List of Houston Cougars bowl games

An American football in a white jersey tackles one in a blue jersey catching a ball.
Houston defeated Air Force in the 2008 Armed Forces Bowl, to end their eight bowl game losing streak.[1]

The Houston Cougars college football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), representing the University of Houston in the Big 12 Conference. Since the establishment of the team in 1946, Houston has appeared in 31 bowl games. The latest bowl occurred on December 27, 2025, when Houston defeated LSU in the 2025 Texas Bowl, which brought the Cougars' overall bowl record to fourteen wins, sixteen losses, and one tie (14–16–1).

Key

Bowl games

List of bowl games showing bowl played in, score, date, season, opponent, stadium, location, attendance and head coach[A 1]
# Bowl Score[A 2] Date Season[A 3] Opponent[A 4] Stadium Location Attendance[2] Head coach
1 Salad Bowl W 26–21 January 1, 1952 1951 Dayton Flyers Montgomery Stadium Phoenix 17,000 Clyde Lee
2 Tangerine Bowl W 49–21 December 22, 1962 1962 Miami Redskins Tangerine Bowl Orlando 7,500 Bill Yeoman
3 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl W 37–7 December 31, 1969 1969 Auburn Tigers Astrodome Houston 55,203
4 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl L 17–29 December 31, 1971 1971 Colorado Buffaloes Astrodome Houston 54,720
5 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl W 47–7 December 29, 1973 1973 Tulane Green Wave Astrodome Houston 44,358
6 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl T 31–31 December 23, 1974 1974 NC State Wolfpack Astrodome Houston 35,122
7 Cotton Bowl Classic W 30–21 January 1, 1977 1976 Maryland Terrapins Cotton Bowl Dallas 54,500
8 Cotton Bowl Classic L 34–35 January 1, 1979 1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Cotton Bowl Dallas 76,601‡
9 Cotton Bowl Classic W 17–14 January 1, 1980 1979 Nebraska Cornhuskers Cotton Bowl Dallas 72,032
10 Garden State Bowl W 35–0 December 14, 1980 1980 Navy Midshipmen Giants Stadium East Rutherford 41,417
11 Sun Bowl L 14–40 December 26, 1981 1981 Oklahoma Sooners Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso 33,816
12 Cotton Bowl Classic L 28–45 January 1, 1985 1984 Boston College Eagles Cotton Bowl Dallas 56,522
13 Aloha Bowl L 22–24 December 25, 1988 1988 Washington State Cougars Aloha Stadium Honolulu 35,132 Jack Pardee
14 Liberty Bowl L 17–30 December 27, 1996 1996 Syracuse Orangemen Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis 49,163 Kim Helton
15 Hawaiʻi Bowl L 48–54 December 25, 2003 2003 Hawaii Warriors Aloha Stadium Honolulu 29,005 Art Briles
16 Fort Worth Bowl L 13–42 December 23, 2005 2005 Kansas Jayhawks Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth 33,505
17 Liberty Bowl L 36–44 December 29, 2006 2006 South Carolina Gamecocks Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis 56,103
18 Texas Bowl L 13–20 December 28, 2007 2007 TCU Horned Frogs Reliant Stadium Houston 62,097‡ Chris Thurmond[A 5]
19 Armed Forces Bowl W 34–28 December 31, 2008 2008 Air Force Falcons Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth 41,127 Kevin Sumlin
20 Armed Forces Bowl L 20–47 December 31, 2009 2009 Air Force Falcons Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth 41,414
21 TicketCity Bowl W 30–14 January 2, 2012 2011 Penn State Nittany Lions Cotton Bowl Dallas 46,817 Tony Levine
22 BBVA Compass Bowl L 24–41 January 4, 2014 2013 Vanderbilt Commodores Legion Field Birmingham 42,717
23 Armed Forces Bowl W 35–34 January 2, 2015 2014 Pittsburgh Panthers Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth 37,888 David Gibbs[A 6]
24 Peach Bowl W 38–24 December 31, 2015 2015 Florida State Seminoles Georgia Dome Atlanta 71,007 Tom Herman
25 Las Vegas Bowl L 10–34 December 17, 2016 2016 San Diego State Aztecs Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas 29,286 Major Applewhite
26 Hawaiʻi Bowl L 27–33 December 24, 2017 2017 Fresno State Bulldogs Aloha Stadium Honolulu 20,546
27 Armed Forces Bowl L 14–70 December 22, 2018 2018 Army Black Knights Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth 44,738
28 New Mexico Bowl L 14–28 December 24, 2020 2020 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Toyota Stadium Frisco 2,060 Dana Holgorsen
29 Birmingham Bowl W 17–13 December 28, 2021 2021 Auburn Tigers Protective Stadium Birmingham 47,100
30 Independence Bowl W 23–16 December 23, 2022 2022 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Independence Stadium Shreveport 23,410
31 Texas Bowl W 38–35 December 27, 2025 2025 LSU Tigers NRG Stadium Houston 63,867 Willie Fritz

Notes

  1. ↑ Statistics correct as of 2025–26 NCAA football bowl games.
  2. ↑ Results are sortable first by whether the result was a Houston win, loss or tie and then second by the margin of victory.
  3. ↑ Links to the season article for the Houston team that competed in the bowl for that year.
  4. ↑ Links to the season article for the opponent that Houston competed against in the bowl for that year when available or to their general page when unavailable.
  5. ↑ Chris Thurmond served as interim head coach for the 2007 Texas Bowl after Art Briles resigned his position to take the head coach position with the Baylor Bears.[3]
  6. ↑ David Gibbs served as interim head coach for the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl after Tony Levine was fired from his position as head coach.[4]

References

General
  • National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). "Bowl/All-Star Game Records" (PDF). 2011 NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA.org. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
Specific
  1. ↑ "Houston gets first bowl win since 1980". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 31, 2008. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  2. ↑ Bowl/All-Star Game Records, pp. 32–38
  3. ↑ "Thurmond named interim coach after Briles bolts for Baylor". ESPN.com. Associated Press. November 28, 2007. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  4. ↑ Cooper, Nakia (December 8, 2014). "Tony Levine relieved of UH head coaching duties; David Gibbs to serve as interim". KPRC-TV. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
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