Houston Football: Preseason game-by-game predictions for 2017 season

Final Standings: 10-2 (6-2 American)

Unfortunately for Houston, 2017 is going to look an awful lot like 2016 in terms of reaching final goals. There will be no chance to play for the American Athletic Conference title, with Memphis taking the West like Navy did last year. There will be no New Year’s Six bowl game.

Another opportunity will be lost, as a high-flying offense and a skilled defense fail to even sniff a championship. But for any Group of Five team, getting to 10 wins is always a benchmark that is hard to achieve and worth appreciating when it comes.

As such, it will still be an incredible campaign for the new coaching staff despite missing out on the bigger prizes. A fifth consecutive bowl appearance will come from the effort, and the Cougars might just be matched against a familiar face.

Possible Bowl Game: Liberty Bowl v. Texas

The bloating of the bowl calendar means that conferences cannot always fill their quota of guaranteed tie-ins. That leaves the door open for a few different bowls to give Houston an opportunity to play a bigger opponent in their final game of 2017.

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Perhaps that opponent will be Texas, new home of former Cougars head coach Tom Herman. The Liberty Bowl would love to pit the two former Southwest Conference foes against one another. If the SEC does not have enough eligible teams to fill all its bowl slots, their loss could be Houston’s gain.