(07-17-2017 03:22 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-17-2017 02:49 PM)CornellCoog Wrote:  Laugh all you want about Tulsa, but it's a rival and not just in football. Tulsa is a thorn in our side in basketball, softball, track and field (their distance program is a threat to our sprint team in racking up points), and tennis. We are often recruiting the same kids as well.

As for football, we've played Tulsa more than anyone. That matters. We've played Temple about 4 or 5 times and we don't even play them regularly in conference because we're in different divisions.

Someone choosing Temple as a rival and mocking the idea that Tulsa could be has clearly been a UH fan for two seasons.

We essentially don't have any rivals other than maybe Rice. Look at attendance figures. If Tulsa was some big rivalry there would be an attendance bump (like you see for the Rice game). The well attended games are key games for the conference race and games against ranked teams. It is what it is. There is no reason to try to puff a bunch of hot air into something trying to make it something it isn't. Coog fans don't see anything special in the Tulsa game. I don't care if we have played them 1000 times prior to today---Coog fans don't get all revved up for that game over all others. That's what rivalry games bring to the table and this one doesn't do it. Maybe one day in the future---but I kinda feel like if it was going to be a thing it would be by now.

Temple's not really a rival. Temple has been a key game in the conference race of late and that game has taken on a higher profile due to that. If either of us were to drop off in importance--the game would likely lose a lot of its attractiveness. The Tulsa game will be important for the same reason this year.

The Rice game sees an attendance bump because most of Rice's fanbase is in Houston. If Tulsa was a school in Houston, you would see an attendance bump. As it is, it's hard for a school as small as ours to bring large traveling crowds 8 hours away.