roadies of the fall 2021 regular season
- Women's basketball struggles on the road with 2 in state foes
In the most satisfying way possible, Houston Cougar football methodically took apart the Temple Owls to stretch a 9-game win streak and clinch an appearance in the AAC football championship next month.
We talk about everything we can think of from last Saturday's Cougar victory, plus an AAC/Big 12 week with at least one delightful result involving a certain orange shaded school in the Texas capital city.
It was a 6ish month break that felt like years, but Cougar basketball finally returned on Tuesday night, as the Cougar men (fresh off hanging a Final Four banner) had to claw and scrap their way to beating Hofstra & half man/half-heat check Zack Cooks. The Cougar women scored a decisive, but very encouraging win over Howard.
And Cougar football can cement their place in the AAC title game with a road win on Saturday, with only a struggling Temple Owls team standing between UH and a return to the AAC championship game.
We talked about an EIGHTH Cougar win in a row!
This one featured 2 return TDs (by the losing team) and a 97 yard TD run. So, it was your typical, ho-hum affair when UH and USF took to the gridiron last Saturday night. But we figured we'd find a way to talk about the game, read your 4 Word Reviews, and also take a look around the country towards the week 10 CFB slate.
Basketball season is just around the corner, and there's never been a better time to be a Houston Cougar. The men's team is coming off of a Final Four, and just earned the commitment from 5-star prospect Jarace Walker. The women's team has a loaded roster looking poised by bust down the door of the NCAA tournament.
And to help preview both seasons, we brought in two guys who know a lot more about the subject than us, in men's assistant coach Kellen Sampson, and women's head coach Ron Hughey! Two of the highest-energy, get-you-ready-to-run-through-a-wall personalities in the UH athletics department each gave us their insight on the state of their programs, and what to expect in the coming year.
We're thrilled to bring in a first-time guests in UH Assistant Athletics Director for Football - General Manager, Ryan Dorchester. He gave us his insight what it's like working for Dana Holgorsen, what the Big 12 move means for Cougar football, and how the sport as a whole is changing, among other topics.
We're also previewing Houston's upcoming game with USF, discussing both where the Bulls can cause some trouble, and also the areas where they're shockingly deficient. Plus we take a gander across the American, the Big 12, and the college football landscape.
It was also a huge week for Cougar soccer, who finished the regular season in style, beating Tulsa to jump to a program-best 2nd place finish. We're discussing the upcoming AAC tournament, and the possibility of a first-ever NCAA tournament berth.
Cougar volleyball also moved into sole possession of 2nd place in the AAC this past week. We're talking a dominant win, and an intriguing pair of road tests this coming week.
We've also got Cross Country competing at AAC championships, and Swimming & Diving and Tennis getting some fall action in.
In case you hadn't heard, the Houston Cougar football team beat #19 undefeated SMU on Saturday, with Marcus Jones returning a kickoff 102 yards for the winning score in the closing seconds. We're back, and basking in the delirium of a play that instantly etched its place into Cougar lore. Plus, career days from Clayton Tune and Tank Dell to lead the Cougar offense, and a better defensive performance than you might glean from the final score helps Dana Holgorsen finally get that signature UH win.
Also, we welcome you to Dana Holgorsen and/or Clayton Tune-Doubting Amnesty Week, as we lead by example in encouraging everybody to air their worst takes, and then put them to bed and get 100% on board in supporting this team going forward.
And of course, we're reading the best of your #FourWordReviews from Saturday's wild action.
And to cap things off, as usual, we're giving you the rundown on the week that was in American Athletic Conference, Big 12, and general college football action.
We're back, previewing the biggest Houston Cougar football showdown in a while now, we dare say since Dana Holgorsen took over, as the hated and #19-ranked Ponies of Southern Methodist (nee Money) University come to Houston for a Saturday night showdown.
Of course we take a look back at the Cougar volleyball and soccer weeks that were, with both teams reaching varying degrees of the 'home stretch' of their seasons. PLUS, week 9 AAC, Big 12 and general college football action.
It won't go down as Houston's prettiest game of the year, but it will go down as the soggiest. The Cougars waited 5+ hours for the weather to permit the playing of football, and then rode their defense and special teams to an overtime victory over East Carolina. We're scratching our heads at some ineffective offensive line play, and some questionable playcalling, while also acknowledging the singular talent that is Marcus Jones, and Houston's best defense in years. And we wouldn't dare put together any football recap without your #FourWordReviews
And of course, we're recapping the week that was in the American Athletic Conference and the Big 12, as well as taking a look at the wildest and most interesting results from around college football.
Rest In Peace, Molly Howard Gerwig.
We brought on our new friends at the Boneyard Podcast to preview the ECU Pirates football team, as well as giving our thoughts on the Pirates and the AAC/Big 12/CFB action from last week and previewing the week to come. Additionally, we looked back on the weeks that were for: Volleyball, Soccer, Women's Golf, Swim & Dive and a little men's basketball recruiting rumor mill talk.
We're back, talking maybe the biggest week in the collective history of Cougar soccer and volleyball this decade! Top 25 wins for each program have fans feeling pretty good as we head down the home stretch of conference play in each of those Fall sports.
