IT’S BEEN A MINUTE:
Horns and Coogs Meet Again
by Larry Carlson for https://texaslsn.org

There was a strange vibe that night when the Texas Longhorns football team last visited the University of Houston.  For starters, kickoff time in H-Town for this televised game was 8:15 p.m., the latest Central Time Zone slot UT has ever played in.  But other matters played a bigger role in the scenario.  Nobody — players, coaches, fans — seemed sure whether to show excitement or restraint.

It was Sept. 21, 2001.  Just ten days since 9/11.  American flags were everywhere as the teams warmed up.

I was on the sidelines during warmups, and I remember watching Holly Rowe interview Mack Brown, as I eagerly anticipated the sense of normalcy to be brought back by college football following a week of suspended play, in wake of the tragedy.  

Texas took the early lead but then the Coogs came back with 14 unanswered points.  Texas QB Chris Simms was being bedeviled by his nemesis, the turnover.  Many eyes, including my own, were on Major Applewhite, the senior who had meant so much to Longhorn football since ’98.  But Brown stuck with Simms and Texas eventually pulled away from UH, stretching the lead to 33-14 after three periods.

Simms, for the night, connected on 20 of 35 attempted passes for three TDs.  Ivan Williams surpassed the century mark in rushing.  Applewhite would hit TE Bo Scaife for a touchdown in the final quarter, and a tough freshman runner, Cedric Benson, scored his third TD of the season as Texas cruised in, 53-26.  The final gun sounded just ten minutes shy of midnight, many fans having left early to navigate long walks together through some sketchy neighborhoods near the U of H campus.

1968 First Wishbone game

The first big game in the series — just the second ever — was played at Memorial Stadium to open the 1968 season. It was the debut of the wishbone offense for Texas, ranked fourth, against Bill Yeoman’s high-gear veer offense led by RB Paul Gipson. Houston was just outside the top ten at number eleven.

The game, tied at 7-7 for halftime, was evenly matched statistically, both teams relying on the ground game for almost 300 yards apiece. But Texas QB “Super” Bill Bradley struggled with the new wishbone formation’s intricacies and gained scant yardage. Worse, he hit just one of seven passes and was intercepted three times.

The Texas-Houston opener still had many twists and curves to negotiate in the second half. Houston broke a 14-14 tie late in the third but missed the extra point. The Horns answered with a TD in the opening seconds of the final period but they, too, missed the extra point. Houston then couldn’t break the tie, botching a chip shot field goal attempt.
Texas got the ball back late but stalled out at the UT 38-yardline. When the Horns let the clock roll out the final 20 seconds rather than heave a bomb or risk a punt, scattered booing was the result.
But in post-game remarks, Royal scoffed at the risks of throwing long. “That’s not percentage football,” he told reporters.

Longhorn All-American Chris Gilbert had raced for 159 yards while UH’s Gipson gained 173 rushing yards and scored all three Cougar TDs. After the game, UT defensive great Loyd Wainscott called Gipson “better than
O.J. Simpson,” referring to the USC great that Texas had faced in ’67. Simpson would go on to win the Heisman Trophy for his 1968 feats.

Like Wainscott, Corby Robertson, one of UT’s tri-captains, along with Gilbert and Bradley, had a terrific game. Both racked up tackles in the double digits. The game was special to Robertson, the grandson of H Roy Cullen and the son of Corbin Robertson, two of the biggest donors to the University of Houston.
Robertson told reporters in post-game interviews that he already was wishing for a rematch with the Cougars in a bowl game, but he was quickly informed that Houston, on probation, was banned from post-season play.

Footnote: One week later, in Lubbock, Bradley — after another rocky start –would be replaced by a junior QB, James Street, who had a better feel for the new offense. Texas would lose to the Red Raiders but a shake-up would seemingly benefit all. Street would lead Texas to a 9-1-1 finish, Bradley would become a hellacious DB who picked off four Aggie passes in the regular season finale (and would later become a three-time All-Pro with the Eagles) and UT would soon switch to a sophomore walk-on kicker named Happy Feller, who would not miss any extra points. Indeed, he would lead Texas past OU, 26-20, in just a few weeks. Feller hit three field goals including a school record 53-yarder. Feller would, after three seasons, own virtually all UT kicking records and go on to an NFL career.

Now, fifty-five years later, Longhorns vs Cougars gives Texas the opportunity to erode a bit of the OU disappointment and re-calibrate for a path to the Big XII title game. For Houston, it’s a chance to right a season gone awry thus far, a shot at whipping the only top ten opponent on their schedule.

