OTD In 1976: The Dad’s Day Massacre

The Memorial Stadium scoreboard after the 30-0 shutout / The Houstonian Yearbook

On this day in 1976, the Houston Cougars beat Texas 30-0 at Memorial Stadium in what has become known as the Dad’s Day Massacre. The UH victory ended the Longhorns’ 42-game home winning streak and is, to this day, their last time to be shutout in Austin.

Texas finished with just 24 yards rushing and 121 total yards, their second-worst total since 1943.

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.”

Pressed further by Austin media about why he didn’t choose Texas, Whitley shot down all speculation.

“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.”

Photo Gallery: Houston 30, Texas 0

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The crowd of 77,809 (the largest crowd at Memorial Stadium at the time) never saw UT get into the red zone. The Mad Dog Defense forced four fumbles 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.”

The 30-0 loss was UT’s last shutout at home (over 240 games). And until a 24-0 loss at Iowa State in 2015, it was UT’s most recent shutout anywhere.

I took this photo of my tv, coincidentally, on November 6th of 2010. UT was getting shut out in the 4th quarter by Kansas State (they lost 39-14). Not sure why I kept it.

Stats & Photo Gallery – Nov 6, 1976

Scoring Summary

(better sideways on a mobile)

                            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

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