Houston–SMU rivalry

The Houston–SMU rivalry is a college rivalry between the University of Houston Cougars and Southern Methodist University Mustangs. When Houston joined the Southwest Conference in 1972, the two schools were conference mates until the conference dissolved in 1996. After a brief hiatus, SMU would join Conference USA in 2005 and the rivalry would continue when both schools moved to the American Athletic Conference in 2013 during the midst of 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment, where it intesified as they were they only two schools from Texas in the conference. Later, with the two schools moving to separate conferences during the 2020s conference realignment — Houston to the Big 12 Conference in 2023 and SMU to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024 — the future of the rivalry was put in doubt.