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The HoustonβSMU rivalry is a college rivalry between the University of Houston Cougars and Southern Methodist University Mustangs. [1] [2] [3] [4] When Houston joined the Southwest Conference in 1972, the two schools were conference mates until the conference dissolved in 1996. After a brief hiatus, SMU would join Conference USA in 2005 and the rivalry would continue when both schools moved to the American Athletic Conference in 2013 during the midst of 2010β2014 NCAA conference realignment, where it intesified as they were they only two schools from Texas in the conference. Later, with Houston's move to the Big 12 Conference as a result of 2021β2024 NCAA conference realignment, the future of the rivalry was put in doubt. [5]
Sport | Football |
---|---|
Teams | |
First meeting | September 27, 1975 SMU 27, Houston 16 |
Latest meeting | November 5, 2022 SMU 77, Houston 63 |
Next meeting | TBD |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 37 |
All-time series | Houston leads, 22β14β1 |
Largest victory | Houston, 95β21 (1989) |
Longest win streak | Houston, 6 (2006β11) |
Current win streak | SMU, 1 (2022βpresent) |
Houston | SMU | |
---|---|---|
First Season | 1946 | 1915 |
National Championships | 0 | 3 |
Bowl Appearances | 30 | 21 |
Bowl Wins | 13 | 7 |
Conference Championships | 11 | 12 |
Consensus All-Americans | 10 | 16 |
Heisman Winners | 1 | 1 |
The first game took place on September 27, 1975, in Houston, Texas, and the two schools played each other with few interruptions until Houston departed for the Big 12 in 2023. As of the end of the 2023 season, Houston leads the series 22β14β1. [6]
November 26, 1983: The Tokyo bowl known as the Mirage Bowl was the longest road trip for both schools in their school history. A crowd of 62,000 watched as Lance McIlhenny led the Mustangs with two touchdown passes and along with the mistakes of the Cougars, which helped SMU take the victory 34β12. [7] [8]
October 20, 1984: No. 6 SMU entered the game looking for an easy win over the 3β2 Cougars. However, Houston would pull of the upset, handing the Mustangs an unlikely 29β20 loss. [9]
October 21, 1989: SMU was playing in its first season back from the death penalty while Houston was coming off of a strong 9-3 campaign in 1988. However, Houston was hit with a two year bowl ban starting in 1989 for recruiting violation, so the Cougars were out for blood during the regular season. Eventual Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware would throw for 517 yards, only playing in the first half. No. 16 Houston would break a number of NCAA records, finally embarrassing the sanction weakened Mustangs 95β21. [10]
November 19, 2011: In Houston's last home conference game of the season, they were selected to host College GameDay by ESPN in what would be the first ever appearance on the program for both schools. [11] Houston entered the week 10β0 and ranked No. 10/11 in the AP Poll and BCS while SMU were 6β4, having lost the week prior at home to Navy. During the broadcast, Olympic gold medalist former Houston track and field star Carl Lewis was the guest picker and Lee Corso put on Shasta's headgear to indicate he predicted Houston to win the game. [12] Led by star quarterback Case Keenum, Houston would cruise to a 37β7 victory at the Robertson Stadium. [13]
October 22, 2016: The 2016 Houston team were picked by many experts to obtain the Group of Five's New Year's Six bowl bid, having only one close loss to Navy earlier in the season. However, the #11-ranked Cougars were upset by SMU 16 to 38 and the Cougars dropped out of the AP Poll the following week. It represented the Mustangs' first win over a ranked team since 2011. [14]
October 30, 2021: The 2021 match-up between the two schools would prove to be season changing. SMU entered the game ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and undefeated at 7β0, while Houston only had bounced to a 6β1 record following their opening week loss to Texas Tech. In the first quarter, Houston would have a great start after Clayton Tune threw two touchdown passes to Tank Dell and take a 17β0 lead. In the second and third quarters, SMU fought back to lead 34β30 and make the game more competitive. Houston took the lead again early in the 4th quarter when Tune threw a short pass to KeSean Carter in the endzone. The Mustangs tied the game 37β37 with 30 seconds remaining after a 46-yard field goal, but during the ensuing kickoff Marcus Jones returned the ball 100 yards to win the game and pull the ranked upset. [15] [4] The Cougars would go on to make the conference championship game, the only other game they lost that season to end with a 12β2 record and ranked No. 17, while SMU lost three of their remaining four games to end the season 8β4.
