NCAAF Game Recap - Washington State at Houston
Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:15 PM EDT

Clem
41
Syr
6
F
Bama
47
SCar
23
F
ArkSt
0
UGA
55
F
NWSt
14
LSU
65
F
Okla
48
UCLA
14
F
OSU
51
Ind
10
F
NM
14
ND
66
F
Kent
16
Aub
55
F
Fla
29
KY
21
F
IdSt
0
Utah
31
F
Tex
48
Rice
13
F
Pitt
10
PSU
17
F
Mont
3
Oreg
35
F
Lamar
3
TxAM
62
F
Stan
27
UCF
45
F
AzSt
10
MSU
7
F
Iowa
18
IASt
17
F
WaSt
31
Hou
24
F
MD
17
Temp
20
F
PorSt
10
Boise
45
F
Hawaii
20
Wash
52
F
USC
27
BYU
30
F OT
FlaSt
24
UVA
31
F
UNC
18
Wake
24
F
Kans
48
BC
24
F
K St
31
MissSt
24
F
E Mi
34
Ill
31
F
NCSt
27
WVU
44
F
Furm
17
VaTec
24
F
Chat
0
Tenn
45
F
MiaOH
13
Cin
35
F
Cit
27
GATec
24
F OT
AF
30
Colo
23
F OT
Norf
7
CoCar
46
F
FlAtl
41
Ball
31
F
Akr
24
C Mi
45
F
ECU
10
Navy
42
F
Army
31
UTSA
13
F
OkSt
40
Tuls
21
F
Mem
42
SoAl
6
F
UNLV
14
NW
30
F
GaSo
32
MIN
35
F
Mor
12
JMU
63
F
SouLA
29
Miss
40
F
Lou
38
W Ky
21
F
EWa
45
JacSt
49
F
ColSt
34
Ark
55
F
B-C
0
MiaFL
63
F
CAPly
7
OreSt
45
F
NorTx
17
Cal
23
F
SamHu
23
UND
27
F
Idaho
16
Wyo
21
F
LT
35
BGSU
7
F
SMiss
47
Troy
42
F
SCSt
16
SoFL
55
F
Buff
17
Lib
35
F
UMass
17
UNCC
52
F
Ohio
31
Marsh
33
F
GASt
10
WestMI
57
F
Murr
0
Toled
45
F
Web
13
NEV
19
F
TxSt
17
SMU
47
F
Duke
41
MidTN
18
F
UNH
17
FLInt
30
F
SEMO
0
MIZ
50
F
TxSo
6
ULLaf
77
F
TCU
34
Purd
13
F
MoStU
6
Tul
58
F
SDSU
31
NMS
10
F
NIU
8
Neb
44
F
TxTch
14
Ariz
28
F

Sep 13, 2019, 9:15 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

(20) Washington State (3-0)

0

7

14

10

31

Houston (1-2)

0

14

0

10

24

Gordon leads No. 20 Washington State over Houston 31-24
Sat Sep 14, 2019 1:37 AM

HOUSTON (AP) Anthony Gordon threw for 440 yards and three touchdowns for his third straight 400-yard game as No. 20 Washington State pulled away in the second half to get a 31-24 win over Houston on Friday night.

Gordon threw a 7-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and had two 39-yard scoring throws, including one in the third quarter that gave Washington State (3-0) the lead for good.

"I thought we were frantic the first half both offensively and defensively," Washington State coach Mike Leach said. "Then when we settled in I thought we played well the second half."

It was the first meeting as head coaches for Leach and Houston's Dana Holgorsen, who first met almost 30 years ago when Holgorsen played at Iowa Wesleyan, where Leach was an assistant.

The two coached together at both Valdosta State and Texas Tech and have remained close since that time, adding some familiarity to this game between teams meeting for just the fourth time.

"Me and him go way back ... it's fun to compete with him," Holgorsen said. "I thought our kids played hard and gave ourselves a chance, just came up a little short."

D'Eriq King had 128 yards passing and a score and added 94 yards rushing and two touchdowns on a night Houston (1-2) led 14-7 at halftime. But Houston struggled to move the ball in the second half, lost two fumbles and didn't get in the end zone after halftime until King's 12-yard run with 2:21 left cut the lead to 31-24.

"We don't want moral victories or any of that ... we didn't play good enough to win," Holgorsen said. "Didn't make enough plays and the ball didn't bounce our way enough for us to come out of here with a win and that needs to happen next week."

Brandon Arconado had nine receptions for 115 yards and Max Borghi added 61 yards receiving and ran for a touchdown in the third quarter to help Washington State to the victory.

Houston went for it on fourth-and-1 on its first drive of the second half and fumbled the snap. Washington State recovered and Borghi caught a 17-yard pass on the ensuing drive and tied it at 14-all with a 1-yard scoring run.

