Duck season will arrive early for a pack of victory-hungry Cougars.

The hunt will begin during the University of Houston’s home football opener against the University of Oregon (UO) Ducks at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, at Reliant Stadium in a nationally televised game on ESPN2.

“I encourage everyone to experience the fun of plucking the Oregon Ducks,” said Dave Maggard, UH athletics director. “Being at this game in person will be instrumental in encouraging your home team to defeat one of the strongest teams in the Pacific 10 conference for the last decade.”

Starting Monday, each UH student can receive a free ticket at the UH Athletics ticket office in the Athletics/Alumni Center. Or a student can claim a ticket by showing his or her Cougar1 card at Reliant Stadium’s northeast Coca-Cola gate the day of the game. The first 1,500 UH students will receive duck calls.

UH System faculty, staff (and students) can receive tickets $5 off of tickets priced at $25 and $15. To purchase tickets, the UHS community can visit the Ticketmaster Web site and use the password FACULTY. Tickets can also be purchased at the UH Athletics ticket office in the Athletics/Alumni Center and by presenting a special flyer from the Web site http://www.advancement.uh.edu/uh_vs_oregon/ at the UH Athletics Ticket Office or at the Reliant Stadium south ticket windows.

As with every UH home game, the fun begins in the parking lot. Tailgating is permitted at Reliant Stadium and groups or organizations wanting to secure a spot can contact James Nicas, assistant athletics director of development, at 713-743-3793 or jnicas@uh.edu.

This will be the first time since 1983 that UH has played UO in football. The game will be somewhat of a prelude to a challenging season for the Cougars as they face rivals they have not played in years. Among them is the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) on Sept. 16, whom UH will play in a televised game on ESPN2 in El Paso. The Coogs last clashed with UTEP 57 years ago.

Other season highlights is the return of Southern Methodist University to Robertson Stadium on Nov. 12 and the annual clash with Rice University on Nov. 26 in Robertson.

For a schedule of all games and ticket information, visit http://uhcougars.collegesports.com/.

“The 2005 Cougar football team is your home team,” Maggard said. “We expect to be a greatly improved team over last year. I hope everyone in the UH community will join us to share in the fun and excitement of Cougar football this season.”

Mike Emery
memery@central.uh.edu