2015 Houston Cougars football team

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The American Championship vs. #20 Temple
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 8

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
UConn		4	–	4					6	–	7
East Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
UCF		0	–	8					0	–	12
West Division
No. 8 Houston xy$		7	–	1					13	–	1
No. 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

September 57:00 p.m.Tennessee Tech*

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX

ESPN3W 52–24 30,479 September 1211:00 a.m.at Louisville*

• Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
• Louisville, KY

ACCRSNW 34–31 50,019 September 267:00 p.m.Texas State*

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX

ESPN3W 59–14 35,257 October 311:00 a.m.at Tulsa

• Chapman Stadium
• Tulsa, OK (Rivalry)

CBSSNW 38–24 17,146 October 87:00 p.m.SMU

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX (Rivalry)

ESPN2W 49–2825,204 October 168:00 p.m.at TulaneNo. 24

• Yulman Stadium
• New Orleans, LA

ESPNUW 42–7 21,522 October 2411:00 a.m.at UCFNo. 21

• Bright House Networks Stadium
• Orlando, FL

ESPNewsW 59–10 28,350 October 316:00 p.m.Vanderbilt*No. 18

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX

ESPN2W 34–0 29,565 November 72:30 p.m.CincinnatiNo. 18

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX

ESPN2W 33–30 32,889 November 146:00 p.m.No. 25 MemphisNo. 16

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX

ESPN2W 35–34 42,159 November 212:30 p.m.at ConnecticutNo. 13

• Rentschler Field
• East Hartford, CT

ESPNUL 17–20 26,879 November 2711:00 a.m.No. 16 NavyNo. 21

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX

ABCW 52–31 40,562 December 511:00 a.m.No. 20 TempleNo. 17

• TDECU Stadium
• Houston, TX (The American Championship)

ABCW 24–13 35,721 December 3111:00 a.m.vs. No. 9 Florida State*No. 14

• Georgia Dome
• Atlanta, GA (Peach Bowl)

ESPNW 38–24 71,007

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
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

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