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Wednesday, August 27, 1997

Houston full of confidence for opener against Tide

By RAY MELICK / Scripps Howard News Service

For the record, the song is "Yea, Alabama" -- and not many Crimson Tide fans know the words, either.

So it's no slap in the face when Houston Coach Kim Helton says, "There is a tremendous amount of respect from our team to their team, but not an over-amount of respect. We're not going to go sing all the accolades of Alabama. I don't even know the Alabama fight song."

However, Crimson Tide fans hope that, like so many before him, when Helton's Houston Cougars leave Birmingham's Legion Field Saturday afternoon, they'll at least know the tune by heart.

Alabama opens the Mike DuBose head coaching era Saturday against defending Conference USA champion Houston at Legion Field. The Tide is coming off a 10-3 record, while the Cougars went 7-4 a year ago, their first winning season since 1990, first bowl bid (Liberty Bowl) in eight years, and the first Conference USA football championship in the first year of a C-USA football season.

All those "firsts," plus returning 43 lettermen, have the Cougars confident, if not cocky, going into the season opener against defending SEC West champion Alabama (10-3 a year ago).

"I think, overall, we're a little bit stronger than (Alabama)," Houston senior center Brian Fricke said. "I don't think we're as fast. But I'd be surprised if they could physically match up against us.

"We believe we can beat teams like that. When you start winning, you start believing in yourself. To beat Alabama, we have to believe we can win."

Win? Who said anything about winning? Alabama doesn't schedule opening games against people it can't beat.

Well, if you don't count that Southern Miss game in 1990.

Which means Houston is expected to join the ranks of Temple, Vanderbilt, Tulane, UT- Chattanooga, and Bowling Green, the five teams Alabama has opened the past six seasons against, winning all six by a combined 193-73 score.

Cougar senior defensive end Rusty Foster is every bit as confident, just a little more careful.

"If we can open up by beating Alabama, that will give us a lot of confidence," he said. "And confidence is the key to everything.

"I have no doubt if we play our game, we'll win. We have the talent."

The veteran talent is on defense, where Houston returns three starting down linemen in senior ends Foster and Leonta Rheams, and senior nose tackle Antoine Simpson.

Four starters return at linebacker, as well, in junior Louis Hampton, senior Mike Parker, senior Vaughn Washington and senior Jason Brown.

And sophomores Williams Fields and Malik Ledbetter and junior Stedmon Forman return in the secondary.

They will be lining up in a new base defense, a 3-4, under first- year defensive coordinator Gary Bartel, who has been the secondary coach at Houston for the last three seasons. The Cougars were last in C-USA in total defense last season, allowing 394.5 yards and 28.3 points per game.

Dan Lounsbury begins his first season as offensive coordinator, replacing current Alabama offensive line coach Neil Callaway. Lounsbury was the quarterback coach for each of the past three seasons, and is noy expected to change much from Houston's offense of a year ago, which led C-USA in scoring at 31.3 points a game.

"Our talent is in our youth," Helton said. "Our ability is in our defense. We need to excel defensively. Offensively, we need to produce and grow up by the third or fourth game of the year."

To most people, Houston's winning season last year was a fluke. The Cougars were not picked to repeat as C-USA champions.

"You play as terrible as Houston did for that many years, then you win one year, and you have to expect it to be called a fluke," Foster said. "But we know what it is. We'll take care of our business."

Foster's business is making sure "Yea, Alabama" isn't played so often that Helton can't get it off his mind.

"It would be a great feeling," Fricke said. "It would be something I'd remember for the rest of my life, to go to Alabama and beat them."

Even if he can't recall the fight song.

(Ray Melick writes for The Post-Herald in Birmingham, Ala.)