November 5, 2022: In what would prove to be their last match-up as members of The American, Houston entered the season as favorites to win the conference, but slumped to a 5β3 record while SMU were 4β4 under new coach Rhett Lashlee. The game would prove to be a high-scoring affair with a scoreline more common in basketball as SMU won 77β63 and both teams scored a combined 140 points, breaking the record for most points scored between two teams in an FBS football game in regulation time six years after Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 76β61. [16] Every point scored between both teams was a touchdown followed by an extra point and SMU scored in each of their first nine drives. [17]
Houston victories | SMU victories | Tie games |
|
A
1983 Mirage Bowl
B
2022 Houston vs. SMU football game
|
|
Sport | Basketball |
---|---|
Teams | |
First meeting | March 16, 1956 SMU 89 β Houston 74 |
Latest meeting | February 16, 2023 Houston 80 β SMU 65 |
Next meeting | TBD |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 92 |
All-time series | Houston leads, 58β34 |
Largest victory | Houston, 95β55 (February 13, 1978) |
Longest win streak | Houston, 9 (February 11, 2006βFebruary 13, 2010) |
Current win streak | Houston, 3 (February 27, 2022βpresent) |
Houston | SMU | |
---|---|---|
First Season | 1945β46 | 1916β17 |
NCAA Final Fours | 6 | 1 |
NCAA Tournament Appearances | 25 | 12 |
Conference Championships | 12 | 16 |
Conference Tournament Championships | 8 | 3 |
Consensus All-Americans | 7 | 2 |
Conference Player of the Year | 7 | 11 |
Houston and SMU would meet three times in the NCAA Tournament before playing in a regular season game, first in 1972. Throughout their shared time in the Southwest Conference, the Cougars and Mustangs would meet seven times in the Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament, with SMU leading 4β3 in their meetings then. The teams have also been conference mates in Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference, meeting once each in the tournaments for each conference. As of the end of the 2023β24 season, Houston led the all-time series 58β34.
March 16, 1956: In the teams' first ever meeting, they first played at Allen Fieldhouse in the 1956 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. AllβAmerican Jim Krebs would score 27 points to lead the No. 7 Mustangs to victory 89β74 and an eventual Final Four. [18]
March 13, 1965: In the teams' second meeting, Houston and SMU met to play in the 1965 NCAA Regional third place Game. Behind the 27 points of Carroll Hooser, the Mustangs would again pull out a win against the Cougars, 89β87. [19]
March 18, 1967: In the third meeting in the NCAA Tournament, a Final Four was on the line as the teams met in the 1967 NCAA Elite Eight. This time, fortune would favor the Cougars. Led by 31 points from Elvin Hayes, Houston would gain their first series win by a score of 83β75. [20]
January 16, 1982: In the first year of Phi Slama Jama, SMU visited No. 10 Houston and upset the Cougars 67β66. Houston would go onto the 1982 Final Four, while SMU had a 6β21 record.
March 12, 1983: After beating the Mustangs twice in the regular season, Houston would meet SMU once again in the 1983 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament semifinals. Houston would maintain their streak against SMU, winning 75β59. Houston would win the Conference tournament and make an NCAA run before finally losing to North Carolina State in the 1983 NCAA Finals.
March 3, 1985: The days of Phi Slama Jama behind them, the tables turned in favor of SMU with the Mustangs beating No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 5 North Carolina during the 1984-85 season. The No. 13 Mustangs headed to Houston for the final regular season game, only to be handed a 79β76 upset loss.
