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Houston Cougars football history

The Road To The 1985 Cotton Bowl: Boston College & Houston

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Boston College had a magical year in the 1984 college football season, one whose biggest moment lives on as perhaps the most famous sports play of the modern era. It would be a stretch to call Houston’s year magical, but the Cougars had a lot break right for them on the way to a Southwest Conference title. BC and Houston came together on January 1 at the 1985 Cotton Bowl. Here’s a look back on the paths each team took to Dallas…

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Doug Flutie was coming into his senior year at quarterback and in 1984 he was outstanding in every way for BC. Flutie completed 58 percent of his passes, an extremely good number in this era, especially considering how often the offense threw the ball. He finished with over 3,600 passing yards and a dazzling 30/13 TD-INT ratio. He was fully deserving of his landslide Heisman Trophy selection.

Gerald Phelan would catch Flutie’s most famous pass and Phelan caught a lot more, leading the team with 71 catches and 1,065 receiving yards. Troy Stradford was a solid threat running the football with 862 yard and 5.2 yards a pop. Stradford was also skilled coming out of the backfield as a receiver with 41 catches for over 400 yards.

The Eagle defense was led by All-American defensive back Tony Thurman. They weren’t an overwhelmingly talented team, but this was a program with momentum under head coach Jack Bicknell. He’d gotten them to bowl games in 1982-83, the first time in over forty years and now was aiming for a return to New Year’s Day. BC was ranked #19 coming into the season.

BC opened with a 44-24 tuneup win over Western Carolina and then traveled to play Alabama in a prime-time battle. The Crimson Tide were now two years removed from the leadership of the legendary Bear Bryant, but expectations were still high and ‘Bama was ranked #9.

Boston College dug themselves a 31-14 hole in the third quarter, including giving up a 99-yard kickoff return. Then Flutie started his Heisman campaign in earnest. He ran for one touchdown and threw for another. He completed 19/38 passes for 254 yards. The Eagles won the turnover battle 6-2 and eventually pulled even 31-31. Stradford won the game with 42-yard touchdown jaunt with 3:26 left.

The 38-31 win vaulted BC to #10. This wouldn’t be a very good Tide team by the time all was said and done, as they finished 5-6. But it was a huge marquee win for the Eagles and with top teams falling left and right in the early part of 1984, Boston College was up to #4 by the time they played another game two weeks later.

BC then started a run of games against teams that would win between five and seven games. The Eagles blew out North Carolina 52-20 and got by Temple 24-10. But a road trip to West Virginia resulted in the first loss, a 21-20 nailbiter that pushed Boston College down to #11 in the rankings.

A 35-23 win over Rutgers followed, but BC gave it right back when they went to Penn State, where Joe Paterno was struggling with one of his worst teams to date, and lost 37-30. Bearing Army 45-31 and then knocking off Syracuse 24-16, in a game played in Foxboro, got Boston College back on track and had them ranked #10 with the season finale in Miami.

It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and from the BC standpoint, there wasn’t a lot on the line. Heisman ballots were usually turned in by this time and it’s impossible to suggest that Flutie’s hold on the trophy would be impacted by this game. Boston College had already accepted a bid to the Cotton Bowl. For a game that was meaningless, it proved to be as meaningful as you could imagine.

Flutie and Miami counterpart Bernie Kosar put on a passing display for the ages. Flutie threw for 472 yards, while Kosar threw for 447. Over the last quarter-plus there were six lead changes. The fifth of those changes came on a Hurricane touchdown with 28 seconds left that put them on top 45-41. BC got the ball back on their own 20, pushed to midfield and had time for one play.

What happened next became one of the most popular highlights of all-time. Flutie dropped back, launched the ball towards the end zone. Amidst a sea of bodies in the end zone, Phelan caught the pass. It was “The Magic Flutie” and it resulted in a 47-45 win, a lasting legend for both Flutie and Phelan.

