sustained in a car crash in Rio de Janeiro on Friday morn

The Houston Cougars survived Cincinnati on a short week thanks to a stellar performance from quarterback Greg Ward Jr.Unlike the last big Cougars win, however, Ward wont be following that with a week on the sidelines when they travel to San Marcos, Texas, to take on Texas State at Jim Wacker Field at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday night.Ward, who finds himself in the conversation for the Heisman Trophy after passing for 321 yards and two touchdowns in Houstons 33-23 season opening upset of then No. 3-ranked Oklahoma, took a lot of hits in the 40-16 win over the Bearcats last Thursday night.The No. 6 Cougars won despite struggling most of the way, and the lopsided final score doesnt reflect how the game was played. Houston trailed 16-12 early in the fourth quarter before scoring the final 28 points on two Ward touchdown runs and two defensive scores.Credit to the leaders on the team, Cougars coach Tom Herman said. We were down by four points in the fourth quarter, and there wasnt a difference on the sideline as if we were up by 16 on Oklahoma.Ward sat out the Lamar game two weeks ago to rest his shoulder after the victory over Oklahoma. But as Herman noted in his weekly press conference, this weeks opponent, Texas State (1-1), is not Lamar. Its a quality foe that the Cougars cant look past, so Ward will take it easier in practice during the week in order to be ready to go on Saturday.Hes one of the best competitors Ive ever been around, and hes taken a lot of big hits in his day, Herman said. Once he got hit in the shoulder, yeah it hurt, but did his arm fall off? No. Was he able to throw another pass? Yes. That kind of gave him some confidence, like hey what these doctors and coaches have been telling me is true.Ward, who owns a nations best streak of 16 straight wins as a starter, went through a full practice Sunday, including a 7-on-7 session that he threw a bunch and threw it well.Its a volume thing, not what kinds of throws, Herman added. If he feels like its too much then well settle down, and if he feels like he can handle it well give him everything he can handle.It will be a challenging week for the Cougars, and not just because Texas State opened with a victory over Ohio before dropping a decision to Arkansas. Former Houston director of football recruiting Adrian Mayes is now the offensive line coach for coach Everett Withers at Texas State.That will be a big challenge for us, Herman said. We are having to change every signal, call and check. We are trying to get ready to win a game, and yet we are having to spend this amount of time to mask what we are doing. Its not a matter of only changing the plays. Its a matter of what we are calling our plays, how we are communicating and signaling them.Herman and Withers have their own history together, at previous coaching stops at Texas and Ohio State.(We worked together) two years (at Ohio State), and way back when I was a graduate assistant at Texas he was a DB coach there, Herman said. I consider him a close friend. My wife and his wife are really close friends. They got to know each other quite a bit in Columbus and continue to talk to this day. We were excited when Everett got the opportunity to move back to the great state of Texas and excited to see him off to a good start.Texas State opened the season and the Withers era with a 56-54 triple overtime win at Ohio. The Bobcats fell behind 35-0 at halftime in an eventual 42-3 loss at Arkansas last week.Although Ward gets most of the national attention, Houstons defense has been a major reason for the hot start. The Cougars lead the nation in rushing defense, allowing an average of just 38.3 yards per game, and held Oklahomas potent ground game to just 70 yards. Senior linebacker Steven Taylor leads the unit and has 5.5 sacks through three games, as well as an interception return for a touchdown. Cheap Shoes Online Australia . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. Clearance Shoes Online Australia . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. http://www.shoescheapaustralia.com/ . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Shoes Online Australia Discount . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. Cheap Wholesale Shoes Australia . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Germanys canoe slalom coach Stefan Henze has died as a result of the head injuries he sustained in a car crash in Rio de Janeiro on Friday morning, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has announced.The 35-year-old was travelling back to the athletes village in a taxi with Cristian Katini, a sports scientist on the team, when they hit a concrete barrier head on.Henze, a former Olympian who won a silver medal in the canoe slalom C2 at the 2004 Games in Athens, was taken to the nearest hospital for emergency brain surgery and his condition was described as critical.DOSB announced his death in a statement on its website, saying: The coach of the German cannoe slalom team at the Olympic Games succumbed to his head injuries in the presence of his family.ddddddddddddDOSB president Alfons Hormann said: We are very sad today. Words cannot describe approximately what we feel in the Olympic team after this terrible loss.IOC president Thomas Bach said: The IOC is mourning the loss of a true Olympian. Our sympathy is with the family of Stefan Henze, his friends and all of the German Olympic Team. We will honour his memory tomorrow by lowering all the German flags at Olympic Venues to half-mast. ' ' '