The Bayou Bucket

The Bayou Bucket is a trophy that is given to the winner of a college football game between the Houston Cougars and the Rice Owls. This is a Conference USA rivalry game. One of Houston's nicknames is the Bayou City, where the award gets its name. The award for this game was made in 1974, three years after these teams first played each other.

This game has had different sponsors through the years. From 1996 to 1998, this rivalry game was actually in hiatus due to the ending of the Southwest Conference. From 1999 to 2001, Southwestern Bell was the sponsor, so the rivalry trophy was named the Southwestern Bell Bayou Bucket. Then, in 2002, the name changed to the Administaff, as this was the new sponsor.

In 1941, Johnny Goven of the Houston Cougars petitioned for a football team for the school. This petition drafted a challenge to the Rice Owls, who had played football since 1919. The petition was answered and a small practice game was scrimmaged. The game was more serious than Houston had intended - there were officials and a full stadium of 11,000 fans. Rice crushed Houston and that was the last time they played until 1971.

During 1971, Houston was brought into the Southwest Conference. The first game they played was at the same site they played 52 years earlier - on the road against the Owls. This was the first game that these teams played against each other officially and marked the start of rivalry. In 1995, the Southwest Conference was disbanded which made these two teams not play each other for three years. However, They played again in 1999. In 2005, they became conference rivals when Rice joined Conference USA, where Houston was already a member.

Houston has fared better in the series. They have twenty-five wins, while Rice has ten as of 2008. Houston won the first official game in 1971. They also have had the longest winning streak, winning six straight games from 1987 to 1992. They also had a streak where they won eleven of twelve, winning every game from 1981 to 1992 except for 1986. Rice was able to win the last meeting between these two teams, though. Rice won their first game of this series in 1972 and have only won back to back games against the Houston Cougars twice. These teams did not play each other from 1996 to 1998.

Wikipedia, Houston Rice Rivalry