The 2023 Houston Cougars football team represented the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

during the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. The Cougars were led by

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is an American college football coach. He is currently the offensive coordinator at the University of Nebraska. He served as the head football coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018 and the Un ...

in his fifth season as their head coach. The Cougars played their home games at TDECU Stadium in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. The Houston Cougars football team drew an average home attendance of 36,020 in 2023. In September 2021,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, BYU,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and UCF accepted bids to join the

. On June 10, 2022, the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

and the three American Athletic Conference schools set to depart from the league (Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF) announced that they had reached a buyout agreement with the conference that would allow those schools to join the Big 12 in 2023. BYU had previously operated as an independent prior to accepting a membership invitation to join the Big 12. On November 26, head coach Dana Holgorsen was fired. He finished with a record of 31–28 in five seasons.

Schedule

Game summaries

UTSA

at Rice

TCU

Sam Houston

at Texas Tech

West Virginia

No. 8 Texas

*Sources:

at Kansas State

at Baylor

Cincinnati

No. 23 Oklahoma State

at UCF

References

{{Houston Cougars football navbox

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." The UH football program is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since th ...