2017 Houston Cougars football team

2017 Houston Cougars football
Hawaii Bowl, L 27–33 vs. Fresno State
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Division	West Division
Record	7–5 (5–3 American)
Head coach	Major Applewhite (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Brian Johnson (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Mark D'Onofrio (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Clay Jennings (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	TDECU Stadium
Seasons ←  2016 2018  →

2017 American Athletic Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 6 UCF xy$		8	–	0					13	–	0
No. 21 South Florida		6	–	2					10	–	2
Temple		4	–	4					7	–	6
Cincinnati		2	–	6					4	–	8
UConn		2	–	6					3	–	9
East Carolina		2	–	6					3	–	9
West Division
No. 25 Memphis xy		7	–	1					10	–	3
Houston		5	–	3					7	–	5
Navy		4	–	4					7	–	6
SMU		4	–	4					7	–	6
Tulane		3	–	5					5	–	7
Tulsa		1	–	7					2	–	10
Championship: UCF 62, Memphis 55
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant As of January 9, 2018 Rankings from AP Poll.

The 2017 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars played their home games at TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas, and competed in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Major Applewhite. They finished the season 7–5, 5–3 in AAC play to finish in second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Hawaii Bowl where they lost to Fresno State.

Roster

2017 Houston Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 1 Bryson Smith Fr RB 2 Duke Catalon Jr QB 3 Kyle Postma Sr QB 4 D'Eriq King So WR 5 Marquez Stevenson So WR 6 Jeremy Singleton Fr RB 8 Davion Mitchell Fr WR 9 Courtney Lark So QB 10 Kyle Allen Jr QB 13 Mason McClendon Jr WR 14 Cole McGowan  Fr WR 15 Linell Bonner Sr WR 16 Joshua Hancock Jr WR 17 Terry Mark So WR 18 Keith Corbin So RB 20 Kaliq Kokuma Jr WR 21 Ellis Jefferson Sr RB 23 Chandler Smith  Fr RB 25 Dillon Birden Sr RB 28 Josh Burrell So WR 30 Timon Nolan Jr RB 31 Blake Hirsch Jr RB 32 Kevrin Justice So WR 33 Kinte Hatton Sr RB 34 Mulbah Car So RB 35 Patrick Carr So WR 37 Payton Pardee So TE 40 Shane Creamer Fr OL 51 Na'Ty Rodgers Sr OL 52 Braylon Jones So OL 53 Alex Fontana Sr OL 56 Dixie Wooten III Fr OL 57 Jordan Boatman Fr OL 60 Kordell Snyder  Fr OL 61 Ryan Deshotel So OL 62 Jarrid Williams So OL 63 Colson Altman Fr OL 64 Dennis Bardwell Fr OL 66 Cole Miller  Fr OL 69 Will Noble Jr OL 71 Deon Mix Sr OL 72 Mason Denley Jr OL 73 Marcus Oliver Sr OL 74 Josh Jones So OL 76 Kameron Eloph Jr OL 77 Keenan Murphy  Fr WR 80 Colton Cerday So WR 81 Tre'Von Bradley Fr TE 82 Romello Brooker Jr WR 83 Derek McLemore Sr TE 84 Kobe Idumwonyi So WR 85 John Leday Sr TE 86 Mason Tobola  Fr TE 87 Alex Leslie Sr WR 88 Steven Dunbar Sr TE 89 Parker Eichenberger Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 1 Garrett Davis Jr DB 2 Khalil Williams Sr DL 3 Reggie Chevis Sr DB 4 Devodric Bynum Fr DB 5 Collin Wilder So DB 6 Khari Dotson Jr LB 8 Emeke Egbule Jr LB 9 Matthew Adams Sr DT 10 Ed Oliver So LB 12 D'Juan Hines Sr CB 13 Joeal Williams Jr CB 14 Isaiah Johnson Jr CB 16 Ka'Darian Smith So DE 17 Chauntez Jackson Sr CB 18 Alexander Myres Sr LB 19 Ralph Harvey Jr. Sr CB 19 Javian Smith So LB 20 Roman Brown Jr LB 22 Austin Robinson Sr DB 23 Terrell Williams Sr CB 24 Jeremy Winchester Jr LB 26 Elijah Gooden Fr DB 27 Brandon McDowell Sr LB 28 Amaud Willis-Dalton Fr DB 29 Darius Gilbert So DB 30 Grant Stuard So DB 31 D. J. Small Fr LB 33 Ja'Von Shelley Jr DB 34 King Ekejija Fr DB 35 Jayson Price Jr LB 36 Nomluis Fruge Sr DB 37 Caemen Mayfield Jr LB 41 Derek Parish Fr LB 43 Leroy Godfrey So LB 45 Cameron Doubenmier Sr LB 46 Jordan Milburn So LB 49 David Anenih Fr DT 50 Aymiel Fleming So LB 51 Rasheed Tynes Sr DE 52 Jerard Carter Jr DE 58 Nnanna Ejiogu Jr DL 75 Jacoby Morrison So DL 80 Noah Jones Fr DE 90 Zach Vaughan Jr DE 91 Nick Thurman Sr DL 93 Colby Brignac  Fr DL 94 Isaiah Chambers  Fr DL 95 Alexander Duke Fr DL 98 Payton Turner So DL 99 Blake Young So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 38 Dane Roy So K 41 Joel Scarbrough So K 42 Caden Novikoff Jr LS 44 Anthony Cantu Jr K 47 Dalton Witherspoon So LS 97 Nick Wildberger So	Head coach Major Applewhite (Texas) Coordinators/assistant coaches Kendal Briles (Houston) Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks Mark D'Onofrio (Penn State) Defensive coordinator James Casey (Rice) Special teams coordinator/tight ends Randy Clements (Stephen F. Austin) Run game coordinator/offensive line A. J. Blum (Ashland) Defensive line Dan Carrel (West Liberty) Outside linebackers Kenny Guiton (Ohio State) Wide receivers Lamar Morgan (Louisiana–Lafayette) Safeties Kenith Pope (Oklahoma) Running backs Thomas Dunson (LSU) Defensive football analyst Kyle Robinson (Alabama) Special teams football analyst Malcolm Kelly (Oklahoma) Offensive football analyst A. J. Hopp (Slippery Rock) Offensive football analyst J. B. Brown (Houston) Graduate assistant Robert Luce (Houston) Graduate assistant Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: May 13, 2020

