List of Houston Cougars bowl games

Houston defeated Air Force in the 2008 Armed Forces Bowl, to end their eight bowl game losing streak.

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 30 bowl games. The latest bowl occurred on December 23, 2022, when Houston defeated Louisiana in the 2022 Independence Bowl, which brought the Cougars' overall bowl record to thirteen wins, sixteen losses, and one tie (13–16–1).

Key

General † Bowl game record attendance ‡ Former bowl game record attendance

Results W Win L Loss T Tie

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

Notes

1. Statistics correct as of 2022–23 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.