In Houston’s first year in the Southwest Conference, the Cougars hammered Texas 30-0 at Memorial Stadium in Austin. Known as the Dad’s Day Massacre, the blowout ended the Longhorns’ 42-game home winning streak. It was the last time Texas was shut out in Austin, a streak currently standing at 273 games.
Houston’s first score came thanks to a 17-play, 79-yard touchdown drive. The Cougars converted two fourth downs and took nearly seven minutes off the clock before quarterback Danny Davis found Alois Blackwell on, as the play-by-play says, a “late pitch to Davis’ wide right, perfect timing as he goes for HOUSTON TOUCHDOWN.”
A late field goal made it 10-0 at the half.
Out of the break, the Cougars thoroughly dominated the final 30 minutes, scoring on four of their first five drives (with a missed FG attempt).
Texas fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, and UH recovered. The Cougars got to the one-yard line before settling for a field goal. After a Longhorn punt, the Cougars went 14 plays but again had to kick. Another quick UT punt and the Coogs then went 11 plays for a touchdown. Wilson Whitley caught a fumble in mid-air on the next Texas possession, but the Cougars missed a field goal. UT went three and out again. Starting from their own 20, Houston started ripping off big chunks. On third-and-six, QB Danny Davis went left, broke into the open field, and scored from 28 yards away. The kick made it 30-0.
The Cougars ran for 194 yards in the second half while controlling the clock for 24 of the final 30 minutes.
Texas finished the game with just 24 yards rushing and 121 total yards. Defensive linemen Vincent Greenwood, Guy Brown, Ross Echols, Melvin Jones, Robert Oglesby, and Wilson Whitley formed an iron wall that blew up UT’s wishbone.
“We felt we could beat them this badly,” Wilson Whitley said. “Their winning streak didn’t scare us. We wanted to be the ones to break it.”
The Austin media could not believe a great player like Whitley did not choose UT. Pressed about it further, Whitley patiently explained his reasoning.
“I never even considered coming to Texas. I made a wise decision to go to Houston, and I’ve waited to show these people at Texas that I’m as good as any defensive tackle in this league,” Whitley said. “My only year to get to play in the Southwest Conference, and I’m glad to be part of a great team like we have.”
The crowd of 77,809 (the largest crowd at Memorial Stadium at the time) never saw UT enter the red zone. The Mad Dog Defense forced four fumbles (three recovered) and intercepted two UT passes. Johnny ‘Lam’ Jones, who had won a gold medal in the ’76 Summer Olympics before entering UT as a freshman, ran for 22 yards on 14 carries.
“Houston whipped up on everybody that year. They came in and terrorized the conference,” Jones remembered. “Wilson Whitley won the Lombardi Trophy that year, but it wasn’t just him. Their whole team was really good. They were tough.”
Until a 24-0 loss at Iowa State in 2015, it was UT’s most recent shutout anywhere. The 42-game home winning streak stretched back nine seasons, but when asked about it, Coach Bill Yeoman was unfazed.
“We have played in most of the great mythical stadiums. We’ve been between the hedges in Georgia. We’ve been in Oxford, Mississippi, and East Lansing, Michigan. And our players realize that no bleacher, no wall, no grandstand seat is going to come out and make a tackle. When you have this level of understanding, you just go out and play a football game.”
“We weren’t in the football game today ever at any point,” Texas coach Darrell Royal said. “We lost to a much better team as we lined up today. We were totally dominated.” Royal would retire at the end of the season, having gone 0-1-1 against Yeoman.
Photo Gallery: Houston 30, Texas 0
Scoring Summary and Game Stats
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Scoring Summary (Final)
1976 University of Texas Football
#19 Houston vs #20 Texas (Nov 6, 1976 at Austin, Texas)
Houston (6-2,5-1) vs. Texas (3-3-1,2-2)
Date: Nov 6, 1976 Site: Austin, Texas Stadium: Memorial Stadium
Attendance: 77809
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Houston............. 7 3 6 14 - 30
Texas............... 0 0 0 0 - 0
1st quarter
02:47 UH Davis 7 run (Coplin kick) 7 - 0
17 plays, 79 yards, TOP 6:52
2nd quarter
00:36 UH Coplin 30 FG 10 - 0
4 plays, 15 yards, TOP 0:27
3rd quarter
11:35 UH Coplin 20 FG 13 - 0
7 plays, 22 yards, TOP 3:20
02:58 UH Coplin 32 FG 16 - 0
14 plays, 75 yards, TOP 5:54
4th quarter
11:28 UH Lynch 1 run (Coplin kick) 23 - 0
11 plays, 65 yards, TOP 4:37
03:51 UH Davis 28 run (Coplin kick) 30 - 0
7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:22
Kickoff time: 3:30 pm End of Game: Total elapsed time:
Officials:
Temperature: 71 deg. Wind: S 15 mph Weather: 40% humidity
Team Statistics
Team Statistics (Final)
1976 University of Texas Football
#19 Houston vs #20 Texas (Nov 6, 1976 at Austin, Texas)
UH UT
FIRST DOWNS................... 19 8
Rushing..................... 13 3
Passing..................... 6 5
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 267 24
Rushing Attempts............ 62 36
Average Per Rush............ 4.3 0.7
Rushing Touchdowns.......... 3 0
Yards Gained Rushing........ 267 71
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 0 47
NET YARDS PASSING............. 103 97
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 7-17-0 7-18-2
Average Per Attempt......... 6.1 5.4
Average Per Completion...... 14.7 13.9
Passing Touchdowns.......... 0 0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 370 121
Total offense plays......... 79 54
Average Gain Per Play....... 4.7 2.2
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 2-1 4-3
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 12-105 5-26
PUNTS-YARDS................... 5-234 8-351
Average Yards Per Punt...... 46.8 43.9
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 40.6 43.1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 1-6-0 4-31-0
Average Per Return.......... 6.0 7.8
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 2-54-0 0-0-0
Possession Time............... 34:23 25:37
PAT Kicks..................... 3-3 0-0
Field Goals................... 3-4 0-0