February 1, 2016: No. 12 SMU seemed to be heading in the right direction under the leadership of coach Larry Brown, visiting the Cougars with a 19β1 record on the season and having beaten the Cougars already on the season. Coach Kelvin Sampson would earn his first win against SMU, when the Cougars pulled the upset to win 71β68. It was the Cougars' biggest victory since January 1996, when they defeated No. 3 Memphis. [21]
Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
Houston victories | SMU victories | Tie games |
|
A
1956 NCAA basketball tournament
B
1965 NCAA University Division basketball tournament
C
1967 NCAA University Division basketball tournament
D
1979 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
E
1983 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
F
1985 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
G
1988 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
H
1991 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
I
1992 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
J
1996 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
K
2009 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
L
2014 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament
|
|
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This article needs additional citations for
verification. (September 2020) |
The HoustonβSMU rivalry is a college rivalry between the University of Houston Cougars and Southern Methodist University Mustangs. [1] [2] [3] [4] When Houston joined the Southwest Conference in 1972, the two schools were conference mates until the conference dissolved in 1996. After a brief hiatus, SMU would join Conference USA in 2005 and the rivalry would continue when both schools moved to the American Athletic Conference in 2013 during the midst of 2010β2014 NCAA conference realignment, where it intesified as they were they only two schools from Texas in the conference. Later, with Houston's move to the Big 12 Conference as a result of 2021β2024 NCAA conference realignment, the future of the rivalry was put in doubt. [5]
Sport | Football |
---|---|
Teams | |
First meeting | September 27, 1975 SMU 27, Houston 16 |
Latest meeting | November 5, 2022 SMU 77, Houston 63 |
Next meeting | TBD |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 37 |
All-time series | Houston leads, 22β14β1 |
Largest victory | Houston, 95β21 (1989) |
Longest win streak | Houston, 6 (2006β11) |
Current win streak | SMU, 1 (2022βpresent) |
Houston | SMU | |
---|---|---|
First Season | 1946 | 1915 |
National Championships | 0 | 3 |
Bowl Appearances | 30 | 21 |
Bowl Wins | 13 | 7 |
Conference Championships | 11 | 12 |
Consensus All-Americans | 10 | 16 |
Heisman Winners | 1 | 1 |
The first game took place on September 27, 1975, in Houston, Texas, and the two schools played each other with few interruptions until Houston departed for the Big 12 in 2023. As of the end of the 2023 season, Houston leads the series 22β14β1. [6]
November 26, 1983: The Tokyo bowl known as the Mirage Bowl was the longest road trip for both schools in their school history. A crowd of 62,000 watched as Lance McIlhenny led the Mustangs with two touchdown passes and along with the mistakes of the Cougars, which helped SMU take the victory 34β12. [7] [8]
October 20, 1984: No. 6 SMU entered the game looking for an easy win over the 3β2 Cougars. However, Houston would pull of the upset, handing the Mustangs an unlikely 29β20 loss. [9]
October 21, 1989: SMU was playing in its first season back from the death penalty while Houston was coming off of a strong 9-3 campaign in 1988. However, Houston was hit with a two year bowl ban starting in 1989 for recruiting violation, so the Cougars were out for blood during the regular season. Eventual Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware would throw for 517 yards, only playing in the first half. No. 16 Houston would break a number of NCAA records, finally embarrassing the sanction weakened Mustangs 95β21. [10]
November 19, 2011: In Houston's last home conference game of the season, they were selected to host College GameDay by ESPN in what would be the first ever appearance on the program for both schools. [11] Houston entered the week 10β0 and ranked No. 10/11 in the AP Poll and BCS while SMU were 6β4, having lost the week prior at home to Navy. During the broadcast, Olympic gold medalist former Houston track and field star Carl Lewis was the guest picker and Lee Corso put on Shasta's headgear to indicate he predicted Houston to win the game. [12] Led by star quarterback Case Keenum, Houston would cruise to a 37β7 victory at the Robertson Stadium. [13]
October 22, 2016: The 2016 Houston team were picked by many experts to obtain the Group of Five's New Year's Six bowl bid, having only one close loss to Navy earlier in the season. However, the #11-ranked Cougars were upset by SMU 16 to 38 and the Cougars dropped out of the AP Poll the following week. It represented the Mustangs' first win over a ranked team since 2011. [14]
October 30, 2021: The 2021 match-up between the two schools would prove to be season changing. SMU entered the game ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and undefeated at 7β0, while Houston only had bounced to a 6β1 record following their opening week loss to Texas Tech. In the first quarter, Houston would have a great start after Clayton Tune threw two touchdown passes to Tank Dell and take a 17β0 lead. In the second and third quarters, SMU fought back to lead 34β30 and make the game more competitive. Houston took the lead again early in the 4th quarter when Tune threw a short pass to KeSean Carter in the endzone. The Mustangs tied the game 37β37 with 30 seconds remaining after a 46-yard field goal, but during the ensuing kickoff Marcus Jones returned the ball 100 yards to win the game and pull the ranked upset. [15] [4] The Cougars would go on to make the conference championship game, the only other game they lost that season to end with a 12β2 record and ranked No. 17, while SMU lost three of their remaining four games to end the season 8β4.
