The Texas Kickoff was an annual

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game played on the opening weekend of the college football season in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, at

NRG Stadium NRG Stadium (previously known as Reliant Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to h ...

. The game was sponsored by Advocare from 2013 to 2019 and known officially as the Advocare Texas Kickoff and by Good Sam in 2021 as the Good Sam Texas Kickoff. Due to flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey, the 2017 game was relocated to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (now

Caesars Superdome Caesars Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and formerly Mercedes-Benz Superdome), commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium in the Southern United States, southern United States, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. ...

) in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

where the Louisiana Kickoff has been held since 2022.

Game results

Rankings are from the AP Poll. TV viewers are from Sports Media Watch.

2013

The 2013 AdvoCare Texas Kickoff was the inaugural event in the series and matched the unranked

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) against the No. 13

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

on August 31, 2013, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Cowboys decisively defeated the Bulldogs 21–3.

2014

The second edition of the Kickoff featured the No. 14

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

and the No. 13 LSU Tigers of the

(SEC) and was played on August 30, 2014, at NRG Stadium in Houston. This became official when school officials from the participating teams agreed to play in this kickoff classic on August 23, 2013. It was the third time the Badgers and Tigers met on the football field, with the Tigers prevailing 28–24.

2015

The 2015 matchup between

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

of the

(SEC) and Arizona State of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

was announced on November 22, 2013. Heading into the game, Texas A&M was unranked while Arizona State was ranked 15th in the preseason AP poll. The game was close through three quarters, with the Aggies outscoring the Sun Devils 21–3 in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

2016

The fourth edition of the Kickoff featured the No. 15

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education inst ...

of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

and the No. 3

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

of the

, and was played on September 3, 2016, at NRG Stadium in Houston. The game was publicly announced on September 8, 2014. At game time, Houston was under consideration for Big 12 membership along with several other schools. The Big 12 chose not to expand several weeks later after Houston beat Oklahoma 33–23. The Sooners went on to win the Big 12 title with a 9–0 conference record becoming the first Advocare Texas Kickoff participant to win its conference. The game featured a rare "kick six" as Houston defensive back Brandon Wilson returned a missed field goal 110 yards for a touchdown.

2017

On January 8, 2015, the Advocare Texas Kickoff announced that the LSU Tigers would face the BYU Cougars on September 2, 2017, at NRG Stadium. However, due to the tremendous flooding from

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

hitting the Houston metro area, the game was relocated to the

Mercedes-Benz Superdome Caesars Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and formerly Mercedes-Benz Superdome), commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium in the southern United States, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home st ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The Tigers shut out the Cougars 27–0.

2020

The 2020 game was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The game was to be played between Baylor of the

and

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

from the SEC.

2021

The 2021 game was between

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

of the

and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

of the

. Texas Tech won the game 38–21 after being down 7–21 at halftime.

Future Games

Records

By team

By conference

References

External links

* {{College football kickoff games College football kickoff games American football in Houston 2013 establishments in Texas Recurring sporting events established in 2013