1977 was a miserable year for Rice football, but even that doesn't explain the attendance at the SMU game in the Cotton Bowl.

6,918

it wasn't a great year for SMU either, but they had beaten #19 UH in the 'Dome just three weeks before.

Why would this one game be 37.5% of the attendance of the next-lowest game that year (vs Tulane)?

The only mention of the game that I can find in the following Thresher is a single photo, and the weather looks to be okay in that image.

Does anyone remember the game?

I haven't been able to find the stats, but SMU won 41-24.

That was about the time when the Rice at SMU game was shifted from being held on one of the Saturdays during the Texas State Fair. The game was usually in the middle of October but in 1977 it was on November 5th.

It was REALLY cold, and nobody wanted to drive to the decrepit Cotton Bowl to see 2 truly God-awful teams play.

(12-08-2022 11:15 AM)wrysal Wrote:  It was REALLY cold, and nobody wanted to drive to the decrepit Cotton Bowl to see 2 truly God-awful teams play.

That would have been one of my guesses, but it doesn't check out.

High of 76˚F and low of 54˚F (extremeweatherwatch.com)
Weather Underground says mid-70s.
Almanac.com weather history says a high of 75.9˚

We can rule out the weather.
Your phrase after the comma still stands.

My general recollection of that period is that games vs TCU had the most apathy, and yet the home game vs the Frogs in '77 was attended by 12000, in the era before we counted season tickets as attending.

(12-08-2022 12:18 PM)Grungy Wrote:  

(12-08-2022 11:15 AM)wrysal Wrote:  It was REALLY cold, and nobody wanted to drive to the decrepit Cotton Bowl to see 2 truly God-awful teams play.

That would have been one of my guesses, but it doesn't check out.

High of 76˚F and low of 54˚F (extremeweatherwatch.com)
Weather Underground says mid-70s.
Almanac.com weather history says a high of 75.9˚

We can rule out the weather.
Your phrase after the comma still stands.

My general recollection of that period is that games vs TCU had the most apathy, and yet the home game vs the Frogs in '77 was attended by 12000, in the era before we counted season tickets as attending.

I remember it was a bleak LOOKING day, I guess I misremembered the temperature. Any home attendance figures against tcu and their ilk at that time were basically eyeballed and multiplied by four and rounded to the next highest thousand (Numbers probably knows the exact windage measurement used).

[Gnote: Reposting this here, with additional information and other edits (couldn't find the thread earlier), as it's a better place for it than the HRS/EZF thread.]

Stated capacity of HRS was reduced from 70,000 to 47,000 in 2006.
In addition (subtraction?) to pushing more people toward the middle of the stands, they didn't have to pay for 23,000 seat-equivalents of new aluminum bleachers. All of the remaining redwood was replaced that year.

Rice has played before that 47,000 or more in HRS 49 times since opening day in 1950.
Add another 18 games (total 67) for the games of 40,000 or more.

There have been 9 games that were at capacity or SRO.
7 of those were vs UT (50, 54, 58, 60, 62, 64, 70), one vs SMU (50), and one vs A&M (57).
Opening day was not sold out - "only" 68,000.
Rice has played 409 regular season home games, plus one bowl game ('61 Bluebonnet Bowl) in HRS.

The last time we beat UT was in front of 34,700 in 1994.

7-4 in 1996, our first year in the WAC, before an average home crowd of 20,170.

7-4 in our second year in the WAC, 1997, before an average home crowd of 35,509.

HRS attendance highs starting in 1973 (my first year)...

1973: 50,000 vs UT
1974: 56,500 vs (#13) UT
1975: 67,000 vs (#3) A&M
1976: 57,000 vs (#20) UT
1977: 57,500 vs (#12) A&M, the aforementioned 6,918 @SMU; 1-10 season - we only won the home opener vs Idaho
1978: 62,000 vs (#7) UT
1979: 30,442 vs (#3) Oklahoma, A&M likely higher, but no data found
1980: 63,163 vs (#5) UT
1981: 25,000 vs UH, A&M likely higher, but no data found
1982: 50,000 vs (#15) UT
1983: 40,000 vs A&M
1984: 56,047 vs (#1) UT
1985: 41,195 vs A&M
1986: 31,000 vs UT
1987: 32,500 vs A&M
1988: 35,000 vs UT, 8500 vs UNT at last home game, 0-11 season
1989: 30,900 vs (#21) A&M
1990: 34,800 vs UT
1991: 42,600 vs (#12) A&M
1992: 41,400 vs UT
1993: 46,800 vs (#11) A&M
1994: 34,700 vs (#12) UT
1995: 39,500 vs (#18) A&M, last year in SWC
1996: 23,250 vs (#20) Utah, first year in WAC
1997: 53,811 vs UT (who had just fallen from the rankings (#10) after losing to UCLA; also the last time we played them in HRS); "Operation Sellout" for the opener against Air Force brought in 53,145
1998: 42,674 vs SMU (opening day); avg 22,114; we were 5-6
1999: 44,217 vs Navy
2000: 40,714 vs UH
2001: 29,317 vs Tulsa
2002: 30,747 vs UH
2003: 27,832 vs Navy
2004: 18,407 vs Fresno State (they were #22 in the final AP poll)
Average 13,961 in HRS in 2004. 12,550 for the home year, adding in
the final "home" game before 8,317 vs LaTech in NRG.
Rice was the statistical national rushing champion that year in a 3-8
season.
2005: 12,714 vs Navy; avg 10,072 in a one-win season
2006: 23,352 vs UH; avg 14,760 (four in HRS) in first bowl season of modern era
2007: 21,543 vs Texas Tech; avg 13,353
2008: 35,534 vs UH; avg 20,179 in second bowl season, 10-3 with bowl victory over Western Michigan before 58,880 @NRG
2009: 19,753 vs Vanderbilt
2010: 26,342 vs UH (who were #18), 4-8 season for Rice
2011: 25,317 vs Purdue
2012: 32,718 vs UH
2013: 22,974 vs Kansas; home opener of 10-4 season; drew 20,247 for C-USA championship game vs Marshall
2014: 21,195 vs UTSA
2015: 24,409 vs Army
2016: 27,047 vs (#16) Baylor
2017: 21,766 vs Army
2018: 26,390 vs UH
2019: 20,367 vs Southern Miss
2020: 2,000 vs UAB (COVID)
2021: 26,253 vs UH
2022: 21,926 vs UAB
2023: 23,425 vs UH

