The 2022 Houston Cougars football team represented the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

in the

2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be the 153rd 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 ( ...

. The Cougars played their home games at

TDECU Stadium John O'Quinn Field at TDECU Stadium is an American football stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. The stadium serves as the home of the Houston Cougars football team, which represents the University of Houston in collegiate ...

in Houston, Texas, competing in 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) ...

(The American). They were led by 4th-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 ...

. In September 2021, Houston and fellow conference members Cincinnati and UCF accepted bids to join the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. The schools had been contractually required to remain with The American through 2024, but all reached a separation agreement that allowed them to join the Big 12 in 2023. Accordingly, the 2022 season was the program's last season as a member of The American.

Previous season

The Cougars finished the 2021 season with a 12–2 (8–0 AAC) record to finish tied for first in the conference. They would lose the AAC Championship Game to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. It was their first appearance in the conference championship game since 2015. They won the

Birmingham Bowl The Birmingham Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game played annually in Birmingham, Alabama. First held in 2006, the game is owned and operated by ESPN Events. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UA ...

17–13 against Auburn.

Preseason

Award watch lists

''Listed in the order that they were released''

American Athletic Conference preseason media poll

The American Athletic Conference preseason media poll was released at AAC Media Day on July 28, 2022. The Cougars were picked to win the conference, edging defending conference champion

by one vote.

Schedule

Schedule Source:

Game summaries

At UTSA

At Texas Tech

Kansas

Rice (Bayou Bucket Classic)

Tulane

At Memphis

At Navy

South Florida

At SMU

Temple

At East Carolina

Tulsa

Vs. Louisiana (Independence Bowl)

Awards and milestones

Rankings

References

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Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Houston Cougars football seasons Independence Bowl champion 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 ...