Houston travels to Lubbock this weekend looking to knock off their second Power Five program in a row as they take on Texas Tech in a return game following last season’s 27-24 win for the Red Raiders. For those of a certain age, seeing the double-T logo and a UH one on the other side harkens back to a time when both schools were part of the Southwest Conference.
That’s by design. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, new Cougars athletic director Chris Pezman -- who played in the league many moons ago at the school -- noted it’s his philosophy to schedule as many old SWC rivals as possible.
“We want to play everybody in the state. It just makes sense,” Pezman said. “The geography of it, the ability for our fans to get in the car and drive up and watch a game, it’s a no-brainer from our standpoint.”
Houston has played Texas since the SWC broke up in 1995 but not since 2002 and are in the middle of a four-game series with Texas Tech. They play SMU in AAC play and typically will have a game against city rival Rice too. TCU has been on the schedule several times over the years as well.
Who knows if Pezman can find a way to get the remaining three SWC rivals on the docket at some point in the near future for nostalgia’s sake but the Chronicle notes that there are at least some good inroads to be made considering both Baylor and Arkansas are being run by former UH athletic directors. Texas A&M might prove to be a bigger challenge if it’s not a meeting in a bowl game but, for many reasons, let’s hope that the Aggies see the value in a throwback series with Houston.
Long live the SWC, after all.