The first game took place on September 27, 1975, in Houston, Texas, and the two schools played each other with few interruptions until Houston departed for the Big 12 in 2023. As of the end of the 2023 season, Houston leads the series 22–14–1.[6]
Notable games
November 26, 1983: The Mirage Bowl (in Tokyo, Japan) was the longest road trip for both teams in their history. A crowd of 70,000 watched as Lance McIlhenny led the Mustangs with two touchdown passes and along with the mistakes of the Cougars, helped SMU take a 34–12 victory.[7][8]
October 20, 1984: No. 6 SMU entered the game undefeated at 4–0 and looking for an easy win against the 3–2 Cougars. However, Houston would pull off the upset, handing the Mustangs an unlikely 29–20 loss and denying them a spot in the Cotton Bowl.[9]
October 21, 1989: SMU was playing in its first season back from the death penalty while Houston was coming off of a strong 9–3 campaign in 1988. However, Houston was hit with a two year bowl ban starting in 1989 for recruiting violations, so the Cougars were out for blood during the regular season. Eventual Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware would throw for 517 yards, only playing in the first half. The Cougars would break a number of NCAA records, embarrassing the sanction-weakened Mustangs 95–21.[10]
November 19, 2011: In Houston's last home conference game of the season, they were selected to host College GameDay by ESPN in what would be the first ever appearance on the program for both schools.[11] Houston entered the week 10–0 and ranked No. 10/11 in the AP Poll and BCS while SMU were 6–4, having lost the week prior at home to Navy. During the broadcast, Olympic gold medalist and former Houston track & field star Carl Lewis was the guest picker and Lee Corso put on Shasta's headgear to indicate he predicted Houston to win the game.[12] Led by star quarterback Case Keenum, Houston would cruise to a 37–7 victory.[13]
October 22, 2016: The 2016 Houston team was picked by many experts to obtain the Group of Five's New Year's Six bowl bid, having only one close loss to Navy earlier in the season. However, the No. 11-ranked Cougars were upset by SMU 38–16, dropping them out of the AP Poll the following week. It was the Mustangs' first win over a ranked team since 2011.[14]
October 30, 2021: The 2021 match-up between the two schools would prove to be season changing. SMU entered the game ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and undefeated at 7–0, while Houston had a 6–1 record, with their only loss coming in their first game of the season against Texas Tech. In the first quarter, Houston would take a 17–0 lead, fueled by two Clayton Tune touchdown passes to Nathaniel Dell. In the second and third quarters, SMU fought back and took a 34–30 lead. Houston reclaimed the lead early in the 4th quarter when Tune threw a short touchdown pass to KeSean Carter. The Mustangs tied the game 37–37 with 30 seconds remaining after a 46-yard field goal from Blake Mazza, but during the ensuing kickoff, Marcus Jones returned the ball 100 yards to win the game and pull off the upset.[15][4] The Cougars would go on to make the conference championship game (their only other loss that season) and finish with a 12–2 record and ranked No. 17 on the AP Poll, while SMU lost three of their remaining four games to end the season at 8–4.
November 5, 2022: In what would prove to be their last match-up as members of The American, Houston entered the season as favorites to win the conference, but had slumped to a 5–3 record while SMU were 4–4 under new coach Rhett Lashlee. The game would prove to be a high-scoring affair with a scoreline more common in basketball as SMU won 77–63. The combined 140 points broke the record for most points scored between two teams in an FBS football game in regulation, set six years earlier when Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 76–61.[16] Every point scored between both teams was a touchdown followed by an extra point, with SMU scoring on each of their first nine drives.[17]
Game results
Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
Houston and SMU would meet three times in the NCAA Tournament before playing in a regular season game, first in 1972. Throughout their shared time in the Southwest Conference, the Cougars and Mustangs would meet seven times in the Southwest Conference men's basketball tournament, with SMU leading 4–3 in their meetings then. The teams have also been conference mates in Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference, meeting once each in the tournaments for each conference. As of the end of the 2023–24 season, Houston led the all-time series 58–34.
Notable games
March 16, 1956: In the teams' first ever meeting, they first played at Allen Fieldhouse in the 1956 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. All-American Jim Krebs would score 27 points to lead the No. 7 Mustangs to victory 89–74 and an eventual Final Four.[18]
March 13, 1965: In the teams' second meeting, Houston and SMU met to play in the 1965 NCAA Regional third place Game. Behind 27 points from Carroll Hooser, the Mustangs would again pull out a win against the Cougars, 89–87.[19]
March 18, 1967: In their third meeting in the NCAA Tournament, a Final Four was on the line as the teams met in the 1967 NCAA Elite Eight. This time, fortune would favor the Cougars. Led by 31 points from Elvin Hayes, Houston would gain their first series win by a score of 83–75.[20]
January 16, 1982: In the first year of Phi Slama Jama, SMU visited No. 10 Houston and upset the Cougars 67–66. Houston would go onto the 1982 Final Four, while SMU finished with a 6–21 record on the season.
March 12, 1983: After beating the Mustangs twice in the regular season, Houston would meet SMU once again in the 1983 Southwest Conference tournament semifinals. Houston would maintain their winning streak against SMU, prevailing 75–59. Houston would go on to win the conference tournament and make an NCAA run before finally losing to NC State in the 1983 NCAA Finals.
March 3, 1985: With the days of Phi Slama Jama behind them, the tables turned in favor of SMU with the Mustangs beating No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 5 North Carolina during the 1984–85 season. The No. 13 Mustangs headed to Houston for their final regular season game, only to be handed a 79–76 upset loss.
February 1, 2016: No. 12 SMU seemed to be heading in the right direction under the leadership of coach Larry Brown, visiting the Cougars with a 19–1 record on the season and having already beaten them earlier in the year. Coach Kelvin Sampson would earn his first win against SMU, when the Cougars pulled the upset to win 71–68. It was the Cougars' biggest victory since January 1996, when they defeated No. 3 Memphis.[21]
Game results
Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
