Houston scores twice in 4th quarter, Cougars beat No. 17 Kansas State 24-19

HOUSTON (AP) — Zeon Chriss threw for 103 yards and a touchdown without an incompletion as Houston rallied in fourth quarter to beat No. 17 Kansas State 24-19 on Saturday.

Trailing 19-10 to start the fourth quarter, Chriss threw a 1-yard touchdown to Maliq Carr with 11 minutes left. After forcing a punt, Chriss rushed for a 41-yard touchdown with 2:31 to go.

Chriss, who finished 11 of 11, also rushed for 75 yards and caught a pass for eight yards.

“We’ve experienced a lot (of adversity) this season,” Chriss said. “We were trying to be positive about it, and trust in the defense. The defense told us ‘We got y’all,’ and we got them.”

Linebacker Michael Batton intercepted Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson on the next drive.

After Houston (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) was forced to punt with 40 seconds left, the Wildcats drove to the Cougars’ 39 with 4 seconds left, but Johnson’s heave was knocked out of the end zone.

“We didn’t play a perfect game, but we played well enough to win, and that’s what matters,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said.

The win was Houston’s first win over a ranked team since beating No. 19 SMU 44-37 on Oct. 30, 2021.

“They’re going to start believing,” Fritz said about Houston’s second straight one-possession win. “We got to keep going.”

The loss snapped Kansas State’s four-game winning streak.

Wildcats coach Chris Klieman said his team didn’t play “with good enough fundamentals and techniques" and pointed to Kansas State’s inability to run the ball, as they finished with 89 yards rushing.

“We weren’t running the ball a lick,” Klieman said. “Our inability to rush the football makes it harder to throw.”

Johnson finished 23 of 39 for 238 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and found Keagan Johnson for a 7-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left in the first half to give the Wildcats (7-2, 4-2) a 16-10 halftime lead. Johnson finished with 76 yards receiving.

“It just felt like we were flat offensively,” Avery Johnson said. “We couldn’t get anything going. We stalled a lot in the second half. We didn’t really play collectively as well as we wanted to.”

DJ Giddens rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown as Kansas State outgained the Cougars 327-232.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them, but I feel like the words to describe it was we let it slip away,” Keagan Johnson said. “They’re a good team. They played better today. It comes down to that. We didn’t execute when we needed to.”

The game was delayed 55 minutes to start because of lightning.

The takeaway

Kansas State: The loss hurts the chances of the Wildcats making the Big 12 championship and the College Football Playoff.

Houston: The Cougars finished 3 for 3 in the red zone after struggling last week against Utah.

Poll implications

Kansas State could potentially drop out of the rankings after the loss.

Up next

Kansas State hosts Arizona State on Nov. 16, while Houston plays at Arizona on Nov. 15.

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The Associated Press