Can you spot the stadium in this photo? (HoustonFootballStadium.com)

By Holly Anderson

The Houston Cougars’ football stadium is currently a big pile of concrete scheduled to be operational in time for the 2014 season. Houston has seven home games scheduled for 2013, four of which will be played in Reliant Stadium, three of which the Texans aren’t accommodating. That leaves the Cougars … where?

Working with the Houston Texans and Reliant Stadium, we have finalized the logistics of four games and have confirmed they will be played in Reliant Stadium – Aug. 30 vs. Southern, Sept. 21 vs. Rice, Oct. 19 vs. BYU and Oct. 31 vs. USF.

We continue to work around the clock with Reliant Stadium, the NFL and other entities to finalize the location for our three remaining home games – Oct. 12 vs. Memphis, Nov. 23 vs. Cincinnati and Nov. 29 vs. SMU.

Venue options abound in the area. In addition to the Cougars, Houston is home to the MLS’ Dynamo and the Rice Owls, both of which could be potential replacement home game sites, a UH spokesman said. But where would be the fun in any of that, really? Our suggestions for the Cougars’ dates with Memphis, Cincinnati and SMU:

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Once pegged as a future star at USC, wideout Markeith Ambles is headed to Houston. (Marin Media/Cal Sport Media)

By Zac Ellis

A former blue-chip prospect appears to have found his way back into major college football. Bruce Feldman of CBSSports.com reported Monday that former five-star wide receiver Markeith Ambles, a onetime USC Trojan, has signed with Houston.

Ambles originally committed to Lane Kiffin at Tennessee but flipped to USC after Kiffin accepted the Trojans’ head coaching job in 2010. The Atlanta native left the USC program just before the 2011 season after a tenure in Los Angeles that included several off-field incidents, including brief a departure from the team in 2010. Ambles made his way to Arizona Western junior college in 2012, catching 44 passes for 757 yards and six touchdowns.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this story comes when considering what the USC receiving corps could have become had Ambles remained in L.A. Partnering Ambles with the likes of Marqise Lee, who led the nation in receptions and was second in receiving yards in 2012, and the departed Robert Woods, a preseason Heisman candidate last season, could have deepened an already explosive group of wideouts. That doesn’t even mention Kyle Prater, Rivals’ No. 1 overall receiver from the 2010 recruiting class, who transferred to Northwestern in January after two banged-up years with USC.

While we’re on the subject, here’s a look back at the top 10 receivers from the ’10 recruiting class, and what they’re doing now:

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Long before Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin walked the Houston sidelines, Jack Pardee was the mastermind behind memorable Cougars’ offenses. (AP)

Former Texas A&M standout, enthusiastic NFL opponent-hitter and journeyman football coach Jack Pardee died Monday in Denver from gallbladder cancer, at the age of 76. If you’ve been reading us for any length of time you know how we love prolific offenses, so you can probably guess how we feel about Jack Pardee.

Much has been written and will be written about Pardee’s time with Bear Bryant, and his memorable offenses with the Houston Cougars, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the variety of football spectacles his teams produced as he rambled from league to league. From Jeff Pearlman at SI, in 2010:

With the Bears, he had no quarterback, no receivers, a so-so offensive line … and Walter Payton. “So we ran and ran and ran and ran,” he says. “When you have Walter Payton, it’s not a hard choice.” Less than a decade later, however, Pardee’s former Bear players were shocked to see their coach guiding the high-flying, run ‘n’ gun Gamblers, who lit up the USFL behind quarterback Jim Kelly and a gaggle of water bug wideouts. “It was very surprising,” says Bob Avellini, a former Bears quarterback. “I never thought Jack Pardee had that in him.”

He did because that’s what the personnel dictated. His teams at the University of Houston were equally dynamic and high-flying, mainly because the quarterback was an unparalleled gunner named Andre Ware. “Boy, that was fun,” Pardee says.

Boy, wasn’t it. Farewell, pointsplosion progenitor.

It’s like our granddad always said, “Call the touchdown play first, or lose to Texas State at home in Week 1.” (AP)

Houston is auctioning off what it’s calling the “Ultimate Spring Game Experience,” which consists of reserved parking for the spring game, seats at the staff table for the pregame meal, facetime with Tony Levine, and then some light playcalling (emphasis added):

The winner and guest will then head out to Carl Lewis Field to pick up their two VIP field passes and take in pregame activities before meeting with Meacham and picking the first offensive play of the spring game. UHCougars.com recommends picking a touchdown.