(TLSN’s Larry Carlson teaches sports media classes at Texas State University. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Write to him at lc13@txstate.edu)

Texas-Houston games in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1990

1976: Houston 30 Texas 0
It was Houston’s first year as a Southwest Conference member. Royal had championed the U of H as a worthy addition to the league. But Texas fans would rue the Cougars’ march into Memorial Stadium in November. The visitors ended UT’s remarkable 42-game home winning streak — that spanned all of seven seasons and parts of two more — and they did so emphatically. The Coogs shocked a 3-2-1 Texas team struggling with a walk-on starter at quarterback, shutting the Horns out, 30-0. It was Darrell Royal’s worst conference loss at Texas. A month later, following a UT win over Arkansas, Royal would retire.
Houston would go on to win the SWC in its inaugural season, finishing the season by beating Maryland in the Cotton Bowl and finishing fourth in the nation.

1977: Texas 35 Houston 21
There was plenty of venom in the lead-up to the matchup. Texas backers accused Houston of buying freshman blue-chip QB Darrell Shepard with a shiny new TransAm. Despite playing in Houston, top-ranked Texas had a home field advantage in this one, thanks to a rule allowing SWC teams the choice of playing at the Astrodome (Houston’s home field) or at Rice Stadium in their initial conference game in the Bayou City. Texas fans greatly outnumbered Coog fans in a jam-packed Rice Stadium and the house was rocking with excitement as UT eked out a 14-13 halftime lead. Behind Earl Campbell, who rang up 173 yards rushing, the Horns then sped to 21 unanswered points and beat the Coogs, 35-21.
Shepard, a backup, scarcely played but was booed lustily by the burnt orange fans. He would transfer to OU after his one season at Houston. Campbell, of course, won the ’77 Heisman and Texas went 11-0 before losing to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.

1978: Houston 10 Texas 7
The mid-November showdown in Austin featured number six UT and eighth-ranked UH. Each team was unbeaten in conference action. Played under gloomy, overcast skies, the game was a bruising defensive struggle that registered nary a point for either team in the first half. Houston fought to a 10-0 lead in the third quarter. Texas, with freshman RB “Jam” Jones steadily piling up yardage, battled back with seven points early in the fourth. But missed opportunities by the Texas offense doomed the Horns to defeat. To make things worse, All-SWC middle linebacker Lance Taylor, who chalked up eleven solo stops, was lost for the season with a knee injury. The Cougars went on to claim their second SWC title in three tries. But the season would end up in the freezing Cotton Bowl where Joe Montana led a wild comeback and Notre Dame nipped Houston, 35-34.
Texas crushed TCU but then got ambushed by a weak Baylor team in Waco before beating Texas A&M.
The Steers finished the season strong by stomping Maryland, 42-0, in El Paso’s Sun Bowl.

1982: Texas 50 Houston 0
The Longhorns were good and the Cougars were bad. And it showed on the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.
Texas QB Robert Brewer threw a 67-yard TD pass to Herkie Walls, scored one himself and handed off frequently to Darryl Clark and Johnny “Sky” Walker as UT gobbled up 264 rushing yards. Walker scored three times and Texas cruised to its biggest victory margin in the series. Linebacker Jeff Leiding and pass-rushing savant Kiki DeAyala headed up an excellent Texas defense that got stronger all year.

1987: Houston 60 Texas 40

1990: Texas 45 Houston 21
Ask vintage Texas fans and many will tell you the Prime Time UT-UH shootout during the “Shock The Nation” tour of 1990 provided one of THE most electric atmospheres in Longhorn football history.
A Texas team coming off three losing campaigns in four years was on a mission that began with an upset of
Penn State. Paced by soph QB Peter Gardere, the Horns had upset OU for the second straight year and were on a hot roll as the high octane Cougar attack starring the dynamic slinger, David Klingler, invaded Austin.
The ESPN crew was barely seated when explosive Houston grabbed a 7-0 lead. But “Peter The Great” and freshman phenom RB Butch Hadnot — scoring three times –quickly took command and the Longhorn defense stifled Klingler.

Thanks to 322 yards passing from Gardere, along with a grinding run game, the Horns pinballed 45 points while Houston managed only a field goal, and Memorial Stadium was en fuego.
Houston managed two touchdowns in fourth quarter garbage time, with the parties on Sixth Street already underway. Longhorn football’s resurgence was college football’s top storyline and the beat went on as UT edged A&M, 28-27, to win the Steers’ first SWC title since 1983, ending the longest title drought in decades.

(TLSN’s Larry Carlson teaches sports media classes at Texas State University. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Write to him at lc13@txstate.edu)