UH games are the only ones north of 30k since 2000, with the last above that threshold at 32,718 in 2012.
Nine of the highest-attended games since 2000 have been vs Houston.
The service academies are the next-highest draw since 1999.

Rice rounded the attendance numbers in the early years to the nearest 500 or 100.
Somewhere in there the count went from turnstile to overall sales.

That's all the evidence we need that the East deck isn't needed. For well attended games, opposing fans can mix with us on the West side.

(12-08-2022 02:55 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  I haven't been able to find the stats, but SMU won 41-24.

Late to the party, but newspaper report on the game said the weather was perfect (sunny and 72).

SMU was 3-5 before beating us in that poorly-attended game.
They didn't win again that season, finishing 4-7.

(01-11-2024 09:49 AM)Grungy Wrote:  Rice has played 409 regular season home games, plus one bowl game ('61 Bluebonnet Bowl) in HRS.

Did you include the five or so Texas A&M “home” games vs Rice that were played in Houston (HRS) in the Fifties?

Those should also be on the “larger crowds” counts, too.

(01-12-2024 08:04 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(01-11-2024 09:49 AM)Grungy Wrote:  Rice has played 409 regular season home games, plus one bowl game ('61 Bluebonnet Bowl) in HRS.

Did you include the five or so Texas A&M “home” games vs Rice that were played in Houston (HRS) in the Fifties?

Those should also be on the “larger crowds” counts, too.

Records from back then are spotty on such distinctions - for instance, both teams list the 1955 game as "away".
This is about attendance for games Rice played in HRS, and home/away isn't relevant in that context.
The list also does not include home or neutral games played in Reliant/NRG.

I don't have time today to dig out the home vs away data, but I am intrigued.
What I have now - A&M home vs away since HRS was built - the pattern was odd-numbered at home and even-numbered away.
Now I see that there were quite a few that didn't follow the pattern.

Home - 51, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67 and out - odd years
Away - 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, 65, 68 and out - even years

I was aware of some of the A&M games played against other opponents in HRS, such as the sold-out game vs UH in 1976. There is at least one other when construction at Kyle Field wasn't complete for the opening game of the season

9/8/79 A&M vs BYU (considered neutral site)

Cougar History Wrote:As a stipulation of Houston joining the SWC, visiting schools were allowed to decide whether to play the Cougars at the Astrodome or Rice Stadium. That arcane rule has never been repeated in major sports history. Due to its singular implementation, it should be known as the Yeoman Rule.

UH games vs A&M in HRS...

9/20/52 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 54,000 (Kyle Field held 42,000)
10/9/54 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 42,000
9/13/56 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 67,009
9/27/58 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 65,131
10/8/60 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 42,000
9/29/62 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 51,000
9/25/64 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 30,000 (Aggies were 1-9 on the season)
9/25/76 - UH vs A&M in HRS - 70,001 (one more than the game vs UT later that year)

Quote:I don't have time today to dig out the home vs away data, but I am intrigued.
What I have now - A&M home vs away since HRS was built - the pattern was odd-numbered at home and even-numbered away.
Now I see that there were quite a few that didn't follow the pattern.
Home - 51, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67 and out - odd years
Away - 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, 65, 68 and out - even years

The 1965 Rice-aTm game was defnitely played at Rice Stadium. I was there and it was Homecoming. I believe Rice was the home team in 1965, because Rice were visitors in 1966, prompting an interesting caption in the 1966-67 Campanile, something like, "It is unusual to be the visiting team at your own Homecoming." IIRC, every Rice aTm game 1958-67 was played at Rice Stadium, with Rice being nominally the visitors in 58, 60, 62, 64, amd 66. It was explained that this was at the request of the Houston Aggie former students, because Rice Stadium was considerably larger to accommodate more of them, and Houston-College Station was a much slower drive than it is today. When I was a freshman in 1965, I was told that aTm was Homecoming every year, as it was in 65 and 66. I am pretty sure that the 1955 game was at Rice Stadium as well, with Rice as the home team.

(01-11-2024 09:49 AM)Grungy Wrote:  There have been 9 games that were at capacity or SRO.
7 of those were vs UT (50, 54, 58, 60, 62, 64, 70), one vs SMU (50), and one vs A&M (57).
Opening day was not sold out - "only" 68,000.
Rice has played 409 regular season home games, plus one bowl game ('61 Bluebonnet Bowl) in HRS.

I am a bit surprised that LSU is not mentioned more prominently. During my undergrad years, LSU came very cose to selling out, if not selling out, and LSU crowds were consistently larger than those for any other opponent except TexasU. We were told that the practice of placing high school bleachers on the end zone concourses to accomodate standing room ticket holders occurred only for TexasU and LSU.

Rice played Texas A&M in Rice Stadium for 11 consecutive seasons (1957-67).

I have updated my spreadsheet with the A&M game data provided.
Thanks!