We’re not making assumptions about how all your mothers behaved at sporting events, but ours was the “RUN THE TOUCHDOWN PLAY” type, and she’d look awfully fetching in red and white.

Winning bidder must be a University of Houston fan and supporter and must dress and act accordingly and in a professional and courteous manner while participating in this experience.

Well, hell. Still, it’s a good meditation to take into the weekend: Always call the touchdown play first.

In the dystopian future of the Big East, BBVA Compass Bowl trophies will be a highly valued currency. (AP)

• “Group of five” still just sounds so ominous. Jeremy Fowler reports on the coalescing system the Big East, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt are working on to distribute playoff revenue from the new postseason system:

In this proposed system, more than half the group’s roughly $86-million playoff pot would be distributed among the Big East, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and Sun Belt as guaranteed base shares, according to a source with direct knowledge of the discussions. The source expects those shares to be evenly split, but added discussions are ongoing. The second tier pays out based on a conference’s body of work — the top conference gets the highest amount, then “X” amount for the next-rated conference, and on down. The third tier pays a kicker to the conference with the highest-ranked team, which is guaranteed an access bowl bid or, if among the top-four teams in the country, a semifinal berth in the playoff.

• Harbros’ early broing days. Check out Dan Wetzel’s tale of relatively wee Harbaughs recruiting youngsters to their dad’s team at Western Kentucky, including an appearance by one Willie Taggart.

• Exactly how you would’ve guessed. Former Miami Hurricanes make up the biggest slice of Super Bowl roster pie charts, but two of the next five teams on that list are … Marshall and Utah? Marshall and Utah! Go ThunderUtes!

• From the no-jokes department. Compelling story via OTL on UCLA researchers and evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in living football players.

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Five-star defensive end recruit Dee Liner has made a beeline away from Auburn. (Icon SMI)

• IMPORTANT DEE LINER, D-LINER NEWS. We did promise you at the end of the season that we wouldn’t get mired too deep in recruiting antics, not being super interested in prospects until they actually take the field in August, but exceptions will always be made for defensive ends named Dee Liner. Liner, a five-star prospect from Muscle Shoals who’s ranked by Rivals as the second-best overall recruit at his position, has decommitted from Auburn, citing the loss of his relationships with Gene Chizik and Trooper Taylor. This has been a public service announcement to remind you all that there is a defensive prospect out there named Dee Liner. Thank you.

• Coach-hirin’ follies! Coordinators snapped up by new schools since we last typed in this here box: Bill Cubit (OC) at Illinois, Josh Conklin (DC) at FIU, David Gibbs (DC) at Houston and — reportedly — Scot Loeffler at Virginia Tech.

• Roster blotter. Roster moves and non-moves since we last typed in this here box: Notre Dame’s Cierre Wood intends to turn pro; Oklahoma’s Aaron Colvin will return; Houston’s Charles Sims is staying a Cougar for one more year; and Nebraska’s Sean Fisher is forgoing a possible sixth season of eligibility in favor of medical school, the little scamp.

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There is no such thing as a compelling photo of NCAA COI deliberations, so here is Sebastian in a vaguely menacing posture. (AP)

Assorted items of varying degrees of interest which you may have missed while grudgingly watching playoff football and sending surly tweets to the Golden Globes:

• The NCAA is Lucy, and Miami football is the football, and we are Charlie Brown running toward it, or something? This metaphor holds up only to demonstrate how very much we wish for this all to be over, but here we go: The Miami Herald is calling the release of NCAA allegations against the Hurricanes football program “imminent,” just short of the investigation’s two-year anniversary. Bylaw Blogger John Infante lays out all the ways this process could still be stalled, and how the Miami case might affect Oregon’s.

• Mike Stoops also a fan of Hi Haters Friday! Friday night, 6:06 p.m., Tulsa World‘s John E. Hoover posts a transcript excerpt of a Mike Stoops radio interview, specifically a question regarding Johnny Football: “They’re gonna be tough to deal with. If they can keep him out of jail or keep him eligible, he’s gonna be pretty good.” Friday night, 10:37 p.m., Tulsa World post headline: “Mike Stoops regrets controversial comments on Manziel.” Had Stoops’ defense possessed that kind of on-the-fly adaptability in the Cotton Bowl, perhaps Manziel would not have scored four touchdowns against it, PAAAOWL.