Gordon used a perfect throw to deposit the ball between two defenders to Dezmon Patmon for a 39-yard touchdown midway through the third to give Washington State its first lead of the game 21-14.

King looked to have scored on a 72-yard run late in the third quarter, but Jeremy Singleton was called for holding and it was brought back. Houston's drive stalled after that and the team had to punt.

There were about 11 minutes left when Houston got within 21-17 with a 42-yard field goal.

Another touchdown pass by Gordon, this one a 7-yard strike to Travell Harris, pushed Washington State's lead to 28-17 with about seven minutes remaining.

Houston took a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter when King capped a 15-play, 82-yard drive with a 13-yard TD pass to Marquez Stevenson.

Washington State tied it up on the next drive when Easop Winston got in front of the defense to grab a 39-yard touchdown reception from Gordon.

"What I thought was impressive about him is he got better as the game went on," Leach said of Gordon. "He got more precise. He got sharper with his throws and was quicker to get his eyes in the right place."

King put Houston back on top 14-7 when he sneaked on from 1-yard out on the next drive. King has at least one TD pass and one scoring run in 14 straight games to tie the FBS record for consecutive games with a TD run and passing touchdown set by Tim Tebow.

Washington State put together a nice drive after that, but Gleson Sprewell made an acrobatic interception in the end zone to allow Houston to keep the lead heading into halftime. The play extended Houston's streak of games with a takeaway to 20, which is the longest active streak in the nation. It was also Houston's 103rd interception since 2013, which is the most in the country in that span.

THE TAKEAWAY

These teams combined for 209 yards of penalties on Friday night, something they'll need to clean up before the two schools open conference play next week.

UP NEXT

Washington State: Opens Pac-12 Conference play against UCLA next Saturday.

Houston: Visits Tulane on Thursday in its American Athletic Conference opener.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Washington State should maintain its spot in the poll after taking care of business against unranked Houston.

--

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

WaSt Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
A. Gordon 48 36 75.0 3 440 39 1 114.9
Hou Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
D. King 24 13 54.2 1 128 37 0 83.3

Rushing

WaSt Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
M. Borghi 9 40 4.4 17 1
A. Gordon 7 16 2.3 10 0
Hou Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
D. King 17 94 5.5 21 2
P. Carr 9 77 8.6 25 0

Receiving

WaSt Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
B. Arconado 9 115 12.8 31 0
T. Martin 5 76 15.2 33 0
Hou Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
K. Corbin 3 54 18.0 37 0
M. Stevenson 5 34 6.8 18 1

Fumbles

Hou F FL
M. Stevenson 1 1

Returning

WaSt KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
T. Harris 3 28.7 0 37 0 0 0
M. Borghi 1 -4.0 0 0 0 0 0
Hou KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
B. Smith 1 15.0 0 15 0 0 0

Punting

WaSt Punt Yds Avg LgPu
O. Draguicevich III 4 150 37.5 42
Hou Punt Yds Avg LgPu
D. Roy 3 144 48.0 59

Takeaways

Hou Int Yds InTD
G. Sprewell 1 0 0

Team Stats Comparison

WaSt Hou
Points For 31 24
Total Yards 489 367
Rushing Yards 49 239
Passing Yards 440 128
Passing Completions / Attempts 36/48 13/24
Turnovers 1 2
Interceptions Thrown 1 0
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 2/2
First Downs 25 22
Penalties - Yards 11/132 8/77
Time Of Possession 06:06 54:54
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 3/10 6/12
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 1/1 0/1
Punts - Average Yards 4/38 3/48

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter WaSt Hou
No scores this quarter
2nd Quarter WaSt Hou
Hou 07:27 TD Marquez Stevenson 13 yd pass from D'Eriq King (Dalton Witherspoon kick) 0 7
WaSt 09:24 TD Easop Winston Jr. 39 yd pass from Anthony Gordon (Blake Mazza kick) 7 7
Hou 12:33 TD D'Eriq King 1 yd run (Dalton Witherspoon kick) 7 14
3rd Quarter WaSt Hou
WaSt 04:36 TD Max Borghi 1 yd run (Blake Mazza kick) 14 14
WaSt 07:30 TD Dezmon Patmon 39 yd pass from Anthony Gordon (Blake Mazza kick) 21 14
4th Quarter WaSt Hou
Hou 04:15 FG Dalton Witherspoon 42 yd FG 21 17
WaSt 08:17 TD Travell Harris 7 yd pass from Anthony Gordon (Blake Mazza kick) 28 17
WaSt 11:10 FG Blake Mazza 22 yd FG 31 17
Hou 12:39 TD D'Eriq King 12 yd run (Dalton Witherspoon kick) 31 24

Game Information

Stadium: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 40,523
Game Time:
Weather: