# 2017 Houston Cougars football team

The 2017 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars played their home games at TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas, and competed in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Major Applewhite. They finished the season 7–5, 5–3 in AAC play to finish in second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Hawaii Bowl where they lost to Fresno State.

## Schedule

Houston announced its 2017 football schedule on February 9, 2017. The 2017 schedule originally consisted of six home games and six road games in the regular season, but the road game versus UTSA was canceled. The Cougars hosted AAC foes East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, and SMU, and traveled to South Florida, Temple, Tulane, and Tulsa.
The Cougars hosted two of their three non-conference opponents, Rice from Conference USA (CUSA) and Texas Tech from the Big 12 Conference. They traveled to Arizona from the Pac-12 Conference. Houston was originally scheduled to travel to UTSA of CUSA but that game was canceled.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 2 | 6:00 p.m. | UTSA* | AlamodomeSan Antonio, TX | Stadium Matt Martucci, Darius Walker | canceled | |
| September 9 | 9:30 p.m. | at Arizona* | Arizona StadiumTucson, AZ | ESPNU Clay Matvick, Kirk Morrison | W 19–16 | 43,334 |
| September 16 | 7:00 p.m. | Rice* | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX (rivalry) | ESPN3 Robert Lee, Stanford Routt | W 38–3 | 38,900 |
| September 23 | 11:00 a.m. | Texas Tech* | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX (rivalry) | ABC/ESPN2 Mike Patrick, Tommy Tuberville, Paul Carcaterra | L 24–27 | 36,383 |
| September 30 | 11:00 a.m. | at Temple | Lincoln Financial FieldPhiladelphia, PA | ESPNU Mike Couzens, John Congemi | W 20–13 | 24,024 |
| October 7 | 6:00 p.m. | SMU | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX (rivalry) | CBSSN Dave Ryan, Corey Chavous, Melanie Collins | W 35–22 | 31,153 |
| October 14 | 2:45 p.m. | at Tulsa | H. A. Chapman StadiumTulsa, OK (rivalry) | ESPNews Joel Meyers, Al Groh | L 17–45 | 19,198 |
| October 19 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 25 Memphis | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX | ESPN Dave Flemming, Andre Ware, Laura Rutledge | L 38–42 | 30,001 |
| October 28 | 2:45 p.m. | at No. 17 South Florida | Raymond James StadiumTampa, FL | ESPNU Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia | W 28–24 | 32,316 |
| November 4 | 11:00 a.m. | East Carolina | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX | CBSSN John Sadak, Randy Cross, Tina Cervasio | W 52–27 | 29,810 |
| November 18 | 3:00 p.m. | at Tulane | Yulman StadiumNew Orleans, LA | ESPN3/ESPNews Joel Meyers, Brian Kinchen | L 17–20 | 19,026 |
| November 24 | 11:00 a.m. | Navy | TDECU StadiumHouston, TX | ESPN Dave LaMont, Mack Brown, Jen Lada | W 24–14 | 29,252 |
| December 24 | 7:30 p.m. | vs. Fresno State* | Aloha StadiumHonolulu, HI (Hawaii Bowl) | ESPN Chris Cotter, Rod Gilmore, Shelley Smith | L 27–33 | 20,546 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to gameAll times are in Central time |||||||
    The game between Houston and UTSA originally scheduled for September 2 at the Alamodome in San Antonio was initially postponed due to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. However, on Wednesday, September 6, 2017, officials from the two schools agreed that the previously postponed game would not be made up during the season.
    As a result of Hurricane Irma, Houston played at USF on Saturday, October 28 (instead of November 4), and hosted ECU on Saturday, November 4 (instead of October 28).
    Schedule Source:

## Game summaries
### At Arizona

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cougars | 3 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| Wildcats | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 16 |

### Rice

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Cougars | 17 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 38 |

### Texas Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Red Raiders | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
| Cougars | 0 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 24 |

### At Temple

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cougars | 7 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 20 |
| Owls | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 13 |

### SMU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Mustangs | 9 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 22 |
| Cougars | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |

### At Tulsa

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cougars | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| Golden Hurricane | 0 | 7 | 17 | 21 | 45 |

### Memphis

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #25 Tigers | 0 | 0 | 21 | 21 | 42 |
| Cougars | 7 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 38 |

### At South Florida

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cougars | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 28 |
| #17 Bulls | 0 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 24 |

### East Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Pirates | 0 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 27 |
| Cougars | 21 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 52 |

### At Tulane

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cougars | 3 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 17 |
| Green Wave | 3 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 20 |

### Navy

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Midshipmen | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Cougars | 7 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 24 |

### Vs. Fresno State (Hawaii Bowl)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulldogs | 0 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 33 |
| Cougars | 7 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 27 |

## Players in the 2018 NFL Draft

| Player | Position | Round | Pick | NFL club |
| Matthew Adams | LB | 7 | 221 | Indianapolis Colts |
Source: