The quality of the video is a little grainy but we dominated from beginning to end. Afterwards one of the Auburn players said it was like playing against an NFL team.
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That was awesome. More please.
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The build up to this game was as memorable as the game. Before the teams were announced everyone thought the bowl would select an “established” name from a “prestigious” conference. I wrote the Chron a letter they published setting out our case to be one of the teams. There were only 4 or 5 major bowls and even less minor ones so it was an accomplishment to play in a bowl game. I got some calls from friends about my letter, I was at the game. We had a large and energetic crowd. We did dominant Auburn who everyone believed would beat us handily.
Sadly so many of the coaches and players in that game have passed on.
Thanks for finding that old tape.
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In all my years of watching Cougar football I can’t think of many times UH has been more fired up for a football game. We were coming off probation and loaded with talent against an Auburn bunch ranked in the top 10. The Tigers never knew what hit them,…
I think Alan Sumerford set the tone for this game on the opening kickoff when he destroyed the Auburn returner.
We had a lot to prove that night in the Dome and I would say 36-7 pretty well said it all…
Great memory of a great game…
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As I recall, the bowl committee invited LSU, but they were pissed that, as the SEC champ (I think), they were not invited to one of the major bowls and voted to stay home.
Auburn was chosen as the SEC runner up.
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Fantastic post and this is in 1969
1969
We were an independent
I will hammer the same point over and over again.
Given the chance, a full chance at that I have not doubt whatsoever that we can become the Alabama of the Southwest.
This is especially true now with the Houston area fast becoming the third biggest city in America.
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Wow. Great history! Was auburn any good back then?
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And then the paradigm shift… Time to VEER back.
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I was at that game
A lot of great players that day
MY biggest memory was Jim Strong’s performance
and Elmo Wright doing his end zone dance
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Top 5 performance ever by a UH football team
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You youngsters can not imagine the objections both statewide and local we faced to get that invite in '69. Only those who lived through those days can appreciate what Bill Yeoman would often say, “It’s hard being a Cougar”.
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Pat Sullivan was a NFL quarterback and Auburn finished #2 in the SEC (I think) that year and was ranked.
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In my opinion this was the game that got the wheels rolling to secure our SWC invite.The Michigan State game opened some eyes but this game stamped us as a power to be reckoned with.
We beat the hell out of them and we had a lot of returning talent.
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That is an AWESOME video!!!
Thanks for sharing!
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Bill Whitmore, the narrator, was the RICE SID for many years.
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People forget that the Bluebonnet Bowl was a pretty good bowl. We played Colorado in the 1971 Astro Bluebonnet Bowl and Colorado finished #3 that year. The Buffs beat us but it was a good game.
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One of the SEC pundits said after that game that if UH had been in the SWC, the “Big Shootout” would have been for second place in the league.
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Close, but not quite. Tennessee was the SEC champ. LSU was second, and higher-ranked, but didn’t go to a bowl. Auburn was third.
It’s wild to me that the SEC didn’t play any sort of uniform schedule back in those days. Apparently teams in the conference played anywhere from 5-7 games in the 10-team conference. How do you even name a champion like that?
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There are a time when playing in a bowl game was a big deal. This was that time.
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LSU had already accepted a bid to play in the Cotton Bowl against UT. After they had already accepted the invitation, Notre Dame came out and stated they would break their tradition of not playing in a bowl game if they were able to play #1 UT in the Cotton Bowl. The Cotton Bowl then withdrew the invitation to #4 LSU and offered #9 Notre Dame. ND lost 21-17 yet moved up to #4. LSU, who sat home, dropped to #9 in final polls.
At the time I had no ties to UH and was a huge LSU fan and everyone in Louisiana was extremely angry and my hate for the Cotton Bowl was initiated long before Hoss Brock’s comments about UH. Same for UT, since we all knew who called the shots in the SWC and the Cotton Bowl.
BTW, #13 Ole Miss (who lost to UH in the regular season 25-11) represented the SEC champion in 1969 and played in the Sugar Bowl against #3 Arkansas. Ole Miss won 27-22. I think they repped the SEC instead of LSU because LSU had a waiver to play in the Cotton Bowl since it would have been against #1 UT. Normally the SEC champ was tied to the Sugar Bowl like the SWC champ was tied to the Cotton Bowl, PAC8 and B1G champs went to the Rose Bowl, and the Big 8 champ was tied to the Orange bowl. Those were the only 4 major bowls at that time and all played on Jan 1.
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