FACTS & STATS: Site: Robertson Stadium (32,000) -- Houston, Texas. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: Tulane 2-3, Houston 2-0. Away Record: Tulane 0-3, Houston 2-3. Neutral Record: Tulane 0-0, Houston 0-1. Conference Record: Tulane 1-3, Houston 3-1. Series Record: Houston leads 9-4.

GAME NOTES: The Tulane Green Wave travel to Houston to take on the Cougars this Saturday night at Robertson Stadium in a Conference USA West showdown. The Green Wave enter the game in a tailspin as they have dropped four consecutive decisions and with only one home game left on the docket, are in danger of losing out. Last Saturday, Tulane lost at nationally-ranked LSU, 35-10, and in doing so has now lost 35 consecutive games against ranked opponents with its last win coming back in 1982, against the same Tigers. Houston has been streaky this season. After opening up with a laugher against an inferior Southern University team, the Cougars dropped three consecutive games, including a three-point decision to Air Force, which had been moved to Dallas due to Hurricane Ike. The Cougars responded by reeling off three straight victories against Conference USA opponents, including an impressive 16-point win back on September 27th over East Carolina, which was ranked 23rd in the nation at the time. After beating SMU on October 18th, the Cougars, having not played in 10 days, fell to Marshall in a nationally-televised game. This will only be Houston's third home game of the season and its first in a month. Houston leads the all-time series with Tulane, 9-4, and has won five straight, including last year's 34-10 final in New Orleans.

The Green Wave is averaging 374.1 yards of total offense which ranks them in the top half of the country, however, they have had a rough time putting the ball in the end zone as evidenced by their scoring average of only 18.6 ppg. This ranks them 104th in the nation and second-to-last in C-USA. The ground game has been decent with a 143.0 ypg, but that has been mainly because of Andre Anderson who was averaging 123.4 ypg before injuring his shoulder in the loss to Rice. Anderson is out for the year and his absence was obvious in the recent setback to the Tigers as the Green Wave only gained 72 yards on the ground on 30 carries, 53 of them were by freshman Nathan Austin, who may have to carry the load with Anderson out of action. Tulane did not fare much better through the air as Kevin Moore and Joe Kemp split time at quarterback and were 11-of-23 for an abysmal 84 yards. Moore had been the man for the Green Wave, but he has struggled all season throwing more interceptions (eight) than touchdowns (seven), and coach Bob Toledo may be giving Kemp more snaps as the season winds down.

Defensively, Tulane is ranked 33rd in the nation with 311.9 ypg in total defense which leads C-USA. However, the Green Wave ranks 83rd in the country in scoring defense by allowing 28.8 ppg. The strength of the team on the defensive side of the ball has been the effort against the pass as it is allowing just 164.1 ypg which is 11th best in the nation and leads the league. The defense held true to form against LSU by only allowing 99 passing yards in 20 pass attempts (only eight completions). As good as the Wave were against the pass they did nothing against the run as the Tigers compiled 231 yards on the ground. Big plays have hurt the defense as the unit has forced just 11 turnovers, but the unit did account for the only touchdown against LSU as LB Travis Burks returned an interception for a score. The Green Wave do get pressure on the quarterback as the team is currently second in C-USA with 19 sacks, which ranks them 29th in the nation as well. Kelly Logan leads the team with five sacks.

Offense has not been a problem for the Cougars as they are averaging 529.1 ypg in total offense which is fourth best in the nation and second in C-USA behind only Tulsa, which leads the nation. The majority of the offense is done through the air and on the arm of QB Casey Keenum, as the Cougars are second in the nation in passing behind only second-ranked Texas Tech. In the Cougars' loss to Marshall on October 28th, Keenan had his ninth straight 300-yard passing effort, but he threw two interceptions. Running Back Bryce Beall had a solid game for the Cougars as he had 68 yards on the ground and another 73 through the air and scored two of the team's three offensive touchdowns. The Cougars lost more than just the game to Marshall as freshman wideout Patrick Edwards was injured on a freak accident and is out for the remainder of the season. Edwards had been a major weapon for Keenum with 634 receiving yards on 46 catches and four touchdowns. Edwards was averaging better than 79 ypg which led the Cougars and was the fourth-best average among freshman in the nation. The loss of Edwards will be tough but Keenum and the Cougars should be okay as senior Mark Hafner and freshman Tyrone Carrier both have at least 50 catches and over 500 yards apiece. Keenum has thrown 25 touchdowns and just eight interceptions in 374 attempts, and with over 3,000 yards passing is on his way to surpassing 4,000 yards.

The defense has been the Achilles' heel for the Cougars as they are allowing almost 400 yards (399.9) in total offense a game and are giving up 29.6 ppg which is 94th and 88th in the nation, respectively. The strength of the Houston defense, if there is one, is its passing defense as the unit has allowed 214.8 ypg through the air and held Marshall to just 157 yards passing. The run defense is one of the worst in the nation as team are averaging 185.1 ypg on the ground and the Thundering Herd took advantage of that with 249 yards of their own. Although Houston did not force a turnover against Marshall the team does have 10 interceptions on the year, four by Brandon Brinkley, who also has five pass breakups and 39 tackles. The Cougars have 15 sacks and DE Phillip Hunt has 10 of them. Hunt has been a beast for the Cougars as his 1.25 sacks per game is second-best in the nation and he is the FBS active leader in sacks with 29.5. Hunt also has 12.5 tackles for a loss which places him in the top-five among active leaders in that category.

Houston struggled after a 10-day layoff against Marshall and it will be 11 days between games when it takes on Tulane. With the Cougars returning home for the first time in a month look for them to come out of the gates strong.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Houston 44, Tulane 17