Houston had joined the Southwest Conference prior to the 1976 season and under the direction of head coach Bill Yeoman, won the league’s Cotton Bowl bid three times in the next four years and went 2-1 in those games. The previous four years had seen a slippage—the Cougars only reached two bowl games from 1980-83 and coming off a 4-7 season, there was no reason to think 1984 would mark a turnaround.

The team’s best player was All-American tight end Carl Hilton, who caught 38 passes for 517 yards, but otherwise the personnel was fairly pedestrian. Quarterback Gerald Landry completed 48 percent of his passes for 6.4 yards-per-attempt, both numbers around the middle of an SWC that few quarterbacks that could throw the ball effectively.

Wide receiver Larry Sheppard also caught 38 passes, and running back Raymond Tate rushed for 864 yards, third-best in the SWC. Defensive back DeWayne Bowden intercepted six passes. On balance though, it wasn’t a great roster and Houston would never be ranked at any point in the 1984 college football season.

The season began with a 30-17 win over Miami-Ohio, but the Cougars quickly lost to another set of Cougars—those from Washington State, led by future NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, in a 35-7 rout. When Houston dropped a 30-28 decision to woeful Louisville, it looked like another long year was ahead for Yeoman.

Victories over mediocre teams in Baylor (27-17) and Texas A&M (9-7) got the conference schedule off to a good start and then came October 20.

Houston was playing SMU on the road. The Mustangs were ranked #6 in the country, had won the conference in 1982 and finished second in 1983. Houston stunned everyone by blowing the game open, with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Landry to Hilton opening up a 19-point lead. An SMU rally made the score respectable, but the 29-20 win was never in doubt.

The Cougars lost their next two games, falling to Arkansas 17-13 and TCU 21-14, both solid teams that would be in title contention in what was a jam-packed race for Dallas.

As Houston prepared to go to Texas, the Longhorns were leading the way with a 4-0 league mark and a #3 national ranking. TCU was 4-1 in SWC play, while Houston, SMU and Arkansas were all 3-2.

It was fully expected the Cougars would play their way out of the race in Austin on November 10. Instead, the opposite happened. After spotting the Longhorns a 7-0 lead, the Cougars got a field goal back, Landry threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Ketchum and Houston built up a 20-17 lead by the fourth quarter.

The Cougars were hawking the ball in the secondary and intercepted five passes on the day. The big one came with the 20-17 lead and Texas driving. Bowden picked one off and took it 62 yards to the house. It was the dagger in a 29-15 win.

Houston had the next week off and watched Texas knock off TCU. It was now the Longhorns still holding the league lead, but a battalion of four two-loss teams (Houston, TCU, Arkansas and SMU) giving chase.

On November 24, Houston didn’t play an impressive game against a subpar Texas Tech team, but they won 24-17. Meanwhile, everything the Cougars could have wished for in the other games broke their way. Texas lost at Baylor. TCU lost at Texas A&M. Even the head-to-head SMU-Arkansas game when Houston’s way—SMU, whom the Cougars held the tiebreaker on, got the win.

It left Houston in a win-and-you’re-in spot for the season finale, and they had the perfect opponent—one of the worst teams in the country in Rice. The Cougars again didn’t dazzle anyone, but they won 38-26. Yeoman had his fourth Cotton Bowl bid and easily his most improbable.

The weather in Dallas on New Year’s Day was blustery and attendance was the lowest for the Cotton Bowl since 1948. Flutie did not play well, completing just 13/37 passes for 180 yards. His teammates had his back though, with Stradford and #2 running back Steve Strachan muscling for almost 300 yards between them.

Boston College built up a 31-14 lead, but a Pick-6 thrown by Flutie got momentum moving in the other direction and the lead was cut to 31-28. In recent years, BC fans had already seen their basketball team lose a big game to Houston—a regional final in the 1982 NCAA Tournament. Now it seemed like a major bowl win might be slipping away.

