Cougars manage ‘extraordinary’ Hail Mary to jolt WVU
Oct 13, 2023, 12:27 AM ET
HOUSTON– Donovan Smith tossed a 49-yard goal pass that was caught by Stephon Johnson as time ended to give Houston a thrilling 41-39 win over West Virginia on Thursday night.Smith ended up 21-of-27 for 253 yards and four goals. He threw a Hail Mary from midfield, the ball was tipped at the objective line and Johnson caught it to end the game.”We practiced that, and we constantly have a guy who is all set for the pointer,”Smith stated.”We simply executed that.” Smith, who finished his final 16 passes
, also ran for a touchdown as Houston (3-3, 1-2 Huge 12)earned its first Big 12 win.”Donovan Smith came alive at
the end of the second quarter and had a terrific drive for a goal and then a great second half,”Houston coach Dana Holgorsen stated.” The kid is turning into an actually great player.”Holgorsen explained the play as”
extraordinary “and Smith’s toss as “astounding.”” We played all four quarters,”
Holgorsen stated.” I do not know how that took place at the end. I think the football gods were on our side today. We’ll take it. It’s good to get that first Big 12 win. … I’m simply happy with that group in there for hanging in there. Donovan Smith and Boogie Johnson, I have actually never ever belonged of that.”
Johnson captured four passes for 96 backyards and 2 scores, and Stacy Sneed rushed for 78 backyards on seven carries.
“It wasn’t truly planned to be tipped to me,” Johnson stated of the final play. “It just occurred like that, and I made a play on that. I’m just appreciative we were able to pull out the win.”
Garrett Greene threw for 391 lawns and two goals. Greene, who was 20-of-38 death, likewise rushed for 47 lawns and two touchdowns for West Virginia (4-2, 2-1). The loss snapped West Virginia’s four-game win streak.
“We didn’t lose the game on the last play of the game,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown stated. “We had multiple chances to win the game, however we didn’t do it. I’m not really happy with how we played in two out of three stages. Defensively and on unique groups, we did not play good enough.”
Devin Carter caught 5 passes for 116 lawns. West Virginia outgained Houston 546-393 total yards.Trailing 35-24,
West Virginia cut the result in three on an 8-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion pass to Traylon Ray. After Houston was forced to punt, Greene discovered Hudson Clement for a 50-yard goal hand down fourth-and-10 to provide the Mountaineers a four-point lead with 12 seconds left.The teams combined to score 42 fourth-quarter points.THE TAKEAWAY West Virginia: The Mountaineers, who went into ranked 11th nationally with nearly 33 minutes per game, owned time of ownership, hanging on to the ball 37 minutes. … West Virginia had the ability to keep drives going, ending up 13-of-19 on third downs. … The Mountaineers, who entered averaging 3.6 penalties per game, were whistled for eight charges for 84 backyards. They had an important unsportsmanlike penalty after Clement’s goal that enabled Houston to get the ball near midfield.Brown said the Mountaineers lost the game because they were not a disciplined team.”The celebration charge after the last goal is kind of a microcosm to me of the game,”Brown said.”We don’t get that celebration charge, which is completely asinine for us to take our helmets off. … That gave them an opportunity to enter into scoring position.”Houston: The Cougars’offense struggled to stay on the field, transforming 3-of-9 third downs. … Houston scored a second half touchdown for the very first time in conference play after not scoring in the 2nd half versus TCU or Texas Tech in their first two conference games. … Houston scored on 4 of their six second-half drives, and Smith did not have an incompletion in the second half.