| Wide: | yes |
| Houston–Texas Tech football rivalry | |
| Team1: | Houston Cougars |
| Team1logo: | Houston Cougars primary logo.svg |
| Team2: | Texas Tech Red Raiders |
| Team2logo: | Texas Tech Red Raiders Logo.svg |
| Firstmeeting: | October 6, 1951 Houston, 6–0 |
| Mostrecent: | September 30, 2023 Texas Tech, 49–28 |
| Nextmeeting: | 2025 |
| Total: | 35 |
| Series: | Houston leads, 18–16–1 |
| Largestvictory: | Texas Tech, 58–7 (1993) |
| Longeststreak: | Houston, 7 (1979–1985) |
| Currentstreak: | Texas Tech, 6 (2010–present) |
The Houston–Texas Tech football rivalry is a college football rivalry between the Cougars from Houston and The Red Raiders from Texas Tech. The rivalry dates back to 1951 from the old Southwest Conference.[1] [2]
Historically, Texas Tech and Houston are original rivals, playing every year from 1976 to 1995 when both schools were part of the now-defunct Southwest Conference. The two teams have had numerous close games over their history, with 16 of the first 34 matchups being decided by single digits and a tie in 1987.[3] On September 4, 2021, the two met again to play the Texas Kickoff game at NRG Stadium.[4] After the game, several fans broke out into a fight in the stands.[5]
After having received an invitation in September 2021, Houston announced that they would join the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023, which meant that the rivalry would resume as a conference game for the first time since the breakup of the Southwest Conference.[6]
Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.