But the Eagles went back to Stradford and Strachan and pounded their way to an insurance touchdown and then tacked on one more for icing on the cake. Boston College had shown their versatility, winning a big game when their star quarterback was struggling. The 45-28 win gave them to a Top 5 national finish.

Both of these programs have had some special moments since—Houston produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Andre Ware in 1989. Boston College has produced a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Tom Coughlin, several notable national wins and a good NFL quarterback in Matt Ryan. But neither BC, nor Houston, has been on the major bowl stage since their meeting at the 1985 Cotton Bowl.

The Road To The 1980 Cotton Bowl: Houston & Nebraska

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The Houston Cougars and Nebraska Cornhuskers each flirted with greatness during 1979 college football season. Each “settled” for just being really good, at 10-1 before they met on New Year’s Day in the 1980 Cotton Bowl. Let’s look back on the road each team took to Dallas.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 

Bill Yeoman’s Houston program had already made quite an impact on the Southwest Conference. The joined the league dominated by Texas and Arkansas in 1976 and promptly won the league title and its automatic Cotton Bowl bid twice in three years. Respect was coming—despite having to replace a pair of 1,000-yard rushers, the Cougars were ranked #16 to begin the 1979 season.

The defense was anchored by linebacker David Hodge, who made All-American for the second straight year. Defensive tackle Hosea Taylor was another All-American, as was offensive tackle Melvin Jones on the other side of the ball.

Houston’s quality up front helped ease the backfield transition. Terald King rushed for over 1,000 yards and finished second in the SWC in rushing. John Newhouse was a good second option, finishing seventh in the league in rushing, as quarterback Delrick Brown ran an offense that was moderately conservative by the standards of the era.

The non-conference schedule wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Houston scheduled a trip to perennial Pac-10 power UCLA, but this turned out to be a down year for the Bruins, as they finished sub-.500. The Cougars won 24-16.

After that they hosted Florida and escaped 15-10. Florida was nowhere near the program is it today, but even by those lower standards, this was a particularly bad team. The Gators went winless, but no one knew that at the time and with their 2-0 start, Houston was moved to #8 in the rankings.

An easy win over West Texas A&M was the last tuneup for league play The opener was a tough 13-10 home win over Baylor, an up-and-comer that would claim the conference one year later. Another three-point win against a decent team followed, 17-14 at Texas A&M. The Cougars were now ranked fifth nationally and promptly blew out SMU.

October 27 sent Houston to play fourth-ranked Arkansas. Despite trailing 10-7 at the half, the Cougar defense went into lockdown mode and they were able to grind out a 13-10 win. Houston was still undefeated going into November.

The following week was a “sandwich game” at woeful TCU, and Houston was unimpressive in a 21-10 win. The other side of the Arkansas-Texas sandwich came next—a trip to Austin, where the Longhorns were ranked ninth, and very much alive in the Cotton Bowl race.

It proved to be a heartbreaker—Houston trailed just 14-13 in the fourth quarter, but Brown threw three interceptions and Texas tacked on a late touchdown to win 21-13. The SWC race was now completely up for grabs—Houston, Texas and Arkansas were in a circular three-way tie, having split amongst each other. The Cotton Bowl would get to choose if it ended that way, and it’s impossible to fathom they would have picked the Cougars.

One week later Houston didn’t play well, surviving a bad Texas Tech team 14-10, but the Coogs got the break they needed—Texas was upset by Texas A&M. Now the conference was a two-way tie and Houston had the tiebreaker on Arkansas. Yeoman’s team took full advantage in crushing lowly Rice 63-0 to secure their Cotton Bowl trip. They entered New Year’s Day ranked eighth.

Nebraska had been a consistent winner since Tom Osborne took over for the legendary Bob Devaney in 1973, but the Cornhuskers had an Oklahoma problem. Osborne lost his first five games to the Sooners. When Nebraska finally beat them and won the Big Eight’s Orange Bowl bid in 1978, they were forced into a rematch with OU—which the Cornhuskers lost decisively.

