Final: Houston Cougars 24, Kansas State Wildcats 19

On a day of heavy rain and a nearly hour-long kickoff delay due to thunderstorms, Kansas State suffered two special teams disasters due to bad snaps and the offense just couldn't hold up as Avery Johnson threw two interceptions – the second of which was for the lead to a late Houston touchdown. That score gave the Cougars the lead as they defeated the Wildcats 24-19 at TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Wildcats' rushing attack was completely stifled throughout the game, with only two carries resulting in double-digit yardage. The passing game was more effective, but Johnson often missed the target, either too high or too low; Several passes were destroyed at the line of scrimmage. As a result, the Cats were under pressure late, were in the lead and disaster struck.

On the first drive, the Cats methodically pushed their way downfield; A late hit penalty against Houston for bringing down Keagan Johnson on a pass that had long since flown past him helped, but only in terms of yardage since it was a first down play. But after a nice run by Avery Johnson that set up 2nd-and-4 (no score) from the four, consecutive incompletions required a 23-yard field goal by Chris Tennant to save points.

Houston got a first down on its first drive, but immediately lost yardage on each of the next three plays, including Brendan Mott's eighth Big 12-leading sack, and fumbled. In an amusing moment, as Houston waited to punt the ball, Ty Bowman snuck in and grabbed the ball to return it. He didn't get far, but he managed a few yards that K-State wouldn't have otherwise.

The Cats still ended up eight yards behind after three terrible plays and had to punt themselves; The back-and-forth gave the Cougars 12 yards on net as they took the lead back at their own 46-yard line. On 4th-and-2 from the Wildcat 46, Zeon Chriss hit a wide-open Joseph Manjack for the 45. Donovan Smith came into the game at quarterback for a keeper and scored, giving Houston its first points ever against K-State.

Dylan Edwards missed the ensuing kickoff but recovered. Johnson's first pass was dangerously blocked at the line. Giddens went nowhere, then Johnson hit Giddens in the helmet before turning to see the pass; The error was compounded by Keagan Johnson being wide open at the post. After the punt, Houston took the lead at its own 41.

On 3rd-and-2 from midfield, Chriss hit Devan Williams for 33 yards. A sack from Austin Moore and Desmond Purnell (with an early assist from VJ Payne) pushed the Cougars back a bit, and three plays later the Cougars had to settle for a 22-yarder from Jack Martin to take a 10-3 lead go.

Edwards deflected the kickoff at the goal line and slipped, but he recovered and reached the 30. On 3rd-and-4, Johnson was forced to scramble and threw Giddens incomplete, but a holding penalty against Houston gave the Cats a first down needed it urgently. Two more followed, then on 4th and 3 a completion to Garrett Oakley that moved the chains again and got into the red zone. Another first-down catch by Jadon Jackson led to a 2-yard touchdown run for Giddens, but a poor layup led to Tennant's extra point being blocked, allowing Houston to maintain a 14-13 lead. For his part, Tennant won the ball back, preventing a shot and a goal.

After a 28-yard run by DJ Butler put Houston into Wildcat territory, Tobi Osunsanmi forced a fumble that Purnell fell on, giving K-State the ball at midfield with 38 seconds left. A Johnson-to-Johnson connection put the Cats at 22 with all three timeouts. On third down, a ball to Oakley moved the chains, and K-State and then Houston both called timeouts in succession with 13 seconds left in the half. Johnson went to Johnson again for a 7-yard score, allowing K-State to go into the locker room with a 16-10 lead.

Jordan Riley secured a huge sack on third down for a loss of nine yards, scuppering Houston's first drive of the second half for a three-and-out. The punt hit Bowman and created a loose ball, but Edwards covered it. The Cats advanced into Houston territory, but a bad read on an option cost Johnson five yards, and a bad snap on a 53-yard attempt by Tennant gave Houston possession at its own 45-yard line.

A nine-yard gain on 3rd-and-10 got Smith back into the game, but was stuffed by Austin Romaine on 4th-and-1 to give the ball back to K-State at the 47, but the drive went nowhere there. Houston started again at its own 27 line. They also couldn't get going and stumbled. K-State took over at its own 15-yard line and – while being hit from behind – Johnson found Jayce Brown for a 61-yard gain to the 23-yard line. A hold call made it 1st-and-20, but wet ball issues forced a field goal attempt. Tennant increased the lead from 47 to 19:10.

Houston went three-and-out but held the Cats to the 10 with a 65-yard punt. Two plays later, Johnson threw a very poor pick on a checkdown, resulting in Houston gaining possession inside the Wildcat 10. Three plays later, Chriss hit Maliq Carr with a one-yard pop pass, cutting the deficit to 19-17 as the rain really started to fall.

Two short runs were followed by a pass to Giddens, who fumbled out of bounds. A bad punt brought Houston to its own 30 points. The Cats made a big 3rd down stop two plays later, but an offsides penalty on Moore gave the Cougars a first down. An ankle tackle by Mott forced a fourth down three plays later and Houston elected to punt. The Cats took a 3-3 lead thanks to some terrible miscommunications, leaving Houston the ball at midfield.

On the first play of the game, Keenan Garber was warned for pass interference. The next time, Chriss singled for the first time in the game, running 41 yards for the go-ahead score. But the rain had finally let up.

A few plays later, Johnson threw another pick to center field with 1:43 left and that was basically it. The Cats forced a three-and-out, but took the lead with 35 seconds left without a timeout. Johnson got the Wildcats to the Houston 39 with three seconds left, but his last-ditch throw was knocked out of the back of the end zone.

Johnson was just 23-39 for 238 yards, one touchdown and two picks; he had 18 yards on the ground. Giddens, who needed 55 yards to reach 1,000 early in the game, had just 50 yards on 17 carries. Edwards had 31 for eight. Keagan Johnson led the team with six catches, accounting for 76 yards and a score; Giddens caught five balls for just 16, Brown had three for a team-leading 86 yards, Oakley had three for 29, Jackson had two for 24.

The Cats defeated Houston 327-232 but lost the ground game 121-89; Neither team broke three yards per carry on the day. Penalties didn't really matter and both teams were terrible in the third period, but in the fourth game they were 1-2. Both teams were 3-for-3 on chances in the red zone, and K-State won the time of possession 31-29.

WHAT WE LEARNED

1) The running game was messed up a bit, but not enough.

Last week we discovered that Giddens hadn't walked outside at all in weeks. Tonight they did a few edge runs, but they were slow developers, going horizontal and going nowhere. Giddens still fails to start an off-tackle and Houston held the Cats to 2.6 yards per carry.

2) Keagan Johnson finally got his way.

It's not that he had a great game, but the Iowa transfer was the go-to receiver when a big first down was needed and he delivered for the most part. He doesn't look like he'll ever be the big one; That's Brown's role. But KJ was reliable tonight, on a night where so many other offensive players weren't, and had the biggest catch on K-State's final drive.

3) The defense was great for 57 1/2 minutes and then again for 90 seconds.

That's all we'll say.

4) This team has a frustrating tendency that is evident.

This tendency: to play at the opponent's level for three quarters or more. There is no excuse for tonight's performance. Houston isn't a bad football team, but they're not a good one either. This game should have been a comfortable win.

5) Bonus: Willie Fritz has our number.

We should have hired him in 2005.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Well, Tennant is the only one who didn't do anything wrong today, so he's doing it all by himself for the second week in a row.

NEXT

A day off to feel like shit about it and maybe be unranked the whole time, then Arizona State comes to town.