Houston drew a horrible crowd for its college football game against UCF on Saturday. The stadium was mostly empty.

It was pathetic.

A college football team ranked No. 20 in the country should have no problem reaching full capacity. This was nowhere close!

Here’s the thing. The Cougars already knew its fanbase was not going to show up on Saturday morning. They have struggled to put butts in the seats over the last few years. An 11:00 a.m. kickoff was not going to be any different, especially after a big night out.

The university held its Houston Athletics Hall of Fame Gala on Friday. Nine former athletes (and current men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson) were inducted during the ceremony. Sponsorship levels for the event started at $2,500 It wasn’t cheap.

Many of the school’s most prominent boosters were in attendance at the gala. I would imagine it was a long night.

With that mind, the Cougars reached out to the Big 12 more than a year ago with a specific request. They were hoping to get a night game on Saturday to secure better attendance after the gala on Friday. Plus, they have played only one Saturday night conference game since 2024. Surely the conference would help to lock down the second.

Nope! ESPN completely ignored them.

Houston kicked off to UCF at 11:00 a.m. CT on Saturday morning. It did not get the night game it had hoped.

TDECU Stadium holds a maximum capacity of 40,000. I would estimate a total attendance of 10,000 on Saturday. And that might be generous. Most of the upper deck was empty. Even the lower bowl was less than half full when the Cougars ran onto the field.