A 26 minute highlight video of the 1969 AstroBluebonnet Bowl…Our Cougars vs. Auburn.
Unfortunately there is no sound and the quality is low.
It does remind why so many old timers rank this Team amongst our Alltime greats.
Near the end of the third quarter the scoreboard flashed a message that The Cougars had already broken The Bowl record for Total Offense( we already had almost 500 yards) and that Jim Strong had already broken Chris Gilbert’s Bowl record for individual rushing yardage(Jim was nearing 200 yards).
Pat Sullivan looked good for Auburn…when he wasn’t eating Astroturf, which was often.
At a minimum 8 of our players went on to make an NFL roster.
Somewhat surprisingly we did not run a lot of Veer Option plays. The biggest runs came from toss sweeps. Then from inside trap plays. QB Mullins routinely hit big pass plays, to Earl Thomas and to Elmo Wright. Our running game brought the DB’s up near the Line of scrimmage, leaving Elmo and Earl roaming free. When Mullins did run an option play he was flawless on his execution.
DE Jerry Drones and RB Jim Strong won Co-MVP awards.
My wife and I, with many other friends, attended that game. That night we were 22 years old! Now there are Grandchildren approaching that age. Time flies!
By the by our Defense was awesome! Just as impactful as was our Offense. The Auburn running game was D.O.A. The only effective passing play was a screen pass. Our DB’s were vicious hitters.
The Mad Dogs were howling that night and the Moon Man was too…the way we clobbered that kid running back the opening kickoff set the tone for the whole game.
That team was so talented with Elmo and Riley and Earl along with running backs Ted Heiskel and Jim Strong. Not that it matters but I am thinking that was our last all white back field. But we had a backup named Robert Newhouse, who turned out to be pretty good also…
Most certainly one of our top five teams ever.
You have to wonder how good we could have been the next few years if Mullins had not blown a knee out in the spring alumni game. Still, on one leg he was better than many quarterbacks around because he was like having a coach on the field.
Great memories though. I used to question my obsession with Houston Cougar football but it has given me a lifetime of memories (and sleepless nights…how in the hell did we lose to Southern Miss ).
By the way I can’t find the Colorado Astro Bluebonnet Bowl game. We lost that one but is was a really good game.
Many people believed that at the end of the year, Auburn was the best team in the SEC. We were told by some Auburn fans in the parking lot after the game that they had NEVER seen a better team than the Coogs that night. Some of them were old people who had been following Auburn since the 30’s.
You have to remember we had several excellent teams in prior years but we were not eligible to play in a bowl game. The '67 team, which had its ups and downs, whipped the socks off second ranked Michigan State that year. I think we were ranked as high as second or third the week after.
Regardless, we came out of the locker room ready to play against a really good Auburn team…I mean we were really ready to play.
On the opening kick when Alan Sumerford and company hit that Auburn kickoff returner I knew we were in for a good one.
That is about as fired up as any Coog team I have seen.
Speaking of our Coogs being fired up for a game, I would rate our game against the Aggies at Rice Stadium my favorite.
It was our first year in the conference and the Aggies were ranked in the top three and were heavy favorites against us. I am pretty sure the Aggies were at least 17 point favorites. An Aggie at work gave me 30 points lol for $50, one of the few bets I have ever made.
Rice Stadium was packed with each team having about the same number of fans. The Aggies came out whooping it up and their fans were just intimidating…at least to me.
Welp, the Aggies had all the pregame fun, but when the two teams came down the chute for game time, I saw Wilson Whitley turn around at the end of the tunnel and start screaming at his teammates. Our Coogs went nuts and our fans knew we could be witnessing something special.
I remember the pride I felt as our team hit the field. To be honest, I think my eyes leaked a little as I turned to my wife and let her know that our Coogs were ready to play…
Great memories…
I remember early in the '76 Aggie game,Wilson Whitley hit the Aggies big ole running back, George Woodard head on, and almost killed him. After that, the Aggie fans were a lot quieter the rest of the night.
Aggies didn’t stand a chance after that.
Just re-watched the Peach Bowl; and it was almost as good as when I was there live. Well, not nearly as exciting with no suspense, but still a good game to watch.
Awesome post. Thank you Coog51.
I will post this over and over again. Given the chance to be back in a P5 we will be a National powerhouse. I have no doubts that within a few years we will be contending for the cartel National championship.
You do not agree?
Barry Switzer’s words are better than any of your responses.
Switzer envisions Houston, in the Big 12, making a similar ascent.
“Only 85 players, and you’ve got 340 million people in the United States and the talent that’s coming out of high schools now,” Switzer said. “Everybody gets good. Don’t give them credibility. I’ve always said if I could get the top 30 players that came out of Houston every year, I’d play for the national championship every year.”
This is for anyone on coogfans that do not think we can be Nationally dominant given the chance.
