Game Preview
Courtesy TCU and Houston


From TCU
ABOUT THE GAME

• The TCU football team will make its ninth bowl appearance in the last 10 seasons when it faces Houston in the 2007 Texas Bowl.
• The Horned Frogs are playing in a bowl game in Houston for the second time in three seasons and the third time in head coach Gary Patterson’s seven-year tenure. TCU defeated Iowa State, 27-24, in the 2005 Houston Bowl at Reliant Stadium. The Frogs dropped a 28-9 decision to Texas A&M at the Astrodome in the 2001 galleryfurniture.com Bowl.
• TCU and Houston are facing each other for the first time since a 34-27 Frog victory in Fort Worth in 2004. It was the final season for TCU in Conference USA before departing for the Mountain West Conference.
• The Frogs are looking to win three straight bowl games for just the second time in their history and the first time since their first three bowl games (1936-39).
• The Texas Bowl has the only postseason match-up of teams from the same state.
  
• The Frogs and Cougars will meet for the 25th time. Only the Chick-fil-A Bowl, with Auburn and Clemson facing each other for the 46th time, has two opponents who have played more frequently than TCU and Houston.

BOWL HISTORY

• TCU is making its 23rd appearance in a bowl game. The Frogs are 9-12-1 in their previous 22 bowl appearances.
• Five of TCU’s nine bowl victories have come since head coach Gary Patterson came to TCU in 1998 as defensive coordinator. Prior to his arrival, the Frogs had four bowl victories in a history that dates back to 1896.
• The Frogs are 5-3 in bowls with Patterson on staff and 3-3 with him as head coach. Patterson took over as head coach a week prior to the 2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl.
  
• Before a 1998 Sun Bowl win over USC, in Patterson’s first year at TCU, the Frogs had gone 41 seasons without a bowl victory since defeating Jim Brown and Syracuse 28-27 in the 1957 Cotton Bowl.

SERIES HISTORY

• TCU trails Houston 13-11 in a series that started when the Cougars began Southwest Conference play in 1976. The Texas Bowl represents the first time the teams have met in a non-conference setting.
• The Frogs have won their last seven games with the Cougars. The streak includes the last three meetings in Southwest Conference play (1993-95) as well as the four seasons (2001-04) when both teams were in Conference USA.
  
• TCU was 7-13 versus Houston in the SWC (1976-95) and 4-0 in C-USA (2001-04).
  
• The Frogs dropped their first eight meetings with the Cougars before posting their first victory in the series by a 21-14 score in 1984.
  
• TCU is 5-7 against Houston in Houston and 6-6 in Fort Worth.

From HOUSTON
TIME TO GO BOWLING
For the fourth time in the last five years, the University of Houston will play in a postseason bowl game. On Dec. 28, the Cougars will square off with a familiar foe, TCU, in the 2nd Annual Texas Bowl.

Houston and the Horned Frogs were members of the Southwest Conference from 1976 until 1995 and then were mates of Conference USA from 2001-04.

Houston is looking to snap a seven-game bowl losing streak when it takes on the Frogs, having not won a post-season affair since a 35-0 win over Navy in the 1980 Garden State Bowl.

Even though the Cougars enter the TCU game with 7-9-1 overall record in bowl games, Houston can enjoy the fact that it is “bowling” for the third straight season ...success the Cougars haven’t seen since the late 70s.

MOVING IN ON A MILESTONE
Following its 35-28 win over Conference USA rival Marshall on Nov. 17, UH moved closer to a milestone that it has not reached in nearly two decades.

With a win over Texas Southern during the regular-season finale, the Cougars posted an 8-4 overall record and guarantee their second straight winning season.

UH has not recorded back-to-back winning seasons since 1989-90.

It also will mark the third straight non-losing season under former head coach Art Briles. The 2005 Cougar team posted a 6-6 record.

TAKING ON TEXAS
For the first time in school history, the University of Houston will take on a fellow member of the State of Texas in a post-season bowl game. The Cougar-Horned Frog matchup on Dec. 28 is the first time in 18 bowl games that Houston will face a Lone Star State school.

Now, this Texas Bowl is not the first time the Cougars have played a post-season affair in their home state. Houston has played nine bowl games in Texas and have posted a 4-4-1 record.

TAKING ON THE MOUNTAIN WEST
Having not faced a team from the Mountain West Conference prior to this season, the Cougars will now take on their second MWC squad in 2007.

Back on Sept. 22, the Cougars rallied for a 38-27 win over Colorado State in Houston’s first-ever game against the Mountain West Conference.

Now, with old foe TCU rolling into the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28, the Cougars will face its second team from the league out “West.”

NEW FACE LEADING THE COUGARS
With Art Briles departing Houston for Baylor on Nov. 28, the Cougars will be led by assistant coach Chris Thurmond in the interim. Then, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin takes over as the new head coach (See stories - Houston Hires Sumlin; Briles To Baylor)

A 25-year veteran of college coaching, Thurmond has spent two seasons with the Cougars...both years ending in bowl games.

IMPRESSIVE FINISHES IN CONFERENCE PLAY
For the second consecutive season, the Houston Cougars finished with a winning record in Conference USA play, tying Tulsa atop the West Division with a 6-2 mark.

With five straight wins to conclude the 2006 regular season, the University of Houston matched its best-ever conference record with its 7-1 stanza in 2006.

Houston posted a 7-1 mark in league play on four other occasions, recorded 6-2 three times and one 5-2-1 mark. Five times those finishes resulted in the Cougars winning the conference championship. On two occasions, including this season, Houston reached the postseason. The other two times in 1989-90, Houston was on probation and finished second to Texas.