Friday will be the 25th time Houston and Tulane play football as conference mates and the 27th time overall (a regular season game in 1968 and in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in 1973 – both blowout UH wins). The Cougars are 19-7 all-time against the Green Wave.
Since joining C-USA together in 1996, the teams have played in:
The Superdome (6 times; most recently, 2011)
The Astrodome (1997)
Robertson (7; most recently, 2012)
Tad Gormley (2003)
Cajun Field (2005)
Yulman Stadium (4)
TDECU (5 including 9/30/2022)
Texas Tech is the only other school UH has played in seven different stadiums (Rice Stadium, Jones Stadium, Astrodome, Alamodome, Robertson, TDECU, NRG).
Houston’s last 5 QB starts in the Superdome: Jason McKinley (98), Jason McKinley (2000), Case Keenum (2007), Case Keenum (2009), Case Keenum (2011).
Undefeated all-time against Tulane:
Bill Yeoman (2-0)
Art Briles (5-0)
Kevin Sumlin (4-0)
Tom Herman (2-0)
Undefeated against Houston:
Tommy Bowden (2-0)
.500 or worse against Tulane:
Kim Helton (2-2)
Dana Dimel (0-2)
Tony Levine (1-1)
Major Applewhite (1-1)
Only other coach to play them: Dana Holgorsen (2-1)
In the last 18 games in the series (since 2003), UH has scored 40+ eleven times.
In that same span, Tulane has scored 40 just once (in a 45-42 loss in 2003).
Some notable games:
Tulane beat UH in 1998, 48-20, in the Superdome to clinch the C-USA title. They would end up going 12-0 that season.
UH won the next year, 36-31, but not before nearly giving up a 17-point halftime lead. Ketric Sanford fumbled for the first time in 385 touches.
UH and Tulane missed each other in 2001 – both could have used the W (the 0-11 Cougars more).
The 2003 game at Tad Gormley Stadium inside City Park in New Orleans was a rainy, goofy mess with MTV taping a “spring break” show with hip hop duo Outkast on a rainy October day. Tulane’s offense scored 35 in the second half and had the ball at midfield with time running out, but a Joe Clay sack ended the game.
The 2005 game was moved to Lafayette due to Hurricane Katrina’s effects on the city and specifically the Superdome. UH won it at Cajun Field, 35-14.
In the second game in UH’s 2006 C-USA title run, UH had 244 yards on the ground and 377 in the air (compared to 224 yards total for Tulane) in a 45-7 route.
Case Keenum threw his second-ever touchdown pass in the 2007 game in the Superdome, UH’s first trip there since 2000. He would throw some more. It was also the coldest game ever indoors in college football history.*
*estimated
Keenum went off for 4 TDs in 2009, a week before the Coogs hung 70 on Todd Graham and #24 Tulsa.
A week after Keenum tore his ACL against UCLA in 2010, Bryce Beall scored 4 times and had 123 yards rushing as UH beat Tulane for the eighth-straight year.
In 2011, Keenum and the Cougars scored 35 in the 2nd quarter and routed the Greenies, 73-17. Charles Sims ran for over 200 yards that Thursday night and Cotton Turner even threw a touchdown pass.
It was UH’s last game in the Superdome and also the most points ever scored against Tulane there. The 73 points tie the most ever given up in program history (@FSU 1987).
Tony Levine beat Tulane in the season finale in 2012 and then didn’t face them in 2013 as UH made the league switch a year earlier than the Wave. After 10-straight UH wins over the Green Wave, Levine lost to them in 2014, sealing his fate. It was his third-straight Homecoming loss, too.
Despite being at UH just two years, Major Applewhite might have had the most bizarre Twolane games ever. Applewhite and Mark ‘Onofrio allowed Tulane to go on *three* 12+ play drives in the middle of the 2017 game before losing, 20-17. The next year, star QB D’Eriq King tore his ACL just before the half, and moments later, Major caused a national stir after ESPN cameras caught him arguing with Ed Oliver over a jacket.
Dana Holgorsen’s first Tulane game appeared to be heading for overtime, but Tulane faked a knee and hit a TD throw as time expired. King opted out of the season the following Monday, as did receiver Keith Corbin. King announced he was transferring the night of the national title game in January 2020.
Houston has won the last two games easily.
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