Opener, take four, on track thus far

Rice, Memphis, Baylor give way to N. Texas

Buses were waiting outside. Hotel rooms were booked. The equipment truck was parked 185 miles away in front of McLane Stadium in Waco.

Then came official word Friday, less than 22 hours before kickoff against Baylor, that yet another season opener for the University of Houston had been postponed due to COVID-19 issues.

“It’s disappointing, but we’ve been disappointed before,” UH coach Dana Holgorsen said on a Zoom call with reporters Monday.

Through no fault of its own, UH has been on the receiving end of four games either postponed or canceled during the opening month. Entering this weekend, UH joins 25 FBS schools — among

conferences or independents planning to start the season before October — still waiting to play a game.

“We’re not a whole lot different than about 50 percent of college football right now when it comes to haven’t played a game yet, and we’ve got 10 games on the schedule,” Holgorsen said. “There’s a lot ahead of us.”

Next up is Saturday’s (scheduled) game against North Texas at TDECU Stadium.

It’s the 2020 season opener, take four.

“We’ve been ready to go, and we’ll stay ready to go,” Holgorsen said.

Shifting games on the schedule, cancellations, even finding a new opponent with about a week to prepare are all part of the new

norm of playing college football during a global pandemic.

First came the cancellation in early July of a Week 2 trip to Washington State, after the Pac-12 initially decided to play a conference-only schedule and finally opted to scrap the fall altogether. By early August, Rice pushed back its season — leaving in doubt the annual Bayou Bucket game against UH — until late September, then late October, over COVID-19 concerns. Talks are ongoing whether the two schools can fit the game in later this season.

With six days until the start of the season, the Cougars’ Sept. 18 game at Memphis was postponed due to an outbreak of positive cases within the Tigers program. The two schools mutually agreed to reschedule the game, part of an eight-game American Athletic Conference schedule, for later this season. By the next day, UH had quickly put together a replacement

game with Baylor, along with a future home-andhome series.

That game plan also ended up in the trash can. Baylor had a position group unexpectedly fall under the minimum coronavirus threshold required by the Big 12.

Back in Houston, the Cougars were about two hours from boarding buses for College Station, where the team planned to spend the night.

“How it gets to 22 hours before the game, I don’t know,” Holgorsen said. “There’s a reason our conference and the Big 12 test three times a week. I would think our opponent kind of knows where they are at, just like we kind of know where we were at, to the point where it gets 22 hours before the game.”

Baylor could have played the game but decided to be cautious and follow Big 12 cancellation guidelines, athletic director Mack

Rhoades told reporters Monday.

Holgorsen, meanwhile, indicated UH remains COVID-free and ready to play. Back in June, UH became the first school in the nation to abruptly halt voluntary workouts after six student-athletes tested positive. UH athletic director Chris Pezman said Friday that testing numbers continue to be “exactly what you’d hope for.” The school has provided no updates on testing since early June.

“We’ve had our rough patch,” Holgorsen said. “We went through June … it was really bad here in the city, and we had some hiccups in June. I just think that was a learning process for us.”

Holgorsen said UH’s success with safety protocols can be attributed to player buy-in and access to quality medical resources in the nearby Texas Medical Center.

“We’ve got really good doctor care,” he said. “We are blessed to be close to the medical center. We’ve got really good doctors that are on our side and have given us good advice.

“Our guys just understand how to do things. If we want to play, we have to keep doing it that way. We can’t let our guard down. We can’t relax. Our guys have a routine that they follow. It’s been successful at that point, which is why we’ve been ready to go for two to three weeks.”

UH took Saturday off and returned Sunday to begin preparations for North Texas, a Sept. 26 date that is tied for the third latest to begin a season in the school’s 74-year history.

Holgorsen said the team “buried” the disappointment of not playing Baylor and moved on.

“We’re refocused and ready to go,” he said.