November 5, 2022: In what would prove to be their last match-up as members of The American, Houston entered the season as favorites to win the conference, but slumped to a 5β3 record while SMU were 4β4 under new coach Rhett Lashlee. The game would prove to be a high-scoring affair with a scoreline more common in basketball as SMU won 77β63 and both teams scored a combined 140 points, breaking the record for most points scored between two teams in an FBS football game in regulation time six years after Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 76β61. [16] Every point scored between both teams was a touchdown followed by an extra point and SMU scored in each of their first nine drives. [17]
Houston victories | SMU victories | Tie games |
|
A
1983 Mirage Bowl
B
2022 Houston vs. SMU football game
|
|
Sport | Basketball |
---|---|
Teams | |
First meeting | March 16, 1956 SMU 89 β Houston 74 |
Latest meeting | February 16, 2023 Houston 80 β SMU 65 |
Next meeting | TBD |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 92 |
All-time series | Houston leads, 58β34 |
Largest victory | Houston, 95β55 (February 13, 1978) |
Longest win streak | Houston, 9 (February 11, 2006βFebruary 13, 2010) |
Current win streak | Houston, 3 (February 27, 2022βpresent) |
Houston | SMU | |
---|---|---|
First Season | 1945β46 | 1916β17 |
NCAA Final Fours | 6 | 1 |
NCAA Tournament Appearances | 25 | 12 |
Conference Championships | 12 | 16 |
Conference Tournament Championships | 8 | 3 |
Consensus All-Americans | 7 | 2 |
Conference Player of the Year | 7 | 11 |
Houston and SMU would meet three times in the NCAA Tournament before playing in a regular season game, first in 1972. Throughout their shared time in the Southwest Conference, the Cougars and Mustangs would meet seven times in the Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament, with SMU leading 4β3 in their meetings then. The teams have also been conference mates in Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference, meeting once each in the tournaments for each conference. As of the end of the 2023β24 season, Houston led the all-time series 58β34.
March 16, 1956: In the teams' first ever meeting, they first played at Allen Fieldhouse in the 1956 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. AllβAmerican Jim Krebs would score 27 points to lead the No. 7 Mustangs to victory 89β74 and an eventual Final Four. [18]
March 13, 1965: In the teams' second meeting, Houston and SMU met to play in the 1965 NCAA Regional third place Game. Behind the 27 points of Carroll Hooser, the Mustangs would again pull out a win against the Cougars, 89β87. [19]
March 18, 1967: In the third meeting in the NCAA Tournament, a Final Four was on the line as the teams met in the 1967 NCAA Elite Eight. This time, fortune would favor the Cougars. Led by 31 points from Elvin Hayes, Houston would gain their first series win by a score of 83β75. [20]
January 16, 1982: In the first year of Phi Slama Jama, SMU visited No. 10 Houston and upset the Cougars 67β66. Houston would go onto the 1982 Final Four, while SMU had a 6β21 record.
March 12, 1983: After beating the Mustangs twice in the regular season, Houston would meet SMU once again in the 1983 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament semifinals. Houston would maintain their streak against SMU, winning 75β59. Houston would win the Conference tournament and make an NCAA run before finally losing to North Carolina State in the 1983 NCAA Finals.
March 3, 1985: The days of Phi Slama Jama behind them, the tables turned in favor of SMU with the Mustangs beating No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 5 North Carolina during the 1984-85 season. The No. 13 Mustangs headed to Houston for the final regular season game, only to be handed a 79β76 upset loss.
February 1, 2016: No. 12 SMU seemed to be heading in the right direction under the leadership of coach Larry Brown, visiting the Cougars with a 19β1 record on the season and having beaten the Cougars already on the season. Coach Kelvin Sampson would earn his first win against SMU, when the Cougars pulled the upset to win 71β68. It was the Cougars' biggest victory since January 1996, when they defeated No. 3 Memphis. [21]
Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
Houston victories | SMU victories | Tie games |
|
A
1956 NCAA basketball tournament
B
1965 NCAA University Division basketball tournament
C
1967 NCAA University Division basketball tournament
D
1979 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
E
1983 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
F
1985 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
G
1988 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
H
1991 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
I
1992 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
J
1996 Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament
K
2009 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
L
2014 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament
|
|
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