Plus with no football game to preview this weekend, we're handing out some mid-season grades for Cougar football! We're giving the coaching staff and each position group a grade based on what we've seen through the first 6 games. Which position group did we exactly agree on? Which position group did we vary by an entire letter grade? I'm not spoiling that in the episode description, listen and find out already!
It was a bit nervy at times, but Houston Cougar football ended up with an 18-point road win over the Tulane Green Wave, their 5th consecutive win which keeps them one of three undefeated teams in AAC play. We're talking a dominating defensive performance, a hometown hero, and how Houston is set up for the second half of the year.
PLUS, we're reviewing a wild, wild week in college football, which featured some huge helpings of schadenfreude. We've got the rundown on the entire AAC, entire Big 12, and our largest variety of general interest college football stories of any episode so far this year.
Is this 2 episodes in.... 3 days?! It is 2 episodes in 3 days!
We return to preview Thursday night's Cougar football showdown on ESPN with the Tulane Green Wave, and brought on one of our absolute favorite and most frequent guests JP of Fear the Wave (now at fearthewave.substack.com as well!) to get the skinny on the 2021 version of Tulane football, in addition to giving our own thoughts on this opponent.
PLUS, Cougar Soccer and Volleyball have big weeks and look ahead to road showdowns with conference leading foes after encouraging weeks in both sports
What better way to end the weekend and begin the new week than a Cougar football post-victory react show? Hopefully you answered that question with "nothing".
We dived into everything we liked from a comprehensive, Friday night 45-10 victory by UH football over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and takeaways as 7 more regular season games loom.
PLUS, your Four Word Reviews and taking in a chaotic week 5 in the AAC, Big 12 and college football world at large.
You may have noticed we didn't have time for a Cougar football instant react episode this past weekend, so it's time to cram everything into one MEGA EPISODE!
A full breakdown of Houston's underwhelming comeback victory over Navy? Check. In-depth preview of this Friday's game against Tulsa, complete with guest expert Ryan from the Golden Hurricast? Check and check.
We've also got Cougar volleyball opening conference play, UH soccer facing two huge road tests this week, women's Cross Country picking up a W, plus golf and tennis!
Oh, and at the very end of this week's episode, we use some foul language to convey our disgust with the AAC over their decision to pull 2021-22 conference championship hosting privileges from UH Track & Field and Swimming & Diving.
We're back! And where else would we be but talking all things Houston Cougars on the Pawdcast!?
Cougar football gets an expected win over Grambling and we fold our usual Sunday recap into this week's Navy preview and look at the week 3 and 4 AAC/CFB action around the country.
PLUS, Cougar soccer upsets top 25 UCF, men's hoops gets the commitment of 4-star, national top 30 recruit Terrance Arceneaux for the class of 2022 and Volleyball starts conference play!
Houston Cougar football is playing Grambling State on Saturday, a game from the bygone era in which Houston knew how to schedule sure-thing FCS patsies. We broke down exactly why we feel confident saying Houston has this one in the bag, and the one area where the Tigers have actually shown the ability to contend with FBS competition.
PLUS, Cougar volleyball and soccer both took their first losses of the year, but we're here to dissuade any alarm-ringing. We've also got weekly previews, including Cougar soccer hosting ranked UCF to open conference play.
Finally, both Cougar men's and women's golf have had similarly underwhelming starts to their fall season, and Cougar cross country is showing signs of life.
The University of Houston was officially extended membership to the Big 12 conference on Friday morning. Woah! We talk about what it means in the big and little picture, some of how we got here and things we're most excited about with this conference switch.
And, we had a football game: specifically an emphatic and comprehensive 44-7 win over the Rice Owls in the 2021 edition of the Bayou Bucket game. We go through the highlights, what the win means and read your 4 Word Reviews of another victory vs the Owls.
PLUS, a crazy week 2 in college foootball
The boooooooys are back in toooooown again, with a conference realignment development that finally breaks in a positive direction for the Coogs, as the programs look to be on an imminent collision course with long time geographic neighbor and subject of ire: the Big 12.
Plus, recapping a very frustrating and not unfamiliar collapse as Cougar football loses their opener 38-21 to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, AND a busy week 1 slate in the AAC and College Football.
Football season is finally upon us, and we're got everything you need ahead of the first full weekend of college football, and Houston's showdown with Texas Tech. We're breaking down the Red Raiders, with the help from our friends at the Tortillas and Takes Podcast, as well as the recent Houston roster news, and a big upcoming week for the AAC as a whole.
Plus, we're talking volleyball's 3-0 start to the season, soccer staying undefeated through some high drama, and we're previewing the men's golf season, which tees off on Sunday!
Oh, and Grant Stuard is officially a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, and Master P's kid commits to Kelvin Sampson and the Coogs!
At a recording pace that can only be compared to the 2019 UH football season opening slate, the guys are back for a FIFTH time in the month of August with some Cougar goings on to discuss and seasons to preview, including:
- An overview and position group specific breakdown of the Houston Cougar football team's offense and what it could look like in 2021
- Previewing the 2021 Cougar volleyball team, looking like they have as good of a chance as ever to break a 20+ year postseason drought
- Soccer starting 2-0 on their season with a dramatic road win
- DEJON JARREAU GOT AN NBA DEAL AND WE ARE LOVING IT!
