We really could harbor no reasonable expectation of beating Houston in 1979 but I admire the spirit. It was the last game of the season and we had only won once. The Cougars, on the other hand, were having one of their best years ever. They went 11-1, won the Southwest Conference and the Cotton Bowl against Nebraska and ended the season at number 5 in the final AP poll.
They thrashed us, 63-0.
We’ll surely lick ’em this time.
Bonus: And we’ll do it on our nice new turf. Here are a couple articles about the initial installation of astroturf in 1970 that I ran across last week in an old scrapbook. (There are some better images of this in a post I wrote way back in 2011.)
Notice that the players in the pic are all wearing tennis shoes? Cleated shoes were not necessary. The astroturf back then was like sandpaper and was not very skin-friendly. Carpet burns were a regular feature.
Thanks, Bill. I had wondered about that.
Cool shoes, though.
I was at that game, marching with the MOB. As the game ended, the UH cheerleaders ran around throwing cotton balls into the stands.
Late to the party here, but that picture was of the ’78 game in the Astrodome. We fared a little better that year against the Cotton Bowl bound coogs, only trailing 14-13 in the 3rd quarter before fading late.
It’s dated 1979 on the back. How can you tell it’s 1978? I totally believe you, by the way.
We had completely different uniforms and helmet logo in ’79. In looking at this again I think I might see myself in this picture – I was number one.
Another give-away are the seams in the AstroTurf.
Rice never had seams running longitudinally.
Thank you! You’re still number one.