Osborne had a team that was simultaneously a respected national power, while also seen as Oklahoma’s little brother. Nebraska was ranked #8 to begin the 1979 season.

The running game was what it was about in Lincoln. Jarvis Redwine, a transfer from Oregon State, stepped into the lineup and went over 1,100 yards. He was supported by I.M. Hipp, Andra Franklin and Craig Johnson, who all cleared 500 yards and finished among the Big Eight’s top ten rushers.

When Nebraska wanted to throw, their quarterbacks, Jeff Quinn and Tim Hager, could target the nation’s best tight end in Junior Miller. His seven touchdown catches were easily the Big Eight’s best and in this offensive scheme in this era, his 23 catches marked him a modern-day Antonio Gates.

The Huskers opened the season with a 35-14 win over Utah State and then escaped a road trip to mediocre Iowa, 24-21. They were moved to #6 in time to host a nationally televised game with Penn State at the end of September.

Nebraska started poorly, with Penn State scoring the first two touchdowns, one off a Pick-6. Then the Cornhuskers got down to business. Hager connected with Miller on a short touchdown pass of 11 yards, and then hit the great tight end on a 70-yard scoring strike. Nebraska scored 28 points in the second quarter and never looked back on their way to a 42-17 win.

Even though it wasn’t a great Penn State team—Joe Paterno’s squad was ranked #18 coming in and wouldn’t make a major bowl game—it still qualified as a big-time statement win for Nebraska. They had dominated the Lions on the ground, winning rush yardage 298-160, with Redwine going for 124. When the next polls came out, Nebraska was in the top five.

There were no serious tests in October, blowing through New Mexico State, Kansas and, Oklahoma State and Colorado by a combined score of 173-10. Oklahoma State, on its way to seven wins under first-year coach Jimmy Johnson, was the only one of these teams even remotely capable of being on the same field with the Cornhuskers, who were ranked #2 in the nation by the end of the month.

Nebraska went to Missouri to open November. The Tigers were a pretty good team, and no one needed to persuade Osborne—the previous year, a loss to Mizzou cost the Huskers a chance to play for the national championship. This time Nebraska won, but it wasn’t easy in a 23-20 win. Another fairly close game, this time to a poor team at home—21-12 over Kansas State—resulted in Nebraska slipping to #3 in the polls.

The Cornhuskers blew out Iowa State to set up the season finale with Oklahoma. The Sooners had lost a non-conference game to Texas and were realistically out of the national title race. Nebraska was blocked out by fellow unbeatens Alabama and Ohio State, neither of whom they could possibly play in a bowl game.

It would take an inside straight to finish #1, but there was still an undefeated season and the not-so-small matter of simply beating Oklahoma still on the line when Nebraska went to Norman on November 24.

After taking an early 7-0 lead, the game proved to be the same-old, same-old when it came to facing Oklahoma. The Cornhusker defense, lacking All-American talent, was overrun by OU’s star running back Billy Sims. Nebraska trailed 17-7 with less than five minutes left when they scored on a trick “fumblerooski” play, where Quinn took the snap, set the ball on the ground and an offensive lineman picked up and ran for a touchdown. But the game ended at 17-14 and Nebraska settled for a Cotton Bowl date with Houston.

The Cotton Bowl itself was a good tough football game on a sunny day in Dallas. Houston led 10-7 in the fourth quarter, but a fumble on their own 31-yard line set up a Nebraska touchdown with less than four minutes left. The Cougars had lost a crusher here a year ago to Notre Dame and seemed poised to lose another heartbreaker in their league’s signature bowl game.

What’s more, Brown was out and backup quarterback Terry Elston had the task of mounting a drive against Nebraska. Elston ended up an unlikely hero. He led the team gradually down the field and faced a fourth-and-goal on the six-yard line. For the second straight year, the Cotton Bowl was coming down to one final pass into the end zone.