Well, if this one game sample size is any indication, which it definitely is, the Houston Cougars are going to go undefeated in all athletic competitions in 2021-22. Which is to say that Cougar soccer opened the season with an impressive 3-1 victory over Oklahoma!
And with college football now just a week away, it's time to preview the Houston Cougar defense and special teams! We're taking an in-depth look at what appears to be the deepest and most talented defense since 2016.
Plus Coog alums closed out NBA summer league with a bang! And softball added a former top-60 recruit!
If you're able, please consider donating to the gofundme set up for Cameron Burrell's daughter Amora: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-honor-cameron-burrell-daughter-amora
We're suddenly only hours away from the kickoff to the 2021-22 Houston Cougar athletics year, which means it's time for a season preview of the annual curtain-raisers, UH soccer! We're talking reasons for optimism for a potentially historic season for a Cougar program that hasn't known much success.
Plus we're talking to Pro Football Network's Joe Broback, one of the leading experts on the AAC, about both the Houston Cougars, and their conference competition. Plus Sam and Dustin will give their full team-by-team AAC breakdown, from Cincinnati to Temple!
Not to mention there's a new Houston Cross Country Head Coach in town, and Jarace Walker to Houston may be looking more likely?
DONATE TO THE COLLEGE FUND OF CAM BURRELL'S DAUGHTER AT THIS LINK:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-honor-cameron-burrell-daughter-amora?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
Rest in Peace, Cam.
Nothing can make things right now feel normal after the untimely death of a beloved member of the UH family like Cam, and we try and give you our annual pre-season predictions about all Cougar sports.
We've now made it to Season 7! And what better way to celebrate than remembering the CUSA championship winning 2006 Houston Cougar football season, on the 15th anniversary of that incredible season. We were privileged to have '06 team members and UH football alums Vincent Marshall and Wade Koehl join us and add insight and perspective to this season recap.
In addition, we also hit on a handful of current UH news items from the early August week that was:
- Cougar baseball makes an exciting hire to fill its pitching coach vacancy in Kyle Bunn.
- Softball adds veteran transfer pitcher Saleen Flores
- Men's basketball alums make their debut in the '21 NBA Summer League
- Football has a number of updates, including recruiting updates and a notable player returns to practice.
We thought about 2 weeks ago that our final episode of Season 6 was going to be light on current news... and boy were we wrong!
Just in the Houston Cougar sports world, we cover:
- Quentin Grimes getting taken in the 1st round of the NBA Draft by the New York Knicks!
- DeJon Jarreau picking up a free agent contract and an interesting landing spot in the Miami Heat
- Cougar baseball gets an immediate impact transfer in Zach Arnold and pitching coach Terry Rooney exits for Purdue
- We break down the newly released 2021 Cougar Volleyball and Soccer schedules
- Conference and non-conference opponents released for Cougar men's and women's basketball
And we found a few minutes to discuss a couple of colleges in Norman and Austin kicking off the next round of college sports conference realignment.
In the penultimate episode of season 6, we've got four Cougar sports with some significant news
-Baseball sees Robert Gasser drafted in the 2nd round by the Padres, as well as Kyle Lovelace and Steven Rivas signing pro contracts, but also got some good news on the returning talent front
-Softball reboots its pitching staff, taking in a pair of intriguing D1 transfers with ace potential.
-Women's golf sees one transfer out, one transfer in, and some big news in terms of who's all returning
-Cougar men's hoops saw Brison Gresham transfer across the street to TSU, and is currently in the hunt for several highly-rated recruits
Its here! Bring out the red carpet, A listers and the ghost of Joan Rivers, the 4th annual Pawscars are here!
We dive into our votes, the fan voters and the award nominees/winners from the 2020-21 Houston Cougar athletics year.
PLUS A BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL UPDATE, ONE OF WHICH IS GOOD NEWS AND ONE OF WHICH IS NOT AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
To vote for this year's Pawscar Awards, go here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdRP9oAlMpam_S0RLuY21wxbeF2N5lqVWYWoNUqVeio7GdTNw/viewform
Our first official off-season episode was supposed to be a relatively short one, in which we revisit our bold predictions for Cougar athletics from a year ago, and announce our nominees for the 2020-21 Pawscar Awards, but we ended up having lots of actual UH news to talk about, as well. To wit,
-Quentin Grimes showing off at the NBA combine
-Another big add to the Cougar men's hoops non-conference schedule
-Austin Reily winning the prestigious Texas Amateur
-Baseball adds a hitting coach, loses some transfers, and sees alum Connor Wong make his MLB debut
-Volleyball adds a trio of D1 transfers
-Football roster news
-The NCAA got creamed at the Supreme Court, and the age of NIL rights is upon us
The boys are back in (their separate, respective) town(s) to discuss the last episode of Season 6 with on field UH results to talk about. Naturally, UH track & field and their performance in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field championship was the first topic, but the following also came up:
- Gerrod Chadwell leaves for the school in College Station after a wildly successful near decade as head coach of Cougar women's golf, PLUS we talk about new HC Lydia Gumm
- Men's Golf gets one of the AAC's best golfers to join the program
- Men's and women's basketball have exciting additions for their non-conference schedules
- Football adds yet another intriguing, high ceiling D-lineman
- The College Football Playoff is finally ready to expand and we look at what this possible new format means for UH.
