Houston stages furious comeback to beat Oregon State 27-24 in overtime

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CORVALLIS, Ore (AP) — Ethan Sanchez kicked a 24-yard field goal in overtime and Houston rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit for a 27-24 victory over Oregon State on Friday night.

Conner Weigman threw for 270 yards and two long fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Cougars, who improved to 4-0 for their best start since 2016 when they opened with five straight wins.

Maalik Murphy threw for 201 yards and a touchdown for Oregon State, which fell to 0-5 to start the season.

The Cougars trailed 24-10 in the fourth quarter, but Weigman threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Stephon Johnson to close the gap for with 5:59 left. Houston tied it with Weigman's 50-yard pass to Tanner Koziol with 3:40 to go.

“It was a hard win. We didn't play real good in the first half, particularly offensively,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said. “But we started putting it together in the fourth quarter when we needed it. Thank goodness.”

The Beavers got within field goal range with five seconds left on the clock, but backup kicker Cameron Smith's 46-yard attempt was blocked and the game went to overtime.

Oregon State's fourth-and-1 attempt failed in overtime before Sanchez's game-winning field goal.

“I mean, nothing brings a team closer than a game like this,” Koziol said. “Now we've looked at each other in the face of a loss, and we brought it out to a win. We're going to come back stronger.”

Oregon State had control until the final quarter of regulation. Trey Glasper intercepted Weigman on the Houston 32 and ran it back to the 7-yard line. Jake Reichle finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to put Oregon State up 7-0.

Murphy threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Marquis Crosby to make it 14-0.

Houston threatened in the second quarter, getting as close as the Oregon State 1, but the Beavers' defense held despite several attempts and the Cougars settled for Ethan Sanchez's 25-yard field goal.

Houston scored on Weigman's 1-yard run to make it 14-10 at halftime.

Caleb Ojeda kicked a 31-yard field goal to extend the Beavers' lead in the third quarter. Hatcher rushed up the middle for an 18-yard score for Oregon State, pushing the score to 24-10.

Houston had four straight three-and-outs in the second half before Weigman's long scoring pass to Johnson.

“With six-something left in the game, we were completely dominating, on both sides of the ball,” Oregon State coach Trent Bray said. “And we didn't finish it. And that's what it is, we've got to finish. We've got to finish against good teams. We knew this was a good team. We knew we had to play four quarters. We played three and a half.”

The game was originally set for Saturday, but moved to Friday night for television, which actually works in the Cougars' favor, because they've got a big test next week against Texas Tech and have an extra game to prepare. Oregon State will play at Houston next season as part of the home-and-home agreement.

Houston hosts No. 12 Texas Tech on Saturday.

Oregon State visits Appalachian State on Saturday.

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