Las Vegas Bowl team history: Houston’s Run and Shoot

Leading up to the Las Vegas Bowl between Houston and San Diego State, the Review-Journal will provide glimpses into each school’s football history. We’ll take a look at each school once per day until game day Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Run and Shoot offense

Dates: 1987-92

When Houston hired Jack Pardee to take over its program for the 1987 season, the coach brought with him an offense that led to one of the most successful eras in program history.

The system Pardee installed, known as the Run and Shoot, called for throwing the ball on most downs and in just about any situation. Pardee used it with great success with quarterback Jim Kelly in the United States Football League and found another perfect pupil at Houston with quarterback Andre Ware.

Ware won the Heisman Trophy in 1989 as the Cougars offense soared to record heights. Houston averaged 624.9 total yards per game, still an NCAA record. The Cougars also became the first FBS team to have a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver in the same season.

Pardee left to coach in the NFL after the season, but the promotion of offensive coordinator John Jenkins kept the offense rolling. In 1990 quarterback David Klinger set an NCAA record with 5,221 total yards.

The Run and Shoot began to slow down after Jenkins’ first season, though, and he posted back-to-back 4-7 records in 1991 and 1992. He resigned in 1993 amid allegations of NCAA violations, and the team’s next coach, Kim Helton, would make his offense more run-focused.

Ben Gotz can be reached at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.