Were we content to just do a preview of UH track & field at the NCAA Outdoor championships and call that enough? HECK NO!
Instead, we brought on the always entertaining Cougar legend and current assistant coach Carl Lewis to talk about NCAA West Prelims and look ahead to the Cougar men's and women's athletes going to Eugene, OR to participate in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
In our penultimate episode of the 2020-2021 athletics calendar year, we've got some major goings on with the Houston Cougars.
First, the Cougar Track & Field program finished up West Prelims and is sending a bus-full of athletes on both the men's and women's side to Outdoor National Championships. We've got your Prelims recap, Natty's preview, and gushing about how bright the future of the program is on both the men's and women's side.
Plus, Cougar swimming and diving has a new head coach in Tanica Jamison! We're talking why the hire makes so much sense on paper, and why Jamison is inheriting unprecented expectations.
Not to mention, Karen Fredgaard earned the highest finish at National Championships in Houston Cougar women's golf program history, while also picking up the program's first all-American nod!
And finally, we talked about the Cougar baseball program ending its season at AAC championships, and had a long-avoided conversation about just how poorly this year went, and just how dire the need for changes in the program is.
TRACK! TRACK! TRACK! Cougar track & field (with a not small emphasis on the 'field') scored decisive wins on the women's and men's sides in the American Conference Outdoor Track Championship. We break down how the Coogs got there and what things look like for NCAA West Prelims.
And that's not all! We also talked the following:
- Cougar men's golf turns in an admirable performance to end their season at the Kingston regional + Karen Fredgaard tees off at the Women's Championship
- Top 100/4-star recruit Emanuel Shaw becomes the first 2022 recruit for Kelvin Sampson and men's basketball
- Softball's season ends in Tulsa at the conf tourney and we ponder the program's short and long term futures
- We find out who is the newest UH men's basketball assistant coach
- We find out that apparently the most beloved alumnus on the Cougar football staff had to be let go in May
For the first time in the history of our show, we talk about how the NCAA took unprecedented action in preventing UH and 9 other womens golf programs from competing in the NCAA Baton Rouge regional... and naturally we aren't very happy about it!
But we still had some good Cougar news to talk about:
- A beloved alumnus joins the Cougar men's basketball staff
- Armoni Brooks breaks an NBA record (!!!!)
- Cougar Track & Field looks ahead to a long-awaited AAC outdoor championship
- Softball ends their 2021 home regular season schedule with a competitive series split vs a good Tulsa team
- Much, much more!
We're back! And slightly later in the week than we're usually back!
We talked all things Cougars from the past week, including but not limited to:
- A big weekend for a few Cougar football alums courtesy of the 2021 NFL Draft
- Another Cougar receiver departure
- Track & Field breaks a 34 year old record in Austib
- Men's Golf finds out their postseason destination
- (And of course) Much, much more!
After a week off, we're back and we've got plenty to talk about, as the Cougar football program saw two transfers in, two transfers out, two Cougar programs competed at conference championships, and women's golf is headed to Baton Rouge for the NCAA postseason.
Oh, and Ryan Wochomurka is leaving Houston, which is a huge bummer, but we did talk about what a huge positive he has been to the Cougar swimming and diving program, and the good place he left it.
This was the 308th episode we've done of this #Pawdcast! How did we celebrate? By talking all things Houston Cougar sports from a busy past week that was both for off-season roster additions AND in-season action, including but not limited to:
- Cougar men's basketball adding 2 more D1 transfers to the mix! (Plus bonus alumni content)
- Women's basketball adding 2 transfers of their own, putting our offseason hype gear in overdrive!
- Track setting records in College Station!
- Soccer ending an encouraging spring season on a high note
- Golf individual titles on the men's and womens side and much, much more!
Transfers are the name of the game, as the Cougar men's and women's basketball team both picked up impressive senior bigs, while the men also lost Cam Tyson to the portal. We've got a breakdown of how Josh Carlton and Fatou Diagne will look in the red and white.
Plus volleyball bowed out in the AAC semis to end its impressive season, with a slew of postseason awards to show for their effort. Plus the women's track team put up a national top-5 mark in the 4x100 relay (among other impressive performances from the homestanding Coogs), and soccer picked up a dominant conference win.
Lastly, we finally have a long-avoided conversation about the fact that the Cougar bat and ball sports just aren't very good this year.
Sam and Dustin process the incredible 2020-21 Cougar men's basketball season now that its in the past tense and take a quick look at what's ahead.
Not to get lost in all of the Final Four hoopla, plenty of other Cougar programs are making big moves, and we've got a Dustin solo episode to recap it all. Houston volleyball finished up its regular season 9-1 in AAC play, and heads to conference championships this coming weekend. Cougar track and field competed against elite competition in the Texas Relays, and had a number of strong performances, including a 4x100 relay effort for the ages.
Plus women's golf had a strong performance without Karen Fredgaard, women's hoops lost a key transfer, the bat & ball sports are getting into conference play, and much more!
Welcome to the third era of Houston Cougar men's basketball greatness. Kelvin Sampson's junkyard dogs have punched a ticket to the 6th Final Four in program history, holding off Oregon State to set up a Lone Star State Showdown with the Baylor Bears. We're doing our best to dole out credit to the many, many people who deserve it, while also discussing the sustainability of the program's success, and of course, break down the win over the Beavers, and the matchup with the Bears.