Schedule

Houston announced its 2017 football schedule on February 9, 2017. The 2017 schedule originally consisted of six home games and six road games in the regular season, but the road game versus UTSA was canceled. The Cougars hosted AAC foes East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, and SMU, and traveled to South Florida, Temple, Tulane, and Tulsa. ^[1]

The Cougars hosted two of their three non-conference opponents, Rice from Conference USA (CUSA) and Texas Tech from the Big 12 Conference. They traveled to Arizona from the Pac-12 Conference. Houston was originally scheduled to travel to UTSA of CUSA but that game was canceled.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2 [a]	6:00 p.m.	UTSA*	Alamodome San Antonio, TX		canceled [a]
September 9	9:30 p.m.	at Arizona *	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	ESPNU	W 19–16	43,334
September 16	7:00 p.m.	Rice *	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX (rivalry)	ESPN3	W 38–3	38,900
September 23	11:00 a.m.	Texas Tech *	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX (rivalry)	ABC/ESPN2	L 24–27	36,383
September 30	11:00 a.m.	at Temple	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPNU	W 20–13	24,024
October 7	6:00 p.m.	SMU	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX (rivalry)	CBSSN	W 35–22	31,153
October 14	2:45 p.m.	at Tulsa	H. A. Chapman Stadium Tulsa, OK	ESPNews	L 17–45	19,198
October 19	7:00 p.m.	No. 25 Memphis	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX	ESPN	L 38–42	30,001
October 28 [b]	2:45 p.m.	at No. 17 South Florida	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL	ESPNU	W 28–24	32,316
November 4 [b]	11:00 a.m.	East Carolina	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX	CBSSN	W 52–27	29,810
November 18	3:00 p.m.	at Tulane	Yulman Stadium New Orleans, LA	ESPNews	L 17–20	19,026
November 24	11:00 a.m.	Navy	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX	ESPN	W 24–14	29,252
December 24	7:30 p.m.	vs. Fresno State *	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI (Hawaii Bowl)	ESPN	L 27–33	20,546
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time

^{^[a]} The game between Houston and UTSA originally scheduled for September 2 at the Alamodome in San Antonio was initially postponed due to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. However, on Wednesday, September 6, 2017, officials from the two schools agreed that the previously postponed game would not be made up during the season. ^{[2] [3]}

^{^[b]} As a result of Hurricane Irma, Houston played at USF on Saturday, October 28 (instead of November 4), and hosted ECU on Saturday, November 4 (instead of October 28).

Schedule Source: ^[4]

Game summaries

At Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	3	14	2	0	19
Wildcats	3	7	3	3	16

See also: 2017 Arizona Wildcats football team

Rice

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	0	0	0	3	3
Cougars	17	21	0	0	38

See also: 2017 Rice Owls football team

Texas Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Red Raiders	6	7	7	7	27
Cougars	0	10	0	14	24

See also: 2017 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team

At Temple

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	6	7	0	20
Owls	0	0	3	10	13

See also: 2017 Temple Owls football team

SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	9	3	10	0	22
Cougars	7	14	7	7	35

See also: 2017 SMU Mustangs football team

At Tulsa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	3	7	0	7	17
Golden Hurricane	0	7	17	21	45

See also: 2017 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

Memphis

	1	2	3	4	Total
#25 Tigers	0	0	21	21	42
Cougars	7	10	14	7	38

See also: 2017 Memphis Tigers football team

At South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	0	0	14	14	28
#17 Bulls	0	7	7	10	24

See also: 2017 South Florida Bulls football team

East Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pirates	0	10	7	10	27
Cougars	21	7	17	7	52

See also: 2017 East Carolina Pirates football team

At Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	3	0	7	7	17
Green Wave	3	10	0	7	20

See also: 2017 Tulane Green Wave football team

Navy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Midshipmen	0	14	0	0	14
Cougars	7	0	7	10	24

See also: 2017 Navy Midshipmen football team

Vs. Fresno State (Hawaii Bowl)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	13	7	13	33
Cougars	7	3	10	7	27

See also: 2017 Fresno State Bulldogs football team and 2017 Hawaii Bowl

Players in the 2018 NFL Draft

See also: 2018 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Matthew Adams	LB	7	221	Indianapolis Colts

Source: ^[5]

References

1. "2017 Houston Football Schedule Announced" (Press release). University of Houston Department of Athletics. February 9, 2017. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
2. "No Houston Teams to Compete This Weekend".
3. "UHCOUGARS.com :: UTSA Game Cancelled :: University of Houston Official Athletic Site :: Football". Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
4. "2017 Houston Cougars Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
5. "2018 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 12, 2025.