Ethan Sanchez kicked a field goal as time expired and the Cougars notched a homecoming win over the Arizona Wildcats to become bowl-eligible.
The Good: Houston's ground game. The Cougars gained 232 rushing yards, 100 of which were courtesy of RB Dean Connors and another 98 of which came from QB Conner Weigman. The UH offensive line's ability to open running lanes against Arizona's defense was good enough for them to be named the Big XII's Offensive Line of the Week. Who had that on their bingo card this season?!
The Better: In addition to his 98 yards rushing, Conner Weigman passed for 163 yards and 3 touchdowns. Amare Thomas, who led the Cougars in receiving yards, caught two of those scoring passes. Weigman also had no interceptions and was not sacked once.
The Best: Houston's game-winning drive. After the Wildcats had scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to tie the game, the Cougars put together a calm and methodical 13-play, 4:48, 52-yard drive to get well into Sanchez's field goal range. A textbook way to win a football game!
The Bad: As good as Houston's defense has been this season, they gave up 381 total yards to the Wildcats, 269 of which came through the air. Arizona QB Noah Fifita was amazingly accurate, completing 24 of 26 passing attempts with no INTs. To the UH defense's credit, he was also sacked four times.
The Ugly: The 11 am kickoff. The heat and humidity were brutal (Houston hasn't had much in the way of autumn weather so far), and I'm not sure half of the announced attendance of 28,535 ever actually made it into the stadium. Additionally, 11 am kickoffs ruin homecoming festivities.
What It Means: This was a good game between two evenly-matched teams, and the fact that Houston was able to pull ahead at the end means that they will finish the season with no worse than a .500 record and go to a bowl for the first time since the 2022 season. The Coogs need to win just one more game to secure a winning season.
Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Tempe, Arizona to face Arizona State.
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