• Roster blotter. In better news for Miami: Seantrel Henderson, Brandon Linder and Curtis Porter announced Monday morning they all intend to return to the ‘Canes in 2013 … in even better news for Profiteroles fans, Dri Archer will stay on for his senior season at Kent State … Iowa State quarterback Jared “That Kid Who Beat Oklahoma State” Barnett and linebacker C.J. Morgan intend to transfer … Texas defensive tackle Brandon Moore will enter the draft … also declaring is USC corner Nickell Robey, whom we will dearly miss watching because of his too-perfect defensive name … Oregon linebacker Anthony Wallace will transfer … Case McCoy and Jordan Hicks have been reinstated at Texas … and Casey Pachall returns to the Horned Frogs.

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What glories yet await Cory Dorris and the Golden Hurricane as Conference USA play continues? (AP)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome.

Tis the season for car commercials with big-ass bows and conference math. We attempted to explain, in bewildering detail, how the MAC races could shake out from here in our Wednesday night MACtion preview. We are here to inform you (with some glee, as we adore late-season chaos) that the MAC has far from the most convoluted conference race situation at the moment. Very quickly, the current states of the remaining non-AQ conference races, as teams not named Navy or BYU begin to prettify themselves for postseason suitors:

• Conference USA: Two teams with perfect 6-0 league play records top the two divisions: Central Florida in the East and Tulsa in the West. After Saturday, one squad’s record will bear some blemish when the two clash in Tulsa, but don’t expect that to affect the race. The Knights have only UAB to clear after that in the regular season, and hold a head-to-head advantage over East Carolina, the only other team in the division with fewer than three conference losses. Tulsa’s championship game aspirations could still be spoiled with a loss tonight and another at SMU November 24, assuming the Mustangs (4-2 in league play) beat Rice in the meantime.

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“Why, yes, this legal pad IS made entirely out of recycled hundred-dollar bills,” Bill Hancock is probably thinking here. (AP)

• Don’t run. We are your friends. SI.com’s Stewart Mandel was in Denver for the playoff meetings Monday and returned with a full report on the near future of college football:

“There will be plenty of money for everybody,” said Hancock. “The bottom line is more.”

Click through for actual details of the approved postseason format and the bowls and spoils in question.

• Roster blotter. Oregon has lost safety Avery Patterson and Tennessee has lost linebacker Curt Magitt, both to torn ACLs. In happier news, an update from Houston on defensive back D.J. Hayden tells us Hayden has been released from the hospital following his freak heart injury sustained last week in practice. The Cougars’ team physician, Walter Lowe, had this to say in a school release:

“Looking at the whole course of events and the severity of the injury, D.J. has progressed remarkably well and is out a lot sooner than expected. He’s got a lot of healing left to do as the procedure to repair the inferior vena cava is much like a heart transplant. The sternum should take around three months to heal and D.J. is expected to be able to resume normal activities without contact in three-to-four months.”

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Florida State cheerleaders present the Noles’ and Hokies’ 2012 turnover margins in interpretive dance. (The girl at the top who is flying away represents the ball.) (AP)

• No. 8 Florida State 28, Virginia Tech 22. Things you need to know about Thursday night’s contest: EJ Manuel saved the game for the ‘Noles on a last-minute 39-yard touchdown connection to Rashad Greene. Virginia Tech linebacker Michael Cole has been diagnosed with a neck sprain after being taken off the field in an ambulance in the third quarter and was to be released from the hospital last night (and is already back on Twitter, if you’d like to send well wishes.) Also, this happened. For more on last night’s ACC clash, click these links:  [BOX | RECAP]

• Arkansas State 45, Louisiana-Monroe 23. Warhawks backup quarterback Cody Wells, starting in place of the injured Kolton Browning, managed to throw for 357 yards, but the Red Wolves are pretty adept at staying ahead on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. Ryan Aplin went 26-of-34 for 334 yards, and David Oku rushed 22 times for 131. Todd Berry spoke afterwards on how injuries to several key players, Browning among them, have affected the Warhawks late in the season:

“It’s been unfortunate, but that’s part of the game. I know one thing, about four weeks ago we were a lot better football team than we are right now. [...] Not to take away anything from [Arkansas State], but right now everybody looks pretty good against us.”

The Red Wolves remain atop the Sun Belt standings along with Middle Tennessee State, each carrying one conference loss. [BOX | RECAP ]

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