Cover Image by Raphael Fernandez
Football season allows many students to unwind and take their minds off any academic stressors. Additionally, watching the games creates an outlet for students to bond and thrive in a community of like-minded people.
Elijah Gonzalez, a junior in construction management, boasts of being a devoted fan of the great game. Even though Gonzalez’s plans to play football at UH were shattered, his love for the sport never did.
Being a football fan in college is different, though. Game days and assignment due dates often coincide, so we sought Gonzalez’s expertise for tackling this.
Here’s Gonzalez’s playbook.
“Under no circumstances can I sacrifice my classes,” says Gonzalez. “During the SFA game, I had to miss the first half because I had a class that night at 7 p.m.”
And you shouldn’t either. These are the kinds of sacrifices many students have to consider, even beyond football.
The right play, Gonzalez says, “is to manage your time very well.” He adds, “During syllabus week, see when your assignment, quizzes and exams are and plan everything out.”
He also shared his play for admitting defeat.
“If you have to miss a game because your exam is super hard on Monday or Tuesday after that game day on Saturday, then you’ll have to miss that game so you don’t fail. It’s okay to miss a game or two if you have to,” Gonzalez says. “The most important part is balancing out your studies and being a fan.”
Fun Facts and History of College Ball:
The first American football college game was played on Nov. 6, 1869 on a 360-foot-long and 225-foot-wide field. The game between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, consisted of 25 players each.
In 1870, Columbia, Princeton, Yale and Rutgers started to play football that paralleled soccer. They used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried but was bumped with feet, hands, head or sides.
In 1872, Yale based football on rugby as originally intended. They created a different version of the game, influenced by David Schley Schaff, who had played rugby in England.
Modern football came into play when Harvard played McGill University in 1874, using the rules of the College Football Association (CFA) and Yale. This came after a realization that the rugby version of football was better than the soccer version of football. That development was critical to modern American football.
In 1941, Johnny Goyen, then sports editor for The Cougar, with the assistance of Jack J. Valenti, who would go on to be the student body president the following year, began a petition for an official intercollegiate football team at the university. Rice Institute was challenged to a football game through this petition.
In August 1946, University of Houston designated an official football field when Harry Fouke, UH’s first athletic director, hired successful high school coach Jewell Wallace. Tryouts were held shortly after.
The first practice game between Rice and Houston ended with Rice beating the Houston Cougars effortlessly. This was almost inevitable, seeing that the Rice Owls were established in 1919 as a member of the Southwest Conference.
Today, the Cougars win many games at a much higher rate, proudly beating many teams around the country, especially Rice!
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