2015 Houston Cougars football team

2015 Houston Cougars football
Peach Bowl Champions The American Champion The American West Division Co-Champion
The American Championship vs. #20 Temple, W 24–13
Peach Bowl vs. #9 Florida State, W 38–24
Conference	American Athletic Conference West Division
Ranking
Coaches	#8
AP	#8
2015 record	13–1 (7–1 The American)
Head coach	Tom Herman (1st year)
Offensive coordinator	Major Applewhite (1st year)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Todd Orlando (1st year)
Home stadium	TDECU Stadium (Capacity: 40,000)

2015 American Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Temple x		7	–	1					10	–	4
South Florida		6	–	2					8	–	5
Cincinnati		4	–	4					7	–	6
Connecticut		4	–	4					6	–	7
East Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
UCF		0	–	8					0	–	12
West Division
#8 Houston xy$		7	–	1					13	–	1
#18 Navy x		7	–	1					11	–	2
Memphis		5	–	3					9	–	4
Tulsa		3	–	5					6	–	7
Tulane		1	–	7					3	–	9
SMU		1	–	7					2	–	10
Championship: Houston 24, Temple 13
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant As of December 31, 2015; Rankings from AP Poll

The 2015 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 68th year of season play for Houston. The team was led by first-year head coach Tom Herman and played its home games at TDECU Stadium in Houston. The Houston Cougars football team is a member of the American Athletic Conference in its West Division. They finished the season 13–1, 7–1 in American Athletic play to win a share of the West Division title. Due to their head to head win over Navy, they represented the West Division in the inaugural American Athletic Championship Game where they defeated Temple to become American Athletic Conference champions. As the highest ranked team from the "Group of five", they received an automatic bid to a New Year's Six bowl. They were invited to the Peach Bowl where they defeated Florida State.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent#	Rank#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	7:00 p.m.	Tennessee Tech*		TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN3	W 52–24	30,479
September 12	11:00 a.m.	at Louisville*		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ACCRSN	W 34–31	50,019
September 26	7:00 p.m.	Texas State*		TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN3	W 59–14	35,257
October 3	11:00 a.m.	at Tulsa		Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK (Rivalry)	CBSSN	W 38–24	17,146
October 8	7:00 p.m.	SMU		TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX (Rivalry)	ESPN2	W 49–28	25,204
October 16	8:00 p.m.	at Tulane	#24	Yulman Stadium • New Orleans, LA	ESPNU	W 42–7	21,522
October 24	11:00 a.m.	at UCF	#21	Bright House Networks Stadium • Orlando, FL	ESPNews	W 59–10	28,350
October 31	6:00 p.m.	Vanderbilt*	#18	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN2	W 34–0	29,565
November 7	2:30 p.m.	Cincinnati	#18	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN2	W 33–30	32,889
November 14	6:00 p.m.	#25 Memphis	#16	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN2	W 35–34	42,159
November 21	2:30 p.m.	at Connecticut	#13	Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT	ESPNU	L 17–20	26,879
November 27	11:00 a.m.	#16 Navy	#21	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX	ABC	W 52–31	40,562
December 5	11:00 a.m.	#20 Temple	#17	TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX (The American Championship)	ABC	W 24–13	35,721
December 31	11:00 a.m.	vs. #9 Florida State*	#14	Georgia Dome • Atlanta, GA (Peach Bowl)	ESPN	W 38–24	71,007
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Central Time.

Schedule Source:

Game notes

Tennessee Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Eagles	3	7	0	14	24
Cougars	14	10	7	21	52

See also: 2015 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Louisville

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	3	7	17	34
Cardinals	7	7	3	14	31

See also: 2015 Louisville Cardinals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–8	2013	UL, 20–13

Texas State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	0	0	7	14
Cougars	14	28	10	7	59

See also: 2015 Texas State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–4	2012	TSU, 30–13

at Tulsa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	14	3	14	38
Golden Hurricane	10	0	7	7	24

See also: 2015 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team and Houston–Tulsa football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
21–18	2014	UH, 38–28

SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	14	7	0	7	28
Cougars	7	21	14	7	49

See also: 2015 SMU Mustangs football team and Houston–SMU football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–10–1	2014	UH, 35–9

at Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
#24 Cougars	7	21	14	0	42
Green Wave	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2015 Tulane Green Wave football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–5	2014	TULANE, 31–24

at UCF

	1	2	3	4	Total
#21 Cougars	7	17	28	7	59
Knights	7	3	0	0	10

See also: 2015 UCF Knights football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–5	2014	UCF, 17–12

Vanderbilt

	1	2	3	4	Total
Commodores	0	0	0	0	0
#18 Cougars	7	13	14	0	34

See also: 2015 Vanderbilt Commodores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	01/04/2014	VANDY, 41–24

Cincinnati

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bearcats	0	14	8	8	30
#18 Cougars	7	7	16	3	33

See also: 2015 Cincinnati Bearcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–10	2014	CINCY, 38–31

Memphis

	1	2	3	4	Total
#25 Tigers	3	17	7	7	34
#16 Cougars	0	7	7	21	35

See also: 2015 Memphis Tigers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–9	2014	UH, 28–24

at Connecticut

	1	2	3	4	Total
#13 Cougars	0	3	0	14	17
Huskies	7	3	3	7	20

See also: 2015 Connecticut Huskies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Navy

	1	2	3	4	Total
#16 Midshipmen	7	7	3	14	31
#21 Cougars	14	10	14	14	52

See also: 2015 Navy Midshipmen football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	1980	UH, 35–0

Temple (The American Championship)

	1	2	3	4	Total
#20 Owls	0	3	7	3	13
#17 Cougars	7	10	7	0	24

See also: 2015 Temple Owls football team and 2015 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2014	UH, 31–10

vs. Florida State (Peach Bowl)

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Cougars	7	14	0	17	38
#9 Seminoles	3	0	7	14	24

See also: 2015 Florida State Seminoles football team and 2015 Peach Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–2–2	1978	UH, 27–21

Rankings

Further information: 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	21	18	18	16	13	21	17	14	8
Coaches'	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	19	18	16	14	21	18	16	8
CFP	Not released									25	24	19	NR	19	18	Not released