The 2025 Kinder’s Texas Bowl will feature the hometown team and a frequent visitor.
The Houston Cougars (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) earned a bid to the Texas Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 27, and they are slated to battle
the LSU Tigers (7-5, 3-5 SEC) in a Big 12 vs. SEC matchup at NRG Stadium.
This upcoming bowl game marks the fourth meeting between the Cougars and Tigers, and the series is 2-1 in favor of the Tigers. All three meetings transpired in Baton Rouge with LSU claiming the 1996 and 2000 victories, while Houston won a low-scoring bought in 1999. Houston and LSU are currently slated to open the 2027 season at the same venue of NRG Stadium.
Houston is bowling for the first time since 2022 and for the first time as a Big 12 program. The Cougars more than doubled their prior year win total in Willie Fritz’s second season at the helm. Houston is currently No. 21 in the College Football Playoff rankings and unranked in the AP Poll, but with a victory in its home city, it can finish with a number attached to its name for the first time since 2021. With somewhat of a homefield advantage, Houston aims to win its third-consecutive bowl matchup — emerging triumphant in the 2021 Birmingham Bowl and 2022 Independence Bowl.
LSU is bowling for the fifth-straight season, and the Tigers eye a fourth-straight bowl win after successes in the 2022 Citrus Bowl, 2023 ReliaQuest Bowl, and 2024 Texas Bowl. Head coach Brian Kelly was fired in October, so LSU will be led by interim Frank Wilson to wrap up the season, before Lane Kiffin takes the reins for 2026. The Tigers are unranked after dropping four of their last six matchups, but they can end the year on a high note one state eastward.
Houston is making its second appearance in the Texas Bowl. The Cougars qualified in 2007 and lost an in-state matchup to current Big 12 rival TCU, 20-13, back in their Conference USA days. LSU now ties the record for most Texas Bowl appearances at four. The Tigers played in the bowl in 2015 (win over Texas Tech), 2021 (loss to Kansas State), and 2024 (win over Baylor), and they aim for another triumph over a Big 12 team at NRG Stadium.
Houston utilized NRG Stadium (then-called Reliant Stadium) as its primary home venue for the 2013 season, awaiting the construction of TDECU Stadium. Since then, the Cougars have played three games in the Houston Texans’ home stadium, knocking off Oklahoma in 2016 but falling to Washington State in 2019 and Texas Tech in 2021.
The 2025 Texas Bowl between Houston and LSU kicks off at 9:15 p.m. ET / 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN, serving as the nightcap of a loaded Saturday featuring eight bowl games.
