For early attendees, the UH vs. UTSA football game was kicked off not with a coin toss, but with the huge tailgating event Friday at TDECU Stadium.
“It’s the best part about the football game,” said human resource senior Farah Usmami. “That’s what makes it fun.”
Part of UH’s Weeks of Welcome, the tailgating event began at 3 p.m. and continued after the gates opened at 6:30 pm. Aside from students, the Tailgate Village was heavily populated by alumni and various organizations.
“We want to encourage chapter development, we want to cultivate relationships between our members and the members of other organizations and more than anything, we want to increase our Cougar pride,” said electrical engineering Jonathon Cantu.
For those who have left UH but still retain their Cougar pride, the event is a way to reconnect with people.
“We get to see friends we don’t get to see as often and celebrate our team,” said alumna Corinne Sheehan.
Aside from the opportunity to socialize, students were also able to win prizes, play games and get free food.
“The food is my favorite part,” Usmami said. “I’m an eater.”
Many students were excited to tailgate at the new stadium.
“We’re definitely making history right now. I mean, it’s a brand new stadium, absolutely beautiful looking, certainly from the outside one of the best I’ve seen,” said accounting graduate student Matt Davis. “It’s very exciting to basically experience the bottle breaking, so to speak, of watching a new era of cougar football.”
