1953 Houston Cougars football team

The 1953 Houston Cougars football team was an American football team that represented the University of Houston in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1953 college football season. In its sixth season under head coach Clyde Lee, the team compiled a 4–4–1 record (1–2 against conference opponents) and tied for third place out of five teams in the MVC. Buddy Gillioz and Paul Carr were the team captains.^[1] The team played its home games at Rice Stadium in Houston.

1953 Houston Cougars football
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	4–4–1 (1–2 MVC)
Head coach	Clyde Lee (6th season)
Captains	Buddy Gillioz Paul Carr
Home stadium	Rice Stadium
Seasons ← 1952 1954 →

1953 Missouri Valley Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Oklahoma A&M +	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Detroit +	3	–	1	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Wichita	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	4	–	1
Houston	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	4	–	1
Tulsa	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 26	at Texas A&M*	Kyle Field College Station, TX	T 14–14	35,000	[2]
October 3	at No. 17 Texas*	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	L 7–28	30,000	[3]
October 9	at Detroit	University of Detroit Stadium Detroit, MI	W 25–19	12,650	[4]
October 17	Oklahoma A&M	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	L 7–14	25,000
October 24	Arizona State*	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 24–20	12,000
November 7	at Tulsa	Skelly Field Tulsa, OK (rivalry)	L 21–23	10,000
November 14	at No. 9 Baylor*	Baylor Stadium Waco, TX (rivalry)	W 37–7	15,000	[5]
November 21	No. 17 Texas Tech*	Rice Stadium Houston, TX (rivalry)	L 21–41	15,000–20,000
December 5	Tennessee*	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 33–19	23,000	[6]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game