1990 Houston Cougars football team

1990 Houston Cougars football
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 10
Record	10–1 (7–1 SWC)
Head coach	John Jenkins (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Run and shoot
Defensive coordinator	Larry Coyer (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Houston Astrodome
Seasons ←  1989 1991  →

1990 Southwest Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 12 Texas $	8	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 10 Houston	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
No. 15 Texas A&M	5	–	2	–	1			9	–	3	–	1
Baylor	5	–	2	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
Rice	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
TCU	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Texas Tech	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Arkansas	1	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
SMU	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by first-year head coach John Jenkins and played their home games at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The team competed as members of the Southwest Conference, finishing in second. Due to NCAA sanctions, Houston was ineligible to be invited to a bowl game and was banned from being ranked in the Coaches Poll. The Cougars lost only once in the season, to eventual SWC champion, Texas, and were ranked tenth in the final AP poll of the year. Their last regular season game was played in Tokyo, in the Coca-Cola Classic.

Quarterback David Klingler finished third in voting for the Heisman Trophy, leading the nation with 54 passing touchdowns and 374 completions. His 5,140 passing yards trailed only Heisman-winner Ty Detmer of BYU. ^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8	UNLV *	No. 24	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX		W 37–9	20,138
September 13	at Texas Tech	No. 18	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	ESPN	W 51–35	36,794
September 29	Rice	No. 13	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX (rivalry)		W 24–22	24,130
October 6	at Baylor	No. 13	Floyd Casey Stadium Waco, TX (rivalry)	Raycom	W 31–15	36,289
October 13	No. 20 Texas A&M	No. 12	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX		W 36–31	45,141
October 20	at SMU	No. 9	Ownby Stadium Dallas, TX (rivalry)		W 44–17	23,250
October 27	Arkansas	No. 6	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX	Raycom	W 62–28	27,352
November 3	TCU	No. 6	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX		W 56–35	25,725
November 10	at No. 14 Texas	No. 3	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ESPN	L 24–45	82,457
November 17	Eastern Washington *	No. 12	Houston Astrodome Houston, TX		W 84–21	17,050	[2]
December 2	vs. Arizona State *	No. 11	Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan (Coca-Cola Classic)	TBS	W 62–45	50,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[3]

Rankings

Main article: 1990 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	24	24	18	14	13	13	12	9	6 (1)	6 (2)	3 (5)	12	12	11	9	10
Coaches		Not released

Game summaries

UNLV

See also: UNLV Rebels football

At Texas Tech

See also: 1990 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team

^[4]

Rice

See also: Rice Owls football and Bayou Bucket Classic

At Baylor

See also: 1990 Baylor Bears football team

Texas A&M

Texas A&M at Houston

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Aggies	17	7	7	0	31
•No. 12 Cougars	7	10	10	9	36

• Date: October 13
• Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas
• Game attendance: 45,141
• Game weather: Indoors

Scoring summary

1		A&M	Darren Lewis 47-yard run (Talbot kick)	A&M 7–0
1		A&M	Layne Talbot 33-yard field goal	A&M 10–0
1	5:16	A&M	Darren Lewis 9-yard run (Talbot kick)	A&M 17–0
1	2:40	HOU	Manny Hazard 14-yard pass from David Klingler (Anderson kick)	A&M 17–7
2		A&M	Darren Lewis 4-yard run (Talbot kick)	A&M 24–7
2		HOU	Chuck Weatherspoon 1-yard run (Anderson kick)	A&M 24–14
2	0:00	HOU	Roman Anderson 39-yard field goal	A&M 24–17
3		HOU	David Klingler 1-yard run (Anderson kick)	Tied 24–24
3	6:40	HOU	Roman Anderson 23-yard field goal	Houston 27–24
3		A&M	Darren Lewis 12-yard run (Talbot kick)	A&M 31–27
4	12:33	HOU	Roman Anderson 34-yard field goal	A&M 31–30
4	0:20	HOU	Chuck Weatherspoon 1-yard run (pass failed)	Houston 36–31

See also: 1990 Texas A&M Aggies football team

The Cougars drove 95 yards for the game-winning touchdown, a 1-yard run by Chuck Weatherspoon with 20 seconds remaining. Weatherspoon accounted for 218 yards from scrimmage (131 rushing) and 2 touchdowns. David Klingler passed for 352 yards and had 2 touchdowns (1 rushing). ^[5]

At SMU

See also: 1990 SMU Mustangs football team

Arkansas

See also: 1990 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

TCU

See also: 1990 TCU Horned Frogs football team

At Texas

See also: 1990 Texas Longhorns football team

^{[6] [7]}

Eastern Washington

See also: Eastern Washington Eagles football

Vs. Arizona State

See also: 1990 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

In the 62–45 victory over the Sun Devils, David Klingler set the Division I-A single-game passing record with 716 yards. ^[8]

Roster

1990 Houston Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 20 Manny Hazard Sr QB 7 David Klingler Jr RB 28 Chuck Weatherspoon Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB   Reggie Burnette Sr LB   Glenn Cadrez Jr LB   Ryan McCoy So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K   Roman Anderson Jr	Head coach John Jenkins Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "1990 College Football Leaders". Sports-Reference.com.
2. "Klingler's 11 touchdown passes pace Houston's record-setting rout". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 18, 1990. Retrieved January 7, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
3. "1990 Houston Cougars Schedule and Results". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
4. "Houston 51, Texas Tech 35". UPI . September 14, 1990. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
5. "Houston 36, Texas A&M 31". UPI . October 13, 1990. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
6. "Texas Hands Houston First Loss". New York Times . November 11, 1990. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
7. Murphy, Austin (November 19, 1990). "Texas Hooks Some Respect". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved September 2, 2019.
8. "Klingler Has Record Finish With 716 Yards". Los Angeles Times . December 3, 1990. Retrieved September 2, 2019.