Dana Holgorsen addresses possibility of Houston-SMU rivalry returning

With the Houston Cougars jumping from the American Conference to the Big 12, their long-standing rivalry with SMU has been put on ice. But that does not mean the rivalry is gone for good. There’s still a chance that the two teams can face off as nonconference opponents. But would the Houston football program welcome the return of that rivalry? Recently the Cougar’s head coach, Dana Holgorsen, addressed the possibility of the two teams facing off in the near future.

“I don’t even know what our nonconference stuff’s gonna look like, based on we don’t know what the Big 12 is gonna look like in 24’ 25’,” said Holgorsen. “I know we’re gonna have to cut some nonconference stuff, right now based on what’s scheduled. The Big 12 model has always been; play one Power-5, one Group of 5, (and) one FCS. So that’s the model that we’re looking towards trying to get to.

“How does SMU fit into that? I don’t know. That’s all nonconference stuff that is years in advance. I’d be all about it. I’ve been a part of that game for a long time. That’s a pretty wild game most of the time. So if it fits, it’s good. But it’s gotta fit within that model.”

Houston’s schedule in 2023 gives fans what they want

While Houston may have lost their annual rivalry matchup with SMU, what is not lost to Holgorsen is the benefit the move to the Big 12 has for the Cougars in terms of scheduling. As the Houston headman highlights later, his fanbase will have the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with other in-state fanbases as the majority of their schedule next season will be played in Texas.

“We don’t have an FCS on our schedule this next year. We have Sam Houston, Rice, and UTSA, which are all regional matchups that our fanbase wants to see. Now that our schedule is going from The American, which it’s basically nobody but SMU; everybody else is out of state. We wanted those regional matchups. Are the regional matchups important? Yeah, but we have a lot of rekindled Southwest Conference games.

“So we all know that looks like next year. We got seven games at home; we have one game at Rice. So we have eight in the city of Houston. We have ten in the state of Texas. We only have three flights. That’s what our fanbase has wanted for a long time.”

While the loss of the Houston-SMU rivalry stings a little bit, the Cougars will get the opportunity to face off against other teams throughout the state, strengthening rivalries with other cities such as Waco, home of the Baylor Bears, Lubbock, where the Texas Tech Red Raiders reside, SMU is replaced by TCU as the Dallas area team and their nonconference match up against UTSA covers San Antonio. And the Houston fans are ready to cheer on their Cougars against each and every one of their in-state rivals.