Cincinnati’s History Versus Houston Football

The Cincinnati Bearcats’ opponent this Saturday in the AAC title game is a frequent foe of theirs, the Houston Cougars. They have played 7 times as members of the AAC and a total of 27 times overall.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Bearcats and Cougars played 6 times in a row as members of Conference USA.

Houston holds a 15-12 lead in their all-time series. In 2019, Cincinnati outlasted the Cougars in Houston, 38-23. This broke up a two-game winning streak by the Coogs that dated back to 2015 and 2016. In 2016, Houston ripped the Bearcats by a 40-16 mark in the later days of Tommy Tuberville’s fiefdom.

In November 2020, the Cincinnati Bearcats took the Houston Cougars to the woodshed by a 38-10 mark. I expect no such margin this weekend. As we will discuss in our preview, this game is bound to be a battle. But that’s an outlier in this series.

Despite the relatively competitive nature of this series, there have been quite a few blowouts between these clubs. Big blowouts too.

Back in ‘72, Houston whipped Cincinnati in devastating fashion, 49-0. In ‘02, the Bearcats gave the Cougars a 47-14 shellacking, their worst of the series.

During the team’s shared tenure in the AAC, Cincinnati holds a 4-2 advantage which they look to extend Saturday at Nippert Stadium.

Let’s have a look at last year’s game: