See #19 in the linked article from Pat Forde. Historically speaking, is he right?
Coming off one of the biggest seasons in history that culminated in a huge bowl win then headed into a season where we are a dark horse for NC despite the deck being stacked against us and against one of the most storied programs in CFB… yes. This game is huge. It has to at least be in the discussion for biggest opening game in UH history.
I won’t pretend to know our history as well as others may, but I imagine it’s hard to argue against. We have a legitimate road to a National Championship.
I’ve been a Coog since 1989 and I can’t ever remember a bigger season opener than the one we’ll play on 3 September.
the opener against SWC favorite Texas in Austin in 1968 was gigantic. Every bit as big as this game and every bit as important. The fact we outplayed and tied the future SWC champs was a huge stepping stone for us, credibility wise. Coach Royal worked very hard to get us in the SWC.
That was the season opener for Texas but not UH. Tulane was for us. We crushed them, which helped make the Texas game bigger. We were #11; the Longhorns were #4. Florida was our opener the following year. We were #7 in AP, and Playboy had ranked us #1. Florida with Steve Spurrier (and Kim Helton) won 59-34. In '77 we were #9 in the AP preseason poll with #14 UCLA coming in. I was at that one. It was on national TV on a Monday night. We won but then Davis separated his shoulder the next week at #10 Penn State. Rice in '71 was a big game. We’d never played them before, and though I was a little kid, I can sort of recall a good bit of local buzz around the game. I couldn’t say just what the attendance was, but I think it was over 50k. Another big opener was at Baylor in our first year in the SWC. Some of us thought we’d have an outside chance at winning the conference, but we all but had to win that game. I remember watching it on TV. They were up 5-0 at the half, but we scored 23 unanswered points to win. Anyway, despite some pretty big ones for one reason or another, OU is probably the biggest because of the attention we’ll receive and what it could mean if we managed to win it.
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For the first time in more than a decade UH will be playing for a national championship and that’s MF big deal… Yes it’s a big deal considering OU will probably throttle Ohio State a couple of weeks later. If UH wins then the AD should open up 2017 season tickets the very next day… guarantee he will probably sell 10,000 tickets that week.
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Some others:
UCLA was big in 2011 just because Case was coming back and it was a good opportunity against what was supposed to be a tough P5 foe. Winning helped set the table for that season.
UTSA was big in 2014 because it was the opening of TDECU and a chance to show off the program. Herman has worked to erase that mess from most people’s memories.
But OU is probably the biggest just from where it can lead with a win or a close loss.
Yepp a great weekend for college football …
With so many TOP HEAVIES playing each other not just this weekend but throughout the year …
ONE lil item to consider …
That it will VERY DIFFICULT for the final four playoff teams to go undefeated THIS YEAR …
Parity is nice to even the field in conferences … HOWEVER … it can reek havoc for the playoff committee …
AND if so we will probably hear A LOT about going to eight teams in the playoff or at least it will gain some traction more so than in the previous seasons.
Had a feeling our resident historian Sam Houston would cover the waterfront on this one. Thanks.
Right you are, Sam…i completely forgot about that Tulane game in 1968…First ever Rice Houston game drew 62,000 to Rice stadium in 1971…i still have my Houston Post game story sports section…That remains biggest crowd ever for a Rice-Houston game…In those days, Rice still had a fan base…
UTSA was the biggest most impactful opener in history… OU will be the most impactful if we win it.
As far as potential benefit - yeah its the biggest opener ever no doubt.
it takes more than opening a stadium for a game to be impactful…UTSA was a nothing opponent and we suffered serious humiliation losing to them, but it was a completely unimportant game…We have opened seasons playing Miami, Fla, Ole Miss (2x), Florida, Florida st (2x) Arizona, Arizona state and Miss st…THOSE were important games against big time opponents…NO opener ever more important or impactful than the 76 opener, a road conference game, first ever SWC game against Grant Teaffs Baylor Bears…winning that game decisively made the whole SWC very nervous about what was coming…This OU game is huge because of impact it will carry…Winning it really helps us in so many ways…
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