HOUSTON COUGAR MEN'S BASKETBALL IS PLAYING ELITE EIGHT BASKETBALL!?!?! We're only somewhat sure we can feel our faces, and we talk about:
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How the Cougar's solved civilization's greatest shooter, Buddy Boeheim and the Syracuse Orange zone
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Who are the Oregon State Beavers and how do the Cougars match up with this new foe.
We have some promising Cougar programs finishing up their seasons, the women's basketball team in the NIT, and the swimming & diving team scoring points at NCAA Championships. We're talking big accomplishments, and looking forward to more to come.
Plus Track and Field opens a much-anticipated Outdoor season, volleyball faces some tough competition down the home stretch, soccer got a dominant conference win, softball topped another Big 12 opponent, and more!
The Houston Cougar men's basketball program has found itself in the Sweet 16 for the 2nd time in a row, thanks to no shortage of dramatics in a come from behind Round of 32 win vs Rutgers and a less dramatic opening round win over Cleveland State.
The guys react to ALL of that and look at the challenge presented by the Syracuse Orange in the Sweet 16.
Oh hey Carl Lewis joined the Pawdcast and talked about Cougar track & field- past, present and future, what its like working in Cougar athletics at the moment and much, much more!
PLUS! We talked:
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Women's Basketball postseason snub + lookahead to the WNIT
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Baseball's 3-1 week in Central Texas
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Volleyball's big week against 2 in-state foes
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Softball grabs a top 10 win away from home, and much, much more!
Credit to CBS Sports for the audio during this week's introduction.
The guys managed to find time to talk about Tramon Mark's memorable half court runner to end the Memphis game, and the following topics:
- A cage match of a men's basketball game w/Memphis that felt more than a little bit like an NCAA Tournament game, PLUS looking ahead at the 2021 AAC MBB tournament in Ft. Worth
- Women's basketball's path to the postseason with a big week at the AAC WBB Tournament looming, starting out with ECU.
- Baseball sees some great pitching performances, but not much offense in a 1-3 week.
- Softball has a tough week against Texas State and texas-austin with an even tougher weekend ahead.
- Volleyball remains undefeated in conference play with another 2-0 roadie
- Swim & Dive and Track championship lookaheads
- Women's and men's golf both return to action this week
After an unprecedented winter storm hit Houston and the state of Texas, interrupting numerous athletic events and this humble podcast, the guys both returned to talk about the following topics from a busy, compressed Cougar week that was:
- Men's basketball redeeming themselves after a tough loss at Wichita St with home shellacking of Cincy and gets a surprise add in the form of the WKU Hilltoppers
- Women's basketball plays their biggest game in 10 years hosting #12 USF as conference play winds down and the big tournament in March beckons
- Baseball opens their season and gets several wins with no shortage of style points
- Volleyball continues their dominant start to the 2021 spring season and AAC play & looks ahead to a Big 12 foe
- Softball tests their mettle against blue blood Oklahoma
- Much, much more!
One of the shocking results of the college basketball season hit the Cougars this week in the form of hot-shooting East Carolina, who gave the Coogs a humbling loss. We're discussing what went wrong (everything!) but also why the sky isn't falling.
We've also got a Cougar softball season preview! With first pitch this weekend, we discussed a ridiculously loaded UH lineup, plus the prognosis for progress from the pitching staff, and a competitive conference race.
Plus women's hoops got a much-needed road win, with a big week coming up, football hired its final position coach (again), track and swimming & diving are coming down the home stretch, soccer and volleyball are already getting into conference play this week, and we've got the latest golf and tennis updates!
We had, you guessed it, another absolutely jam-packed week in the world of Houston Cougar athletics here in early 2021 as no fewer than 9 sports came up for discussion in this episode, including but not limited to:
- Cougar men's basketball going 2-0, with a pair of 20+ point wins over Tulane and SMU. Cam Tyson's 31 points vs Tulane and a smothering team defensive performance against SMU were the stars of the show.
- Women's basketball gets a potential season-defining road win over Tulane.
- Football staff comings & goings, plus a pair of intriguing roster additions.
- Track has a big weekend at the 2nd part of the HTownSpeedCity Series.
- Volleyball goes 2-0 against a tough opponent
- Even more besides all of the other bullet points!
Kelvin Sampson's team continued to tear through AAC play, with the Coogs seemingly having found another level offensively. We're discussing the team's unlimited potential when they're getting the types of looks they got in wins over Tulsa and Temple this week.
Oh, and Dana Holgorsen made a surprise change at Defensive Coordinator! We've got the "why" and the "what now", plus the skinny on a major impact transfer on defense.
In women's hoops, the Cougars split their conference games this week, with a much-needed potential resume-booster coming up this week. Volleyball had a dramatic opening weekend to their season, Track and Field flexed it's throwing muscles, men's and women's golf are getting underway, and soccer is just around the corner!
All may not be right in the world, but the guys found it a week worth getting excited for, thanks to the following topics:
- Cougar men's hoops blowing the doors off of UCF en route to a 75-58 victory and regular season sweep of the Knights
- Straight off a 3 game losing streak Cougar women's hoops responded with dominant wins over solid AAC foes Tulsa and ECU, with a re-match against UCF looming this coming week.
