Is it a rivalry? And great sports pages from UH/UT history

October 19, 2023

Is it a rivalry if you never play? And when you did, one team won the last seven? UH has not beaten Texas in football since 1991, a fact all Cougar fans know. Does it even matter? We asked some of our writers about the ‘rivalry’ and look back at great moments in Austin American-Statesman covers.

the daily #80 | 10/19/2023 | Archives

What does the ‘rivalry’ with UT mean to you?

Starns Leland (Cougar Sports Editor): I think my first thought is simply: every major Texas college hates UT, and so they view them as rivals. My oldest brother went to Texas A&M, and, obviously, that’s a huge deal there. But it was also a big deal when my brother played for Rice, and they would go up to Austin for its scheduled non-conference beatings.

So, if I didn’t know the history, I probably would assume that UH is in the same boat as everyone else in the state that doesn’t go to UT. However, I’ve learned the history of Houston’s exclusion from the original Big 12 and know more about UT’s (and Baylor’s) role in that and how many UH alumni from that time view it.

This rivalry (and this particular game) reads like a story that goes something like “Texas cast Houston into an abyss. 27 years later, Houston climbed its way back from rock bottom with only one chance to exact revenge on big bad Texas before it ships off to the SEC.”

Brad Towns (Former UH Athlete): It means that I am old. It reminds me that UH vs. UT hasn’t been any sort of “rivalry” since the ’80s, and UH hasn’t played UT in football since 2002 and hasn’t beaten them since 1991. I am looking forward to this more for the older UH fans to be able to re-live those old SWC days.

For me personally the UT game is only special because they are a big name they are ranked high. It helps that the game wasn’t sold to Reliant and UH finally gets a big program to come to TDECU. But I would feel the same if it was A&M, OU, or LSU.

Hopefully UH doesn’t take me back to the days when I was in school because that would mean a 30+ point loss and a half-empty stadium.

Ryan Monceaux (the guy from GoCoogs): I missed the Run and Shoot, I wasn’t alive for 30-0, or the 20-20 tie in ’68. My earliest UT memories are Clyde’s first game in 1998 (I think it was Rick Barnes’ first game, too) and a Tuesday baseball game in 1999 when Aaron Melebeck hit a 3-run homer off the top of the LF fence at Disch-Falk to beat UT, 12-9, in 12 innings. Not sure why that memory is so vivid, but I can see it to this day.

Other than those, and Brad Sullivan and Jesse Crain’s amazing Friday in the 2002 Super Regional, there hasn’t been a rivalry in my time around the UH program. UT is relevant in one way to me: they are the last team to shut out UH in football (48-0 in 2000). Also, UH is the last team to shut out UT at DKR (30-0 in 1976 – 269 games ago).

UH is building something in the Big 12, and Texas just isn’t relevant to that. I’ll always keep an eye on them, but for the most part, they’re out of sight, out of mind.

Headlines. It’s funny to go back and look at how the Austin newspaper has covered big UH wins in this series.

In 1976, UH shutout UT in Austin, 30-0. The Statesman devoted almost the entire sports front to it: