The 2019 Houston Cougars football team represented the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
in the
2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2019. The regular season began on August 24, 2019, and end ...
. The Cougars played their home games at
TDECU Stadium in
Houston, Texas, and competed in the West Division of the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...
. They were led by first-year head coach
Dana Holgorsen
Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is the head football coach at the University of Houston. He was the head coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018. During his coaching career he has served under coaches such as Hal Mumme, Mike ...
. They finished the season 4–8, 2–6 in AAC play to finish in a tie for fifth-place in the West Division.
Previous season
The Cougars finished the
2018 season 8–5, 5–3 in AAC play to finish in a three-way tie for the West Division championship. After tiebreakers, they did not represent the West Division in the
AAC Championship Game. They were invited to the
Armed Forces Bowl
The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly the Fort Worth Bowl from 2003 to 2005, is an annual postseason college football bowl game. First played in 2003, the game is normally held at the 45,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian ...
where they lost to
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
by a score of 14–70, in the process tying records for the most points given up (70) and the largest margin-of-loss (56) in NCAA bowl game history. On December 30, Houston fired
Major Applewhite
Major Lee Applewhite (born July 26, 1978) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the South Alabama Jaguars. He served as head coach at the University of Houston from ...
after two seasons.
Preseason
AAC media poll
The AAC media poll was released on July 16, 2019, with the Cougars predicted to finish second in the AAC West Division.
Preseason All-AAC teams
Houston placed six players to the All-AAC team, sanctioned by
Athlon Sports
Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville's Spencer Hays was its majority stockholder. It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and now ...
.
Offense
''1st team''
*
D'Eriq King
D'Eriq King (born August 24, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the DC Defenders of the XFL. He played college football at the University of Houston before transferring to the University of Miami where he played quarterback.
Early ...
– SR, Quarterback
''2nd team''
*
Marquez Stevenson – SR, Wide Receiver
*
Josh Jones – SR, Offensive Lineman
*Jarrid Williams – GR, Offensive Lineman
Defensive
''2nd team''
*Isaiah Chambers – JR, Defensive Lineman
*Gleson Sprewell – JR, Safety
Award watch lists
Listed in the order that they were released
References:
Roster
Schedule
:Schedule Source:
Game summaries
at Oklahoma
Prairie View A&M
vs. Washington State
at Tulane
at North Texas
Cincinnati
at UConn
SMU
at UCF
Memphis
at Tulsa
Navy
Players drafted into the NFL
References
{{Houston Cougars football navbox
Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
Houston Cougars football seasons
Houston Cougars football
The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH" (spoken as "U of H"). The UH football program is a member of the Big 1 ...