Public Policy Polling Poll shows UH as the 3rd most favorite school in Texas

Cougar Football
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And this isn’t something that is new:

In the recently released poll on Wednesday:

-Texas leads the state in college sports loyalty with 26% to 16% for Texas A&M, 12% for Houston, 9% for Texas Tech, and 6% each for Baylor and Texas Christian. Both Longhorn fans (36/9 approval for Charlie Strong) and Aggie fans (38/9) approval for Kevin Sumlin) give pretty limited support to their coaches- there aren’t that many totally unhappy with them but there aren’t too many thrilled with them either. 43% of voters in the state support allowing Houston to join the Big 12 to only 7% who are opposed to that. What’s maybe more interesting though is how fans in the state’s existing Big 12 fan bases feel about adding Houston- Texas fans support it 47/5, Texas Tech fans support it 56/10, Baylor fans support it 67/3, and TCU fans support it 65/1. It’s safe to say there’s not much resistance at least from the fans of rival schools for letting the Cougars in.

So, I went back to previous polls on the subject:

From Nov 7, 2013: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2013/PPP_Release_TX_1107.pdf

Q13 Are you a fan of Baylor, Houston, Southern Methodist, Texas, Texas A & M, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP, or another school?
Baylor 8% …
Houston 10% …
Southern Methodist 2% …
Texas 20% …
A & M 22% …
TCU 4% …
Texas Tech 5% …
UTEP 3% …
Another school/Not a fan 26%

From Sept 23, 2011: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_TX_0923424.pdf

Q15 Are you a fan of Baylor, Houston, Southern Methodist, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP, or another school?
Baylor 11% …
Houston 9% …
Southern Methodist 8% …
Texas 23% …
Texas A & M 15% …
TCU 5% …
Texas Tech 5% …
UTEP 2% …
Another school/Not a fan 21%

From January 25, 2011: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_TX_0125.pdf

Q7 Are you a fan of Baylor, Houston, Southern Methodist, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP, or another school?
Baylor 10% …
Houston 8% …
Southern Methodist 3% .
Texas 23% …
Texas A & M 14% …
TCU 6% …
Texas Tech 7% …
UTEP 2% …
Another school/Nota fan 27%

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Baylor clearly trending down, while we have gone up every poll…

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Renu knows what she’s doing.

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With the current trend we could be sitting neck and neck with TAMU in a few years.

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I’ve been thinking about that and how TCU has basically remained with the same low numbers even with their success.

UH has been solid and improving with 1/4th of the on field success TCU had when it got the Big East then Big12 invite. TCU has about the same number season ticket holders after finishing in the AP top 15 four times in a row vs UH finishing that high once. They’ve finished in the top 15 six times in the last 8 years and for that the avg Texan thinks about the same of them.

Seems to me UH’s upside is much greater than theirs.

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I first posted on this about 3 years ago. The data came from a survey done be none other than the Big 12 itself. Its purpose was to determine whether UT or A&M had the largest following. But, the results also included every other school in Texas. The Aggies won so the Chronicle, true to form, had a big spread in the sports section about it.

But the list included all the other schools as well. (Big mistake) As I looked at it what jumped out at me was that UH was No. 3 - ahead of Baylor at the time. In fact our following was greater than Tech and TCU COMBINED. That part seems to still hold true in these polls. But you won’t find it in any media, including the Chron which still has its nose 3feet up Bevo’s hind end.

I presented this to both Duarte and the Chron sports editor and you really won’t believe what they did. Anyone? Surprise, surprise they ignored me. So I went to war writing daily to the editor and posting on every fan board I could find.

Finally they saw the light and suddenly they republished the story under a new heading, something like UH No. 3 in fan support throughout Texas. Because THAT was the real meat of that survey. They must have choked on that. But the truth was out.

With the demise of Baylor, UH is back in 3rd position and our following is STILL greater than the COMBINED following of Tech and TCU.

But some things never change. You didn’t read this in the Chronicle - and I doubt you ever will. We still get fed a daily dose of Big 12 drivel with some of the most innane topics any 3rd grader could imagine.

So this story continues to be big but don’t expect to read about it in your hometown newspaper. I texted JD - as a Chron supporter - about reading some stories about UH and, surprise, he ignored me. I’m getting used to that. That’s why we need Coog Fans.

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We have 4X as many graduates every year. So we have a much greater potential than TCU does. They are maxed out. Meanwhile we can start grabbing all of southeast Texas as the closest major university in the state.

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Bingo.

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Now THAT’s a plan. Actually the Big 12 better pay attention to it before A&M and LSU run the board. Truth is we need each other. That’s Win-Win.

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And, with those numbers, just think what the SEC could do with us as members! They would control ALL OF TEXAS - EAST OF I-45! Forever!

And then, if they could get OU too, they would destroy the Big12-4+2, and end up controlling all the Mid-West.

SEC - wake up, and pay attention!

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SEC took the wrong school. Texas S&M doesn’t know what to do without ut, they look lost out there.

Anyways… PAC 12 East

Arizona
Arizona St.
Houston
Utah
BYU
Colorado
UCLA
USC

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There is no way the Pac 12 takes BYU. They aren’t taking any religious schools. Their options are very limited. I’m curious if this could work:

South

USC, UCLA, AZ, ASU, COL, UTAH, HOUSTON

North

Stanford, Cal, Oregon, OSU, WSU, Washington, Cincinnati

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I don’t think Cinci would fit in there; Colorado State would be a rational fit – or UNLV or New Mexico.

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Gotta agree there. That’s like throwing a chicken into a duck pond. Maybe Utah goes North and Colorado State moves into the South. Now that would add some spice to that rivalry. Colorado State would start kicking their rear ends pretty regularly. Lots of travel for UH. Think about women’s tennis and volleyball and basketball and mens’ TF. THAT gets very expensive. Not many of our fans would make many of those games. Like 'em or not that is one of the appeals to the Big 12. But Cincinnati? No way.

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Not to be rude but it’s one thing to click a free poll about your fan choice, and it’s another thing to actually put your time and money into supporting your school. Part-time students may profess fandom but they don’t back it up with actual support. And it’s proof of support that P5 conferences demand.

To put this into perspective, the majority of UH alumni live minutes (as opposed to hours) away from campus but UH only averages around 30,000 fans for home games. Tech averages more than 58,000 fans on average (during good and bad seasons) and >35,000 of them travel many hours from DFW, Austin, Houston and San Antonio to attend home games. That’s a truer measure of actual fan support.

This is you board so feel free to slam me for this but it’s a perspective you should not overlook.

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I wonder how many would travel to Lubbock to watch Tech play CUSA or WAC football since 1996 . . .

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Additionally how many would go if students hadn’t been going during their time there. UH students weren’t engaged for a long time…now things are different.

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Von, this is an apples to oranges argument. Tech has played in the SWC and then the Big 12 for 56 years now which means fans have gotten accustomed to seeing the same teams every year, enjoying the same arguments with friends, being able to know exactly what bowls you’re playing for, and generally having stability. Tech has an on-campus stadium and the students show-up as there’s less to do in the Lubbock area (this is not a slam, it’s just true). Tech has been able to build up their games as an event to attend and been able to sell season tickets with the promise that the Aggies/Longhorns/Sooners/etc will be there. It’s now a generational thing.

In the meantime, Houston had 20 years in the SWC. During that time, we played in an off-campus stadium and dealt with probation issues and administration issues that didn’t support athletics. Games weren’t events as the games weren’t even on campus. When moved back to campus, we were no longer in the SWC and made bad administration decisions. It wasn’t until the mid-00s when that on-campus support came back due to a winning team. Basically, we had to build from scratch while playing a schedule where sometimes the best team on it was Southern Miss or East Carolina. Are we where Tech is at? No, and we don’t portend to be. Do we want to be where Tech is at attendance-wise? Of course.

The reason we take stock in the poll isn’t to crow and say we’re better than Tech (at least not mine). The reason we take stock in the poll is because it means that there’s potential which is what Dr. Khator, Tillman Fertita, Tom Herman, Kelvin Sampson, the BOR, folks on this board are all trying to sell. Change out games against Tulsa and Tulane for Texas and Texas Tech with a chance to be taken seriously as a contender if we do win and fans will come win or lose. Once we get in and can stay in for more than a generation, we’ll be able to start building to what Tech has now and bring in those 58K+ crowds regularly.

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Texas Tech alumni here. The fact is Tech gets all of those match ups that UH fans would love to see. It is much easier to get fans excited about playing OU, TCU, UT ect than UCONN, Memphis or UCF… sure it would be nice to have fans show up for every game, but UH doesn’t have the P5 boost in match ups. You can’t hold a G5 team to P5 standards when you know that just being in a P5 create the boost necessary to cross the gap. This is coming from a guy who lives in El Paso and is a season ticket holders. Until you travel from Lubbock to UCF just to watch Tech beat the $#!+ out of 'em, don’t give me that crap about traveling and filling stadiums. Last I checked, UH vs OU has sold 71k and those are mostly UH fans. Alsour the peach bowl sold more tickets to us than TCU. Give us the good match ups and the fans will very there.

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When I visit Tech fan sites I’m usually treated pretty badly - not because I’ve dissed Tech but simply because I speak up to correct misinformation about UH. The UH most Tech fans have in mind comes from 1990 and bears little resemblance to today’s UH. And that actually seems to tick off a great many Tech fans.

But the bottom line is UH is a school on the move. We ARE the 3rd most followed program in Texas. We DID play in a NY6 bowl last year after defeating 4 ranked teams in the regular season. We DID beat the crap out of Florida State. And true to form the FSU fans are trying to aliby their way out of that.

UH has has finally been joined by Tech as a Carnegie Tier One Research university. They are now proud of that. But previously when I brought it up the Tech crowd soundly dismissed that status as having no real significance.

Tech fans take great delight in touting their attendance, fund raising and just about every measure where they might be ahead of UH. What they NEVER mention is the $20 million or so extra dollars they receive annually, and for what? Because it darn sure ain’t for winning. Give that money to UH and watch what we do with it.

So here is what I conclude. By and large most UH fans don’t pay too much attention to Tech. Tech is largely irrelevant to us. But Tech seems to dote on even the most trivial issue which presumably establishes and bolsters their supposed superiority compared to UH. To which I respond, big deal. Enjoy the fantasy. We REALLY don’t care. Really!