Wide receiver Eric Herring was well-covered and Nebraska had everyone blanketed. Elston took a chance and rifled it toward Herring. It caromed off a defender and into Herring’s hands for a 17-14 win.

The win was the high point of Yeoman’s tenure—he had also won the Cotton Bowl two years earlier, but beating Nebraska had more cache than knocking off Maryland. For Nebraska, it just added to the close-but-not-quite trend that would trail them for another fifteen years.

The Road To The 1979 Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame & Houston

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Notre Dame was the defending national champion coming into the 1978 college football season. Houston was only two years removed from a major bowl appearance of their own, but continued to be a mostly unheralded program. These two teams marched a path to a memorable January 1 battle at the 1979 Cotton Bowl.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Joe Montana was in his senior as the Fighting Irish quarterback, and he threw for over 2,000 yards, even with the graduation of All-American tight end Ken McAfee. The offensive line was anchored by All-American center Dave Huffman, and behind it, Vagas Ferguson ran for over 1,100 yards and Jerome Heavens added 721 more.

The defense coped with the loss of Outland Trophy winner Ross Browner, but still had All-American linebacker Bob Golic. Expectations were appropriately high in South Bend with a preseason #5 ranking.

Houston entered the Southwest Conference in 1976 and immediately made their presence felt to traditional powers Texas and Arkansas. The Cougars got the Cotton Bowl bid that year and beat Maryland, but after slipping to 6-5 in 1977, Houston was still seen as well behind Texas and Arkansas. The Cougars were unranked to start the season.

In September, thoughts of being in Dallas on January 1 seemed utopian in both South Bend and Houston. Notre Dame dropped its opener at home to Missouri, getting shut out in the process, in a 3-0 game. The Irish then hosted Michigan. The two schools renewed their rivalry in 1978 and this year marked the beginning of a long September tradition. It didn’t begin well for Notre Dame in a 28-14 loss that sent them plummeting from the land of the ranked.

Houston opened the season at Memphis, a team that would win only four games, but one of them came at the Cougars’ expense 17-3. Houston began to bounce back quickly. They had a potent running game with two 1,000-yard rushers, Emmett King and Randy Love, while wide receiver Willis Adams was one of the better deep threats in the SWC. David Hodge, an All-American linebacker anchored the defense.

The Cougars beat a pretty good Utah team and then nipped 10th-ranked Florida State, just starting to become a good program under Bobby Bowden. When Houston edged lowly Baylor to open SWC play it wasn’t impressive, but it was finally enough to get them in the polls, at #17.

After Notre Dame’s 0-2 start, they played a sequence of three straight games against good teams that stood to make or break them. The Irish started by escaping nine-win Purdue with a 10-6 win. Notre Dame then went to Michigan State, a team that had the Big Ten’s best receiver in Kirk Gibson and would have gone to the Rose Bowl this year if not for being on probation. The Irish jumped out to a 22-6 lead with the help of a defensive touchdown and won 29-25.

Notre Dame finished the triumvirate with a 26-17 win over ninth-ranked Pitt. Montana, staring at a 17-7 deficit after three quarters, completing seven straight passes and leading the comeback for the home crowd. By the end of this stretch, ND was ranked #20.

Houston faced a difficult challenge in navigating the SWC. They caught everyone’s attention with a 33-0 rout of sixth-ranked Texas A&M, starting the Aggies plunging to a four-loss season. After a win over SMU, the Cougars hosted Arkansas on October 28.  After trailing 9-7 at the half, Houston took over the second half and won 20-9

There was no letdown for head coach Bill Yeoman’s team, as they blasted lowly TCU 63-6, moved into the Top 10 and were set to go to Austin and face sixth-ranked Texas. First place was on the line, neither team having lost a conference game.

