UH Wins Game of Century (100-6)

Houston Chronicle inside page (HISTORIC) Â November 24, 1968 - section 6, page 1. UH Wins Game of Century (100-6) Gipson Sets Rushing Mark Against Tulsa Houston Chronicle inside page (HISTORIC) Â November 24, 1968 - section 6, page 1. UH Wins Game of Century (100-6) Gipson Sets Rushing Mark Against Tulsa Photo: HC Staff Photo: HC Staff Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close UH Wins Game of Century (100-6) 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

This story appeared in the Houston Chronicle on Nov. 24, 1968. The headlines and words are reprinted as they ran then.

Scoring each of the last 10 times they had the ball, the awesome University of Houston Cougars shook a record 14 touchdowns out of the steel girders of the Astrodome to the delight of 34,098 homecoming fans Saturday night in slaughtering the University of Tulsa by an almost unbelievable score of 100 to 6.

Led by their bruising fullback, Paul Gipson, who became the No. 1 ground gainer in Cougar history before retiring mid-way in the third quarter, the Big Red ground out a whopping 555 yards on the Astroturf and gained 207 more passing in handing Tulsa its worst defeat in history.

Gipson scored three touchdowns on run of 35, 18 and 14 yards while setting single game, single season and career rushing records.

The hard-running fullback gained 282 yards in 29 carries to up his season's total to 1386 yards with one game to play Friday night against Florida State. His three-year total is 2585 yards, wiping out the former mark of 2507 yards set in 1949-51 by Gene Shannon.

Record Score

A 27 point onslaught in the third period and 49 point deluge in the fourth quarter, turned the game into a runaway as the Cougars mounted their highest point total in history.

Sharing the spotlight with Gipson on this historic night was Terry Leiweke, the Cougars' kicking specialist. It was he who kicked the extra point following Mike Simpson's 58 yard punt return for the final Cougar touchdown that enabled the Big Red to reach the magic 100 point barrier.

The Cougars would have broken that magic number if Leiweke had not missed a point after touchdown following Gipson's second touchdown in the third quarter. But hitting on 13 of 14 conversions and toeing a 36 yard field goal, which Leiweke did in the second quarter, isn't a performance to be sneezed at.

Scoring Distributed

The remainder of the Cougar scoring was well distributed. Quarterback Ken Bailey, who completed four of nine passes for 92 yards, connected on a 68 yard pass to Elmo Wright for one touchdown and ran one yard for another.

Wright scored a second time on a 66 yard end-around play.

Rusty Clark, who took over the Cougar quarterbacking late in the third period, scored one touchdown on an 11 yard run and passed for three, connecting with Jim Strong on a 26 yarder, with Larry Gatlin on a 25 yarder and with Otis Stewart on a 19 yarder.

Carlos Bell ran 21 yards for another TD, Johnny Peacock returned an intercepted pass 34 yards for a touchdown and Mike Simpson carried another back 58 yards for the final score.

The Cougars also had two more touchdowns called back on a night when they could do little wrong.

Tulsa passes for TD

Tulsa's only score on its most embarrassing football day in history came early in the third period on a 14 yard pass from Joe Fitzgerald to Mike Burkett.

Les Rogers, a 5-10 tailback, set the stage for the score by returning the second half kickoff 80 yards to the Cougar 14 where Charlie Hall dragged him to the turf.

That score cut the Cougar's lead to 24-6, and put new hope into the visitors, who had lost six of eight games going into Saturday's 19th game with Houston.

But that touchdown also turned on the faucet that led to the great flood of indoor touchdowns in football history. It was a rout the rest of the way with Cougar fans yelling for more as the Big Red piled point on point.

Records Fall

The Cougars, hoping to impress enough folks across the nation to gain a place in the top 10, set a new school record of 37 first downs and a single game offense record of 762 yards.

Tulsa made 12 first downs, but could gain only 86 yards rushing and 78 yards passing against the nation's ninth best defense.

Houston scored the first two times it had the ball and was stopped on the Tulsa one on the third time.

Gipson galloped 35 yards for the Cougars first score with 12:26 to play in the first stanza and Ken Bailey passed 60 yards to Wright for the second score with 8:30 to go.

It looked like the Cougars would get a third when Gipson broke loose on a dazzling 49 yard run that carried to the Hurricane seven. But the Gipper could get only six yards in four tries as Ed Brown stopped him three times and Jim Fiddler once.

Houston, while piling up large chunks of yardage, then found points hard to come by and had to settle for a 14-0 first quarter lead.

Settle for Field Goal

Tulsa staved off another Cougar threat at the four and following Paul Shires' 10th pass interception of the season, that tied the school record, the Hurricane forced the Cougars to settle for Leiweke's 36 yard field goal with 4:31 to go in the first half.

Houston managed to score again before intermission on a 32 yard drive following a 15 yard Tulsa punt. Bailey sneaked across from the one with 1:02 to go in the half, upping Houston's lead to 24-0.

Tulsa cut that margin to 24-6 in the opening minutes of the second half. But Houston got that touchdown back in a hurry, going 55 yards in five plays following the kickoff. The touchdown came in Bell's 21 yard run around right end.

Peacock's interception of a Johnny Dobbs' pass at the Tulsa 28 set the stage for another Cougar score. Gipson got in on an 18 yard dash down the sideline bowling over Doug Wyatt at the one and barging into the end zone standing up. It was then that Leiweke missed for the only time of the game, but Houston led 37-6.

Punt Return Wiped Out

Even though they had a 50 yard punt return by Simpson wiped out by a holding penalty, the Cougars continued to keep the scoreboard operator working at a maddening pace.

By this time the Cougars were scoring every time they got the ball (they had to punt only once during the game).

Wright hot-footed it 66 yards on an end around for a touchdown. Then the Cougars went 48 yards in three plays with Gipson going over on a 14 yard burst through right tackle. At the three-quarter mark Houston led, 51-6.

And though reserves were in the lineup, the Cougars kept rolling. They scored in four plays from the Tulsa 39 following a short punt with Ted Heiskell smashing over from the two.

They added another touchdown 14 seconds later when Clark passed 19 yards to Stewart in the end zone. This one came after Rogers fumbled the kickoff and Houston recovered on the Tulsa 22.

Clark Loses Jersey

The next time Houston got the ball Clark passed 26 yards to Strong for a touchdown, then Peacock returned a pass interception for 34 yards for another. The Cougars went 48 yards in six plays for their 13th touchdown with Clark going over from the 11 and leaving most of his jersey in the hands of clutching Tulsans.

Now the score was 86-6. And wouldn't you know it, Tulsa fumbled the kickoff and Houston recovered and quickly scored on a 25 yard pass from Clark to Gatlin. The score was then 93-6 and Cougar fans set up a howl for 100 points. When Simpson returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown and Leiweke had enough oomph left in his right leg to boot the ball through the uprights for the conversion.

It was the sixth victory of the season for the once-beaten and twice tied Cougars and the third time they have been over 71 points. They defeated Cincinnati 71-33 and Idaho, 77-3, just a week ago.