The road has been very unkind to Arizona of late, with its previous four away games all losses by 20-plus points. Down two touchdowns midway through the third quarter, another lopsided road defeat looked
possible.
Instead, the UA rallied to tie it with less than five minutes to go but never got the ball back.
Ethan Sanchez hit a 41-yard field goal as time expired to give Houston a 31-28 lead, locking up bowl eligibility. The Cougars (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) were 4-8 last season.
Arizona (4-3, 1-3) tied it at 28 with 4:48 to go on a 2-yard touchdown run by Kedrick Reescano, a score that came after Sanchez—the reigning Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week—was well short on a 48-yard attempt with 11:40 remaining.
With the game tied, the Cougars ate up the rest of the clock with a 13-play drive in which all but one snap was a run. That included four keepers by quarterback Connor Weigman, who ran for 98 yards and a TD and also threw three TD passes.
Houston ran for 232 yards, the second straight opponent to gain 200-plus on the ground against the UA.
The loss spoiled a near-perfect performance by Noah Fifita, who was 24 of 26 for 269 yards and two TDs. That set a school record for completion percentage(92.3) with at least 20 completed throws, breaking Anu Solomon’s mark of 84.6 in 2014.
Tre Spivey had a receiving and rushing TD for Arizona, which had 190 yards in the first quarter and scored multiple touchdowns in the opening period of a road game for the first time since 2022 at UCLA. But the Wildcats only had 191 yards the rest of the game and were plagued by seven penalties, including some questionable ones.
There was also an illegal motion flag thrown against Houston on the game-winning drive that was picked up.
Houston led by seven at the half and got the ball to start the third quarter. The Cougars used more than 60 percent of that period on their opening drive, going 17 plays with Amare Thomas catching a 2-yard pass for a 28-14 lead with 5:56 left in the third.
That drive was aided by a 15-yard sideline interference penalty against Arizona, apparently for an assistant coach colliding with an official. There was also a review on a catch along the sideline that went against the Wildcats or they would have gotten a 3-and-out.
Arizona responded with its own lengthy drive, 13 plays, which included a 4th down conversion inside the Houston 10. Spivey scored on a 3-yard fly sweep to cut the deficit to 28-21 with 14:55 remaining.
The UA finally got a stop, after three straight Houston scoring drives, and caught a break when Sanchez was well short on a 48-yard field goal. Reescano’s tying TD capped a 10-play drive that included a conversion on 4th down.
Arizona was 2 for 3 on 4th but just 4 of 9 on 3rd, continuing a season-long trend on third down.
Arizona needed three plays to get on the board to open the game, scoring on a 70-yard TD catch by Spivey. Fifita, who had been sacked two plays earlier, eluded a rush off the edge and hit Spivey for a 14-yard gain and Spivey did the rest.
But Houston only took four plays to tie it on a 52-yard TD catch by Thomas, with Arizona missing multiple tackles on the play.
A more methodical drive put the UA back in front with 6:18 to go in the first, with the Wildcats going 73 yards in 13 plays capped by Luke Wysong’s 13-yard score.
Houston tied it on a 96-yard drive with 5:51 left in the first half when Weigman scored on a 10-yard run. That came one play after he found Dean Connors on a short pass on 4th down that went for 33 yards.
The Cougars took their first lead with 16 seconds left before halftime on a 16-yard TD catch by Tanner Kozoil. That came after Arizona went for it on 4th and 1 in Houston territory butReescano was stuffed.
Arizona is off until Nov. 1 when it visits Colorado.