After a scoreless first half, Houston was able to get its running game going and a touchdown from King capped a 57-yard drive. A third quarter field goal gave the Cougars a 10-0 cushion and they hung on a 10-7 win. They were improbably in complete control of the conference race, needing one win in their final two games to reach the Cotton Bowl.

Notre Dame meanwhile rolled through Air Force, Miami, a pretty good Navy team, mediocre Tennessee and #20 Georgia Tech to rise to #8 in the polls. The Irish weren’t going to win the national title, but they had a lot of momentum going to play their season finale at USC.

On November 25, both ND and Houston had their hearts broken, at least temporarily. The Cougars lost to Texas Tech 22-21. Even though Texas inexplicably lost to Baylor, Texas Tech still had a path to Dallas in the event of a four-way tie that would include Arkansas. Houston couldn’t celebrate yet.

Notre Dame fell behind USC 24-6, when Montana came through with a comeback that put the Irish up 25-24. When Trojan quarterback Paul McDonald fumbled in the closing minute, it appeared the game was over. Only the Pac-10 officiating crew ruled that McDonald’s arm was going forward, that it was not a fumble, but an incomplete pass. The Trojans took the reprieve and won a last-play field goal. The Irish had three losses, but still had the Cotton invite in hand.

Houston beat Rice 49-25 on December 2 to clinch not only their Cotton Bowl bid, but an outright SWC crown. They were ranked #9. With wins over Texas & Arkansas already in hand, a bowl victory over Notre Dame would eliminate the respect problem.

The Cougars looked well on their way to doing just that when they collected seven turnovers, including three interceptions of Montana and built up a 34-12 lead. The Irish quarterback, playing with the flu on what turned out to be a cold day with gusting wind in Dallas, went to the locker room and ate chicken soup to try and regain his strength. He returned midway through the fourth quarter of what it appeared to be a lost cause.

A blocked punt by ND and two-point conversion cut the lead to 34-20. Montana threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Heavens and it was 34-28. Notre Dame got the ball back one more time and drove inside the 10-yard line with six seconds left.

Montana looked for leading receiver Kris Haines in the right corner of the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete. Two seconds left. Montana went back to the same play. This time it was a touchdown and Notre Dame had a stunning 35-34.

The Irish finished in the Top 10. The Cougars were crushed, but they would be back. Yeoman had two more Cotton Bowl trips left in his career, including one that would result in a victory over Nebraska one year later.

The Road To The 1977 Cotton Bowl: Houston & Maryland

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Upstarts crashed the 1977 Cotton Bowl. The Houston Cougars were in the first year of the old Southwest Conference, which had the bowl’s automatic bid. Rather than pay deference to legendary coaches in Texas’ Darrell Royal and Arkansas’ Frank Broyles, both in their final year, Houston quickly won the league. Their opponent was Maryland, who rose up to enjoy an undefeated season. Here’s how they arrived in Dallas following the 1976 college football season.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 

Bill Yeoman had taken over the Houston program in 1962, and after nine straight winning seasons, the Cougars fell to 2-8 in 1975. Nothing suggested a turnaround was in the offing. They were unranked to start the year. An opening day road win over what would prove to be a pretty good Baylor team was promising, but the Cougars promptly lost 49-14 at Florida on September 18.

September 25 was what gave Houston fans real hope that this year would be different. They hosted ninth-ranked Texas A&M. The Aggies had a terrific running back in George Woodward, who would average 144 yards-per-game this season. Houston shut him down.

The Cougar defensive front was led by Wilson Whitley, who won the Lombardi Award and would go #8 overall in the coming spring’s NFL draft. Houston won the game 21-10, then blew out West Texas A&M two weeks later to move into the Top 20.

Houston thumped SMU, but then dropped a tough 14-7 decision at home to Broyles and Arkansas. The loss sent the Cougars back out of the polls. They began another climb and this time they didn’t stop.