- PREVIEWING THE RETURN OF H-TOWN SPEED CITY!
- Cougar Swim & Dive and Tennis deal with challenging opponents and learn a bit about themselves
- AND last but not least- Cougar Volleyball releases its 2021 spring schedule and starts its season this weekend!
We've got a classic Scott & Holman smorgasbord, discussing Caleb Mills' decision to transfer, Houston's strong wins this week despite that news, and preview of the Florida schools. Plus women's hoops struggled, and has a critical week coming up.
The Cougar football season is over, but the staff has been busy, adding a pair of high school recruits and P5 transfers, as well as securing its first verbal commitment for 2022. We've got your near- and long-term impact analysis for all 5 additions.
Plus Cougar swimming & diving is still beating up on the AAC, tennis is just starting its season, and track & field finally gave us a schedule and roster to pore over.
Intro/Mills xfer: 0-7:02
Beating Wichita: 7:02-17:59
Beating Tulane: 17:59-26:50
USF preview: 26:50-36:54
UCF preview: 36:54-40:05
Women's hoops tough week: 40:05-48:33
Women's hoops week to come: 48:33-55:45
Football roster additions/Zac Etheridge departure: 55:45-1:11:54
Swimming & Diving domination: 1:11:54-1:15:09
Tennis gets started: 1:15:09-1:16:28
Track geek out session/outro: 1:16:28-1:23:31
In the world of Houston Cougar sports this past one was a week of arrival (KeSean Carter), a week of departure (Keith Corbin), a week of stepping away (Caleb Mills), a week of learning from mistakes (MBB vs Tulsa/WBB vs UCF), a week of triumph (Eryka Sidney torching WSU) and most importantly a week of Justin Gorham rebounding every dang thing in sight!
We hope you start your 2021 by joining us to recap the week that was and preview the week that will be of Houston Cougar sports.
The 2020 University of Houston football season ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, as the Cougars limped to a 28-14 loss to Hawaii in the New Tex-ico Bowl. We're analyzing what went wrong (and what it says about the year as a whole) but also finding some positives from a game that, if we're being frank, maybe shouldn't have been played.
In happier news, it was a banner week for the Cougar hoopsters. On the men's side, UH won its first two conference games, including a key road win against an AAC contender, while the women showed remarkable effort in a shorthanded road win. We've got all that, plus an in depth analysis of the week's coming opponents.
Lucky you, this is the universe's first ever preview of the New Mexico Bowl when its played in a DFW Metroplex suburban town and YOUR Houston Cougars are playing in it!
We take a look at the opponents: the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, in this very odd bowl game and their 1st year HC, none other than Todd Graham (!!!!!).
Houston Cougar men's basketball is also back, with an expected decisive win over Alcorn State AND with 2 potential conference opponents coming up in the form of: Temple and a roadie to UCF.
Houston Cougar football, much to the delight of those of us who consider themselves fans of the Cougars' gridiron squad, returned to action last Saturday vs Memphis.
Less to the delight of Cougar fans has to be the combination of a sluggish start and heartbreaking field goal that thwarted what looked like an inspired comeback at the Liberty Bowl. We dive into what happened last Saturday and look ahead to what's left in the 2020 football season.
We also took a look at the early National Signing Day and what we think of the Cougar football's latest crop of signed recruits in this 2021 class.
AND THAT'S NOT ALL, we talk the return of Cougar men's basketball after a COVID-19 pause and re-capping an inspired Cougar women's basketball win while missing their top scorer.
This should be a fun, positive episode. Both the Cougar men's and women's basketball teams recorded important 10-point victories over SEC opposition, setting themselves up nicely with conference play around the corner. Football has a winnable-looking game against Memphis coming up, and a bowl bid secured.
But of course, COVID looms. Men's hoops has had to pause team activities, football has missed 3 straight weeks of games, and women's hoops has had its schedule impacted. We've got status updates for all 3 programs, plus full game previews for Memphis (football) and surprisingly tough Stephen F. Austin (women's hoops), working under the assumption that those games will in fact take place!
With a weekend of Cougar men's and women's shooty hoops showdowns happening and (unfortunately) yet another football cancellation, the guys return for a bite size Pawdcast to talk all current Cougar events.
Kelvin Sampson's squad may still be climbing the mountain, but they comfortably passed Texas Tech during the ascent this weekend, scoring a comfortable (at times dominant) win over the Red Raiders. We're discussing what Houston is doing well, and where there is still room for improvement (?!) after a 3-0 start, including recent wins over Boise and Tech.
Plus the women's team wasn't so fortunate, dropping a contest to Alabama to fall to 1-1 on the season. We're talking what Coach Hughey's group is hoping to see with a trio of non-conference games still coming up.
Plus Cougar alumni were making an impact all over the NFL!
HOUSTON COUGAR MENS AND WOMENS BASKETBALL MIGHT NEVER LOSE AGAIN! Okay, maybe I should turn the optimism down a little bit.
But we return to talk a pair of impressive openers from Cougar men's and women's basketball and what we think are the big picture takeaways from those games. Additionally, we look ahead at a weekend of games for both teams.
We also take a look at all recent Cougar news, PLUS our annual in-depth look at AAC men's basketball and what we think the league will look like outside the Cougars in the 2020-21 season.
The guys are back to go in depth on Dr. Naismith's great game: basketball!
