1976 Houston Cougars football team

1976 Houston Cougars football

Cotton Bowl Champions Southwest Conference Co-Champions
Cotton Bowl Classic, vs. #4 Maryland, W 30–21
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#4
AP	#4
1976 record	10–2 (7–1 SWC)
Head coach	Bill Yeoman
Offensive coordinator	Bill Yeoman
Offensive scheme	Houston Veer
Defensive coordinator	Don Todd
Home stadium	Astrodome (53,000)

1976 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#4 Houston +	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
#13 Texas Tech +	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
#7 Texas A&M	6	–	2	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
Baylor	4	–	3	–	1	7	–	3	–	1
Texas	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	1
Arkansas	3	–	4	–	1	5	–	5	–	1
Rice	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
SMU	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
TCU	0	–	8	–	0	0	–	11	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the college football 1976–1977 season. It was the 31st year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by fifteenth-year head football coach, Bill Yeoman. The team played its home games at the Astrodome, a 53,000-person capacity stadium off-campus in Houston. It was Houston's first year of season play as a full member of the Southwest Conference eligible as champions. Upon winning the conference as co-champions, the Cougars competed against the Maryland Terrapins in the Cotton Bowl Classic, and finished the post-season at an all-time highest national ranking in the history of the program. Senior defensive tackle Wilson Whitley received the Lombardi Award following the season. Future UH and Baylor head coach Art Briles played on this team.

Previous season

The 1975 season was the fifth and final year of provisional play for Houston as a member of the Southwest Conference in football. The Cougars earned an abysmal 2–8, record with wins over only Lamar and Tulsa. It was head coach Bill Yeoman's fourteenth year, and the worst Cougars record in terms of wins since the 1964 season. At the conclusion of the season, Cougars guard Everett Little was drafted to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round, and 124th overall in the 1976 NFL Draft. Defensive back Donnie McGraw was drafted to the Denver Broncos in the thirteenth round, and 362nd overall.

Schedule

Houston's 1976 Southwest Conference championship trophy

Date	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 11	at Baylor		Baylor Stadium • Waco, Texas	ABC	W 23–5	37,500^[1]
September 18	at Florida*		Florida Field • Gainesville, Florida		L 14–49	49,820^[1]
September 25	vs. #9 Texas A&M		Rice Stadium • Houston, Texas		W 21–10	70,001^[1]
October 9	West Texas A&M*		Astrodome • Houston, Texas		W 50–7	23,498^[1]
October 16	at SMU	#19	Cotton Bowl • Dallas, Texas		W 29–6	28,204^[1]
October 23	vs. #15 Arkansas	#14	Rice Stadium • Houston, Texas		L 7–14	47,192^[1]
October 30	TCU		Astrodome • Houston, Texas		W 49–21	18,263^[1]
November 6	at #20 Texas	#19	Memorial Stadium • Austin, Texas		W 30–0	77,809^[1]
November 20	at #5 Texas Tech	#9	Jones Stadium • Lubbock, Texas	ABC	W 27–19	45,102^[1]
November 27	at Rice	#7	Rice Stadium • Houston, Texas (Bayou Bucket Classic)		W 42–20	32,212^[1]
December 4	Miami	#6	Astrodome • Houston, Texas		W 21–16	20,849^[1]
January 1	vs. #4 Maryland*	#6	Cotton Bowl • Dallas, Texas (Cotton Bowl Classic)	CBS	W 30–21	58,500^[1]
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll.

Poll rankings

Week-to-Week Rankings
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week.
Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	19	14	NR	19	12	9	7	6	4

Coaching staff

Head coach Bill Yeoman coaches Houston

Name	Position	Alma mater (Year)	Year at Houston
Bill Yeoman	Head coach/offensive coordinator	Army (1948)	15th
Don Todd	Defensive coordinator	Hardin-Simmons (1964)	5th
Melvin Brown	Offensive backs coach	Oklahoma (1954)	15th
Clarence Daniel	Defensive backs coach	Huron (1955)	5th
Ronny Peacock	Defensive backs coach	Houston (1972)	3rd
Billy Willingham	Offensive line coach	TCU (1951)	10th
Elmer Redd	Offensive backfield coach	Prairie View A&M (1950)	7th
Gary Mullins	Linebackers coach	Houston (1972)	2nd
Joe Arenas	Wide receivers coach	Nebraska-Omaha (1951)	14th

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "2009 Houston Cougars Media Guide: All-Time Series Game-By-Game" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-09-13.

Houston Cougars football

Venues	Robertson Stadium (1946–1950, 1998–2012) Astrodome (1965–1997) Rice Stadium (1951–1964) Reliant Stadium (2013) BBVA Compass Stadium (2013) TDECU Stadium (2014–present)

Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Rice: Bayou Bucket Classic SMU Tulsa

Culture & lore	Shasta "Cougar Fight Song" Spirit of Houston Frontiersmen The Comeback Victory

People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders

Seasons	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Southwest Conference football champions

Oklahoma & Baylor (1915) Texas (1916) Texas A&M (1917) Texas & Oklahoma (1918) Texas A&M (1919) Texas (1920) Texas A&M (1921) Baylor (1922) SMU (1923) Baylor (1924) Texas A&M (1925) SMU (1926) Texas A&M (1927) Texas (1928) TCU (1929) Texas (1930) SMU (1931) TCU (1932) Arkansas (1933) Rice (1934) SMU (1935) Arkansas (1936) Rice (1937) TCU (1938) Texas A&M (1939) Texas A&M (1940) Texas A&M (1941) Texas (1942) Texas (1943) TCU (1944) Texas (1945) Rice & Arkansas (1946) SMU (1947) SMU (1948) Rice (1949) Texas (1950) TCU (1951) Texas (1952) Rice & Texas (1953) Arkansas (1954) TCU (1955) Texas A&M (1956) Rice (1957) TCU (1958) Arkansas, Texas, & TCU (1959) Arkansas (1960) Texas & Arkansas (1961) Texas (1962) Texas (1963) Arkansas (1964) Arkansas (1965) SMU (1966) Texas A&M (1967) Arkansas & Texas (1968) Texas (1969) Texas (1970) Texas (1971) Texas (1972) Texas (1973) Baylor (1974) Arkansas, Texas & Texas A&M (1975) Houston & Texas Tech (1976) Texas (1977) Houston (1978) Arkansas & Houston (1979) Baylor (1980) SMU (1981) SMU (1982) Texas (1983) SMU & Houston (1984) Texas A&M (1985) Texas A&M (1986) Texas A&M (1987) Arkansas (1988) Arkansas (1989) Texas (1990) Texas A&M (1991) Texas A&M (1992) Texas A&M (1993) Texas A&M (1994) Texas (1995)

National championships in bold

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