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 second-year head coach Major Applewhite.

After tiebreakers, they did not represent the West Division in the AAC Championship Game.

They were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they lost to Army by a score of 14–70, in the process tying records for the most points given up (70) and the largest margin-of-loss (56) in NCAA bowl game history.

[2] Listed in the order that they were released The AAC media poll was released on July 24, 2018, with the Cougars predicted to finish in second place in the AAC West Division.