The Cougar running game was led by Alois Blackwell, who rushed 934 yards and they had a ballhawking defensive back in Anthony Francis, who intercepted ten passes. Houston blasted winless TCU to move into the polls and then opened everyone’s eyes when they went into Austin and shut out Texas 30-0. It’s true that was not a vintage Longhorn team for Royals’ final year—they went 5-5-1—but beating Texas in any era is significant and certainly a road shutout in the mid-1970s.

It set up Houston’s biggest game, at unbeaten and fifth-ranked Texas Tech on November 20. The winner would hold the inside track to the Cotton Bowl. Cougar quarterback Danny Davis was often erratic—even by the standards of the era, his 47.8% completion rate was low, but he led an offense that put up 27 points in Lubbock. Houston led 27-19 late in the game and an interception killed a final Red Raider drive.

The victory moved Houston to #7 in the polls and they took care of three-win Rice a week later to sew up the Cotton Bowl spot. A non-conference home win over Miami, 21-16, had the Cougars ranked #6 when New Year’s Day arrived.

Maryland was a program that head coach Jerry Claiborne had moving up, with a 25-10-1 record in the coach’s first three years in College Park. All three years had resulted in bowl appearances, but the Terps had yet to play on the New Year’s stage. They opened the 1976 season ranked #12.

The Terrapins opened with seven games that were relatively easy. Villanova, then playing Division I football, was the only one of the seven to finish with a winning record, and Maryland won all seven games. They elevated from #12 to #5 in the process.

Maryland, like Houston, was led by a great defensive tackle. Joe Campbell was an All-American and would be chosen one spot ahead of Whitley in the coming NFL draft. The Terps also had two excellent guards in Ed Fulton and Tom Shick, and tackle Dave Conrad rounded out a very good offensive line. The line cleared the way for fullback Tim Wilson, running back Alvin Maddox, and running quarterback Mark Manges.

The biggest game of the year wasn’t an ACC opponent—it was a home date with Kentucky, the place Claiborne had gone to school and would eventually return to coach in 1982. The Wildcats would finish the season 7-4, and had beaten ranked teams in Penn State and LSU. Kentucky came to College Park on October 30 and Maryland answered the bell with a 24-14 win.

Claiborne’s team followed that up with a win over eight-win Cincinnati, and then shut out Clemson and Virginia. It put a lock on not just an ACC title and not just a Cotton Bowl bid, but an undefeated season.

Maryland was ranked #4, but had no real chance at the national championship. Another undefeated upstart out of the East, the Pitt Panthers, were ranked #1 and in the Sugar Bowl. If Pitt lost, the polls would surely crown the winner of Michigan-USC in the Rose Bowl, the two teams immediately behind Pitt in the rankings. Neither were undefeated, but the Terps simply lacked the respect and the weakness of the ACC at this time didn’t help.

There might not have been a national title to settle in Dallas, but the winner of this game would end up in the Top 5 of the final polls, a much better neighborhood than either team was accustomed to.

The weather was ice cold in Dallas, and it was Houston who came out and struck very quickly. After a touchdown drive, the Cougars blocked a punt to set up another quick score. Then they recovered a fumble and scored again. It was 21-0 and all three touchdowns had come within a 5 ½ minute span.

But Maryland stormed back. Manges ran for a touchdown in the second quarter. Houston answered that one, but missed the extra point. In the third quarter, Manges both ran and threw for a touchdown and now it was 27-21. Houston was backed up on their own goal line in the fourth quarter facing third and long. Davis made one of the biggest throws of the season, converting the first down. Later in the drive, on 4th-and-1, Yeoman went for it, and it kept a drive for a clinching field goal alive.

Houston won 30-21, keyed by Blackwell going for two touchdowns and over 160 yards against a defense that hadn’t allowed a rushing touchdown for 22 quarters coming into the game. The Cougars got into the Top 5, finishing fourth in the final poll.