Cougar men's basketball comes into the year in the preseason top 25 for the first time in almost 40 years, with a squad coming off back to back league titles and an abundance of experience and talent!
AND we talk Cougar women's basketball who bring in an exciting and talented crop of new players after a tough end to a shorthanded 2019-20 campaign.
BUT THATS NOT ALL!!!! UH men's basketball director of sports performance Alan Bishop for the 2nd straight season to talk all things Cougar basketball and strength and conditioning.
There's no better recipe for a bounceback game than to play a team without an FBS win, and that did the trick for the Cougars on Saturday, as they dismantled the Bulls of South Florida. We're sifting through the remains of a blowout to decide what we liked best, with an eye towards the final third of the schedule.
Plus we read your #FourWordReviews, something we've certainly never failed to do in the past, and we enjoyed some schadenfreude as SMU blew a big lead to still-undefeated-in-AAC-play Tulsa.
We're back... except its the royal we this time instead of the proper plural, as Sam is riding solo this week.
We (I) recap another tough afternoon at the proverbial offense as Houston Cougar football struggled to get anything done in a 38-10 loss to the #6 Cincy Bearcats. Some relief comes in the form of the 1-6 USF Bulls who are looking at a long-term rebuild with a fresh face in 1st year HC Jeff Scott. To learn about the Bulls, I talked with 1st time guest and long time twitter friend of the show Robert Steeg from the Daily Stampede.
Additionally, the AAC/CFB action from the week that was and will be was addressed.
Rest in Peace Ka'Darian Smith.
We returned after a longer than usual absence to breakdown a rough afternoon at the office for Houston Cougar football as they were beaten soundly by the visiting UCF Knights.
In a true 'no rest for the weary' situation, the Coogs return to the field to take on by far the AAC's best team, the #6 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats and we take an in depth look at what's made the Bearcats such a fearsome team in 2020.
Whether you want to call it the Space Race, or the Star War, or just a matchup of two of the AAC's most prominent football programs, UH will be taking on UCF on Saturday. As usual, we turned to UCF expert Jeff Sharon of Black & Gold Banneret to get the lowdown on all things Knights. Suffice it to say, points will be scored.
Plus some hoops news! All those multi-team events in Orlando (including Houston's matchup with Texas Tech, plus Gonzaga/Auburn) got canceled, but all is not lost! Plus the UH men are the consensus favorite to win the AAC! While the women got some serious bulletin board material!
Hitting the road didn't prove much of a challenge for the Cougars, as they cruised to a 37-21 victory at the Naval Academy. We're singing the praises of a dominant defensive front 7, and some offensive fireworks, and opining on where the Cougars can still improve on their 2-0 start to conference play.
Plus Cincy clobbers SMU! Rice loses on a quadruple-doink! Indiana beats Penn State by a milimeter! Football is good and fun!
3 previews for 3 games in a row... is this real life?!
The Houston Cougar football team goes on the road for the first time in 2020 and faced the Navy Midshipmen- a team that has seen its drastic ups and downs, but also enters this showdown 3-0 in AAC play. We take a look at the Midshipmen in 2020, both their strengths and weaknesses, as well as how the Coogs match up in this one.
We also take a look at the Week 8 AAC/general college football action!
The Houston Cougars have their first loss of the 2020 season, and they have plenty of mental errors to blame it on. We're sifting through what we liked, what needs improvement heading into conference play, and where you have to tip your cap to the "other" Cougars.
Plus an educational week of AAC features a shootout for the ages.
We almost can't believe it, in just over a week's time Houston Cougar football is back and we have YET ANOTHER gridiron opponent to preview this week.
The BYU Cougars have mostly steamrolled through 4 opponents so far, en route to a top 15 ranking. We dive deep into the Cougs, what's made them so good thus far and how they match up with UH in key areas and what you can expect Friday night's nationally televised showdown to look like.
We also talk an eventful upcoming weekend for the AAC (and not much else!) around the world of college football in week 7, plus GASP a couple pieces of common sense legislation getting serious consideration from the loathsome curs at the NCAA.
HOUSTON COUGAR FOOTBALL IS BACK!
HOUSTON COUGAR FOOTBALL IS BACK!
HOUSTON COUGAR FOOTBALL IS BACK!
The guys return to discuss the Houston Cougars' absurdly long-awaited debut to this, the strangest of modern college football seasons, in a dominant 49-31 win over the Tulane Green Wave.
All aspects of the game are discussed, beyond what looks like an exciting offense and a hard-hitting, stingy defense.
YOUR Four Word Reviews are read and the guys also take a look at Week 6 AAC/general CFB action, an ENORMOUS UH men's basketball scheduling add and a rival AAC coach finding himself in hot water.
Washington State, Rice, Memphis, Baylor, and North Texas all fell by the wayside. Finally, Tulane looks poised to answer the question: Does anybody want to play the Houston Cougars? Based on the hypothetical possibility that a football game will happen, we went ahead and brought back JP from Fear The Wave to break down what to expect from the Greenies.
Plus we got deservedly excited about UH men's hoops picking up a commitment from Ja'Vier Francis, and broke down a dramatic two weeks of college football, not to mention your viewing guide for this coming weekend!
