Does Houston Have a Rival?

Rivalry.

The dictionary defines the word as “competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field.”

In sports it is one of the most (over) used words out there. It seems everyone needs a rival; someone to hate just because it sells more tickets or newspapers. Without rivalries how can you say to someone “the team I cheer for with colors I wear is far superior to the team you cheer for.”

There aren’t that many great rivalries in sports. Yankees/Red Sox. Duke/North Carolina. Lakers/Celtics (in the good ‘ol days). You get the point. Most rivalries are regionally-based or just plain made up by fans, journalists or, what’s that you say, coaches?

Like it or not the AAC is getting a lot of national attention for the completely and embarrassingly fabrication of a “rivalry” between UCONN and Central Florida. How big is the “Civil Conflict?” It’s so big and so important UCF coach George O’Leary hadn’t even heard about it until a reporter asked him to comment. That’s not how it works people.

So what about Houston? Do the Cougars have a true rival? There was a time the Cougars played crosstown foe Rice once a year. Now there’s a rivalry you can sink your teeth into … bragging rights in the big city. Fans I surveyed still call Rice a rival, however now the Owls and Coogs are in separate conferences and aren’t on each other’s schedule.

So I ask again, does Houston have a rival?

The Cougars’ new head coach Tom Herman knows a thing or two about rivalries. He comes from Ohio State, whose hatred of Michigan is so deep fans refer to the Wolverines as “that team up north.” Buckeyes players get a special gold pin just for beating Michigan. Some fans will say “I don’t care if we win one game all year, as long as we beat (Michigan/Ohio State).”

That’s a rivalry.

So in this day and age where everyone needs a rival, it’s probably safe to say the closest thing to a blood feud on Houston’s schedule is SMU. Yes the once mighty Mustangs; a team that cheated its way to the top, suffered the NCAA’s “death penalty” and has had a mediocre rise back to something that resembles relevance. Just like Houston lost Rice as a rival because of conference realignment, so too did SMU lose TCU as a “Dallas Metroplex” rival due to the game of “Conference 52 Pick Up.”

The Cougars and the Ponies started playing each other back in 1975, and have faced off a total of 30 times over the years (Houston leads the series 19-10-1).

Houston and SMU are now in the same division of the AAC, so if both teams continue to get better their matchup may very well decide which team goes to the conference championship game. Maybe the AAC braintrust should move this game further down the schedule instead of playing it the second Saturday in October.

Plus, SMU has grabbed a couple Houston recruits away from H-Town lately, so maybe that will add some fuel to the fire.

Is this a true “rivalry” yet? No, not even close. Could it be? One Coogs’ fan wrote to me on Twitter: “Most consistent rival is Rice because of history dating back to SWC days. I can see SMU surpassing Rice as our biggest rival if we stay in same conference.”

https://twitter.com/TyCamp/status/613365924440117249

For now, Houston should treat everyone as a rival. At the risk of sounding completely cliché, every game is important as Herman evolves as a head coach and Houston tries to evolve into a powerhouse outside of the “Power 5 Conferences.”

As a fan commented to me “new rivalries take time.” Exactly. Houston fans will find a team to despise again without having to (literally) create something up in an effort to make themselves look more important than they are (cough, UConn, cough).