“Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do” (unless you’re talking about collegiate athletic conferences. It’s easy to break old ties at the college level, but it’s very hard to replace the losses with something solid in the long term because – the long term no longer exists.) – just how it looks to the Pecan Park Eagle.
COUGARS BEAT OWLS IN FINAL SWC GAME
HOUSTON (AP) – The once-glorious Southwest Conference closed its 81-year history in exciting fashion Saturday.
Houston scored 15 fourth-quarter points, then saw Rice miss a 38-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to give the Cougars an 18-17 victory.
In a game over-shadowed by Texas’ 16-6 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M – jokingly referred to as the last SWC game that mattered – the Owls and Cougars played the league’s true finale.
Only 28,400 people bothered coming to the 70.000-seat Rice Stadium and they were treated to plenty of hoopla.
There was the “Last SWC Coin Toss” featuring at least one notable representative from all current league teams except Texas A&M and one from former member Arkansas.
And there was a(n) unusual half-time show during which Rice’s all-time team was honored before the school’s band took over. They spelled out “SWC” then shuffled around to spell out “WAC” in honor of the school’s new conference.
The show closed with people dressed as school mascots serving as pallbearers for the SWC, followed by a fat lady singing.
After the game ended, the scoreboard went blank. Then Dick Hudson of Katy, a fan drawn at random from about 1,800 entries, flipped a switch and the entire stadium went dark at 7:10 p.m.
It turned out to be a decent show on the field, too, after three lackluster quarters.
Rice (2-8-1, 1-6) led 17-3 going into the fourth quarter behind two short touchdown runs by Jamey Whitlock.
Quarterback Chuck Clements began the Houston (2-9, 2-5) rally by hitting Damion Johnson on a 20 yard touchdown pass with 6:36 to play. Then, with 1:19 left, Clements lobbed a pass down the right sideline that Larkay James ran under for a 43-yard touchdown.
Now down 17-16, the Cougars went for two. Clements scrambled right, then saw Johnson breaking away from single coverage in the middle of the end zone. Clements threw the ball to Johnson’s right and he caught it to give Houston its first lead of the game.
Rice wasn’t done. Quarterback Raphael Tillman, mostly a runner, completed three passes for 43 yards and tthe Cougars were penalized 15 yards for a personal foul, putting the Owls at the Houston 18.
Rice took a loss of three yards to stop the clock and prepare for the a field goal by Mike Ruff, who had hit a 35-yarder in the first quarter.
(As stated earlier, kicker Ruff missed the 38-yard field goal attempt with 12 seconds to go and the Houston Cougars had won the last Southwest Conference game in history over the Rice Owls by a final score of 18-17.)
~ Brazosport Facts, Sunday, December 3, 1995, Page 16.
Tags: 1995, last SWC football game
The Pecan Park Eagle 
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