We spent the weekend getting all of the cussing and hurling about of things out of our systems, so we're ready to calmly discuss Houston Cougar football getting yet another potential season-opener canceled, this time after Baylor was forced to back out at the last second. We also previewed North Texas, breaking down what to expect after the Mean Green's first two games of the season.
Plus a wild comeback in AAC play, what to watch for this week, and college basketball finally got a season start date.
How did we get here?! Houston Cougar football went from finding itself potentially without an opponent for the 3rd week in a row, to scheduling a Southwest Conference foe that hadn't faced the Coogs in 25 years. We still aren't exactly sure how, but we talk ourselves through it.
We also brought on Shehan Jeyarajah, the college football insider and editor (as well as a Baylor alumnus) to preview Baylor football and also give his thoughts on the direction of Cougar football under Dana Holgorsen.
In addition to an in depth preview of the Bears and the Cougar football depth chart release, we talk Reggie Chaney getting immediately eligible for Cougar men's basketball and what great news that is, as well as looking back at week 2 of college football as well as looking ahead to week 3 CFB action.
Hey hey hey!
The boys are back to discuss that thing we all love so much: passing yards, touchdowns, great offensive line play and everything else an offense can do in football. The UH football program had an uncharacteristic and bizarre 2019 and Dustin/Sam break down what they believe the 2020 group will look like, both in terms of overarching storylines and each offensive unit.
In addition, there was a heaping helping of Cougar and non-Cougar college sports news from the week: - Robbie Armbrester commits to Cougar basketball - A number of Cougar football alums get named to NFL week 1 rosters - 2 more Cougar baseball alums make their MLB debuts - Week 1 college football talk
Football kind of snuck up on all of us, didn't it?
The Houston Cougar defense looks to rebound from a rough couple year stretch with an enviable amount of experience and a number of new faces joining expected to make an immediate impact. We break down the defense by position group and look at the 'bigger picture' outlook for this group, as well as previewing Cougar special teams.
There's also a 2021 Cougar football recruiting update, other AAC schools seeing football players opt out of 2020 and looking at where UH/AAC schools checked in on Bill Connelly's beginning of the season SP+ rankings.
We weren't sure we'd even get to this point and sure don't have a clear idea where it'll finish, but in the last week of August we figured the time was right to preview the 2020 American Athletic Conference football season in all of its future, potential glory!
In addition we touch on other topics of import, such as: - Cougar football getting a potential Friday night season opener - Cougar Volleyball and Soccer officially being moved to the Spring by the AAC - Friend of the Pawdcast and distinguished Cougar baseball alum Aaron Fletcher making his debut for the Seattle Mariners - Cougar baseball releasing their 29-man incoming class, which we break down in detail.
The college sports big wigs may be still trying to figure out exactly what college sports are going to look like this year, but that didn't stop your Pawdcast hosts from making some bold predictions for every Cougar sport for the coming year. Will Cougar football play .500 ball in conference play? Will men's track return to being a top 5 program? Can baseball make it back to a regional? We've got all the answers (or some educated guesses, at any rate)
Plus it's our inaugural Cougar Rewind, as we took a look back at Houston's 1980 Cotton Bowl victory over Nebraska. To watch along, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLxGjMGWSjI&app=desktop
Sadly this past week saw the passing of Houston Cougar football coach Bill Yeoman, at the age of 92. We join those around Texas and around the world in both expressing sadness at Coach Yeoman's passing, and also sharing fond memories of the positive impact he made on the world around him.
We were also stunned this week to hear of current Cougar football player Sedrick Williams' heart complications as a result of COVID. And of course all of this happened against the backdrop of 4 FBS conferences postponing fall sports.
The silver linings from the past week included a big football addition and a Cougar making his professional debut!
For better or for worse, it sure looks like college sports are going to happen this fall. For the final episode of our 5th season, we take a look at what is currently known about the upcoming season, and what's still up in the air. We're talking scheduling for football and other fall sports, a possible breakdown in the economic food chain of college sports, and even giving the AAC some credit for a good decision.
Finally we took a look back at the season that was, the myriad highs and lows, and end with some fun (if you're a big nerd like us) stats about the original Houston Cougar athletics podcast. How many days worth of content have we produced? You'll have to listen to find out.
It's Pawdcast time again, and we've got mostly good news to talk about! Good news on the men's hoops and football recruiting standpoint, Cougar softball adding a legend to the coaching staff, and just for fun your hosts debating the most desirable possible football games in the Lone Star State. We only squeezed a little bit of COVID-related stuff in right in the middle. Most of this episode is fun, though, honest.
We are BACK, talking about a number of UH storylines from the (extended) college sports offseason:
- Deeky Jarreau officially returns to Cougar men's basketball
- UH athletics makes some across the board cuts to deal with our crazy and uncertain Covid-19 world
- Cougar baseball adds DBU grad transfer MacGregor Hines
- Cougar football adds an offensive lineman from a familiar locale
- The Houston Astros gush over their temporary home at the UH baseball facilities and Dustin gets libeled (?)
Cue up your Thin Lizzy records because the boys are back in town again.
To stave off the extended off season mania, Dustin and Sam discussed the evolving response of UH athletics and college athletics as a whole to Covid-19, UH basketball bringing on Arkansas big man Reggie Chaney and Clay Aguilar signing a professional contract with the New York Yankees.