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 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).
General † Bowl game record attendance ‡ Former bowl game record attendance
Results W Win L Loss T Tie
Bowl games [ edit ] 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
^ Statistics correct as of 2022–23 NCAA football bowl games . ^ Results are sortable first by whether the result was a Houston win, loss or tie and then second by the margin of victory . ^ Links to the season article for the Houston team that competed in the bowl for that year. ^ 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. ^ 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] ^ 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 [ edit ] 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
Venues Bowls and rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons