1989 Houston Cougars football team

Summary

The 1989 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the 44th year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by third-year head coach Jack Pardee. Serving as offensive coordinator was John Jenkins, who succeeded Pardee as head coach following the season. The team played its games off-campus at the Astrodome, which had recently received upgrades to seat 62,439 spectators. These Cougars boasted the first squad to have a 4,000-yard passer (Andre Ware), 1,000-yard rusher (Chuck Weatherspoon), and 1,000-yard receiver (Manny Hazard) in FBS history, finishing the season ranked as No. 14 by the AP Poll.[1] Junior quarterback Andre Ware won the Heisman Trophy and Davey O'Brien Award following the conclusion of the season. Under probation by the NCAA from rules violated in prior seasons, Houston was ineligible for participation in a bowl game and could not be listed in the Coaches Poll. The Cougars were also barred from live television.

1989 Houston Cougars football
ConferenceSouthwest Conference
Ranking
APNo. 14
Record9–2 (6–2 SWC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJohn Jenkins (3rd season)
Offensive schemeRun and shoot
Defensive coordinatorJim Eddy (4th season)
Home stadiumHouston Astrodome
Seasons
← 1988
1990 →
1989 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 13 Arkansas $ 7 1 0 10 2 0
No. 20 Texas A&M 6 2 0 8 4 0
No. 14 Houston 6 2 0 9 2 0
No. 19 Texas Tech 5 3 0 9 3 0
Baylor 4 4 0 5 6 0
Texas 4 4 0 5 6 0
TCU 2 6 0 4 7 0
Rice 2 6 0 2 8 1
SMU 0 8 0 2 9 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Ware became the first Black quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy when he threw for 4,699 yards, 46 touchdowns, and set 27 NCAA records. Many of the records were thanks to the innovative use of the run and shoot offense, which his successor, David Klingler, also used to great effect. The Cougars ended the season ranked the No. 14 team in the nation by the Associated Press. Ware then declared for the NFL Draft, foregoing his senior year.[2]

Schedule edit

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendance
September 2at UNLV*No. 21W 69–022,416
September 23at Arizona State*No. 17W 36–767,357
September 30Temple*No. 14W 65–715,121
October 7BaylorNo. 12
  • Houston Astrodome
  • Houston, TX
W 66–1031,433
October 14at Texas A&MNo. 8L 13–1766,423
October 21SMUNo. 16
  • Houston Astrodome
  • Houston, TX
W 95–2120,009
October 28at No. 13 ArkansasNo. 12L 39–4555,112
November 4at TCUNo. 17W 55–1019,212
November 11TexasNo. 15
  • Houston Astrodome
  • Houston, TX
W 47–945,586
November 25No. 18 Texas TechNo. 13
  • Houston Astrodome
  • Houston, TX
W 40–2430,097
December 2at RiceNo. 13
W 64–022,700
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[3]

Roster edit

1989 Houston Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
OL   Joey Banes Sr
WR 20 Manny Hazard Jr
QB 7 David Klingler So
QB 11 Andre Ware Jr
RB 28 Chuck Weatherspoon Jr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB   Reggie Burnette Jr
DB   Chris Ellison Sr
LB 46 Lamar Lathon Sr
SS 29 Alton Montgomery Sr
DT 96 Alfred Oglesby Sr
DB   Cornelius Price
DT   Craig Veasey Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K   Roman Anderson So
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Rankings edit

Week-to-Week Rankings
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week.
Poll Pre Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Final
AP 21 22 18 17 14 12 8 16 12 17 15 13 13 13 13 13 14
Coaches' Ineligible (on probation)

Game summaries edit

At UNLV edit

At Arizona State edit

Temple edit

Andre Ware threw for a career-high 7 touchdown passes.

Baylor edit

Manny Hazard hauled in a school-record 5 touchdown receptions.

At Texas A&M edit

SMU edit

SMU at Houston
1 234Total
Mustangs 6 870 21
No. 16 Cougars 24 352214 95
  • Source: Box Score and Game Story

Houston shattered the NCAA record for total offense with 1,021 yards, and set the mark for passing yards with 771.[4] Andre Ware threw for 517 yards and 6 touchdowns while completing 25 of 41 attempts, and did not play in the second half. Backup David Klingler threw for 254 yards and 4 touchdowns in the second half. Paul Smith caught 6 passes for 255 yards and 3 touchdowns. Chuck Weatherspoon rushed 15 times for 207 yards and 3 touchdowns.[5]

At Arkansas edit

[6]

At TCU edit

Texas edit

Texas at Houston
1 234Total
Longhorns 3 600 9
No. 15 Cougars 6 21146 47
  • Date: November 11
  • Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas
  • Game start: 4:02 pm CST
  • Elapsed time: 3:25
  • Game attendance: 45,586
  • Game weather: Indoors
  • Referee: Joe Thomas
  • Source: Box Score

[7]

Texas Tech edit

At Rice edit

[8]

[9][10][11]

Awards and honors edit

Team players in the NFL edit

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Andre Ware Quarterback 1 7 Detroit Lions
Lamar Lathon Linebacker 1 15 Houston Oilers
Alton Montgomery Defensive back 2 52 Denver Broncos
Alfred Oglesby Nose tackle 3 66 Miami Dolphins
Craig Veasey Defensive tackle 3 81 Pittsburgh Steelers
Chris Ellison Defensive back 11 278 Atlanta Falcons
Joey Banes Tackle 11 295 Houston Oilers

[14]

References edit

  1. ^ https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/theseason0807ware/houston-andre-ware-changed-game-25-years-ago
  2. ^ "Houston: History & Records" (PDF). University of Houston Athletic Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  3. ^ "2009 Houston Cougars Media Guide: All-Time Series Game-By-Game" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  4. ^ "FOOTBALL BOWL SUBDIVISION RECORDS" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  5. ^ "Houston Rolls It Up Against SMU With 95 Points, 1,021 Yards". Los Angeles Times. October 22, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  6. ^ "Arkansas Chills Score-Happy Houston, 45-39". Tulsa World. October 29, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  7. ^ "UH air show bombs 'Horns again, 47-9". Odessa American via newspapers.com. November 12, 1989. p. 37. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  8. ^ "COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Houston Routs Rice". The New York Times. December 3, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  9. ^ "Passing Puts Ware on Receiving End of Heisman". The Washington Post. December 3, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  10. ^ "THE HEISMAN TROPHY: Invisible Ware Gets Hardware". Los Angeles Times. December 3, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  11. ^ "Houston's Ware Wins Heisman". The New York Times. December 3, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  12. ^ "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
  13. ^ "Ware wins Heisman". Houston Chronicle. December 3, 1989. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  14. ^ "NFL Draft History: Full Draft". NFL.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2008.