Houston&ndash;Texas football rivalry

Houston–Texas football rivalry

The Houston-Texas football rivalry was an American college football rivalry between the University of Houston Cougars and the University of Texas Longhorns. The two schools were historically the two largest Texas public universities in the 1960s and 1970s. The rivalry became dormant after the breakup of the Southwest Conference and the two schools’ relocation to different conferences. Texas currently leads the series 16-7-2.
Series history
The two schools first met in 1953 in Austin, Texas. The Cougars’ live mascot, Shasta I, lost a toe in a cage door on the way to the game and the Longhorn fans reportedly mocked their opponents’ mascot by holding their hands down with the ring finger bent inwards under the thumb. Texas won the game 28-7. Fifteen years later, in the schools’ second meeting, the No. 11 Cougars held the No. 4 ranked Longhorns to a 20-20 tie, having adopted the Texas fans’ mocking hand gesture as an official hand sign, with the hand held upwards. The next meeting between the two schools came in 1976, eight years later, when the Cougars played their first season in the Southwest Conference. The No. 19 ranked Cougars shut out the No. 20 ranked Longhorns in front of the Longhorns’ 77,809 fans, the largest crowd in Memorial Stadium attendance at the time, 30-0. It would be legendary coach Darrell Royal's last season at the helm of the Longhorns coaching staff. The rivalry largely ended after the Longhorns joined the Big 12 Conference in 1996 and the Cougars joined Conference USA that same year. The two schools have not played since 2002.
Currently, both schools make up two of the three Texas universities with the highest enrollment.
There are no future games between the two schools scheduled at this time.
Game results
Houston and Texas have met 25 times in football. Texas is tied for Houston's 8th most played football opponent, and Houston is Texas’ 10th most played opponent.

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