The Cougars are going where no Houston football team has gone before.
For Saturday’s Built By Houston game against UCF, the University of Houston will wear 10 hand-painted helmet designs inspired by the Sun, eight planets and Pluto.
The Built By Houston game will be an annual celebration that highlights different themes tied to the city, including space exploration, food, Houston Livestock Show & Rode, the music and hip-hop legacy, architecture and engineering, the city’s sports culture, the iconic Houston Blue street tiles and police vehicles, the energy industry, the school said in a release.
With only one created, Pluto is the rarest helmet in the collection. The helmet, to be worn by quarterback Conner Weigman, was auctioned for $40,000 at Friday night’s Hall of Honor gala.
It was no coincidence that Saturday’s space-themed helmets were unveiled for the game against UCF, which has hosted a Space Game each year since 2017. UCF claims itself as “Space U,” with the Orlando, Fla., campus located just 35 miles from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
Armando Villarreal Studios designed 133 helmets for the Cougars.