Houston AD: Potential Power Five football opponents see UH as "too formidable"

Recommended Video:

The University of Houston's recent success against Power Five schools has made it difficult to schedule future non-conference games, according to athletic director Hunter Yurachek.

The Cougars had won seven straight football games against Power Five opponents -- including Florida State, Oklahoma and Louisville (twice) -- before losing to Texas Tech earlier this season.

"[It] was both a blessing and a curse for us," Yurachek wrote in response to a scheduling question in his monthly 'Ask The AD' segment on the athletic department's website. "The curse portion coming in non-conference scheduling where some programs see the University of Houston as too formidable of an opponent."

As the Cougars have become one of the top programs from the Group of Five, Yurachek said finding willing takers for non-conference games has become increasingly difficult. UH has future home-and-home series with Washington State, Texas Tech and Kansas, along with games against Arizona, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.

A few years ago Yurachek said the preference would be to not schedule any opponents from Football Championship Subdivision. The Cougars have maintained that course, only adding Texas Southern in 2018 as part of an agreement to use its basketball arena while the Fertitta Center is under construction. UH has upcoming games against Rice, UTSA and North Texas from Conference USA and Georgia Southern (Sun Belt).

"We are constantly working on adding non-conference games against Power 6 opponents who see the advantage of heading to the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most fertile recruiting grounds nationally to play a game against a strong opponent who will boost strength of schedule ratings for postseason implications," Yurachek wrote. "Unfortunately that challenge sometimes supersedes the goal of total wins in a season."