HOUSTON “”mdash; Greetings from Houston’s Robertson Stadium. My photographer and I walked around the stadium Friday night and saw this odd photo I attached. The grounds people were finishing up preparing the stadium and, apparently, the scoreboard, which read Houston-21, UCLA-7. Perhaps a bit of wishful thinking on the Cougars’ part. Now to my keys to the game.
Limit Houston quarterback Case Keenum
This could pass for all three keys, but I’ll spare you the repetition. It’s up to the Bruin defensive front seven to get constant pressure on the sixth-year senior and force him to throw the ball before he’s ready. They did so a year ago, forcing two interceptions. No one knows the importance of this one than the head man himself, coach Rick Neuheisel.
“He’s got so much experience, he’s going to be able to get the ball out,” he said. “We’ve got to mix things up for him. It’s going to be a great challenge for our defense.”
Control the ground game
Neuheisel and everyone around the program keeps saying the pistol attack is improved in year two with the hiring of pistol specialist and running game coordinator Jim Mastro. But pistol version 1.0 worked pretty well against the Cougars a year ago. Look for UCLA to try to establish the run early and often.
Win the turnover battle
This is always a key to any game, but the Bruins need to get off on the right foot in 2011. They were minus-11 in the turnover ratio last season. With an unquestionably deeper defense, forcing takeaways is a must. Houston has three running backs that could get touches, so establishing a rhythm could be difficult.