University of Houston
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Mississippi St
Houston Tops Mississippi St. In Shootout 42-35
9/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept 20, 2003
By MARK BABINECK
Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) - Kevin Kolb threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns and Houston held off Mississippi State 42-35 on Saturday night, sending the Bulldogs to their worst start in 35 years.
Mississippi State is 0-3 for the first time since 1968, when the Bulldogs went 0-8-2. Houston (3-1) hasn't opened a season this well since winning its first eight games in 1990.
Mississippi State cut Houston's lead to a touchdown with 4:29 to play on Nick Turner's 2-yard TD run, set up by his own 56-yard punt return on the previous play. But the Bulldogs, who once trailed by 28, never got the ball back.
Kolb, who was 20-for-29 with no interceptions, set the tone with a 74-yard touchdown strike over the middle to a wide-open Brandon Middleton 16 seconds after the opening kickoff. Houston seemed to baffle Mississippi State early with is unusual spread formations and raced to a 21-0 lead midway into the first quarter.
Then the blowout turned into a shootout when Jenkins, who finished with nine catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns, caught a 29-yard scoring pass from Kevin Fant midway into the third period to cut Houston's lead to 35-21.
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Houston struck back early in the final quarter when Kolb scrambled right, ducked trouble, came back left and lofted a 23-yard TD pass to Vincent Marshall.
After Houston's opening touchdown and another on a 7-yard run by Jackie Battle, the Cougars flashed some razzle-dazzle to make it 21-0 when Kolb tossed a shovel pass to Vincent Marshall for a 13-yard scoring play.
The Cougars made it 28-0 late in the second quarter on a 50-yard scoring pass from Kolb to Leonard Gibson. The Bulldogs retaliated late in the period when Fant teamed up with Jenkins, first on a 27-yard pass from midfield, then on a 23-yard TD pass, though they botched the 2-point attempt.
Fant finished with 360 yards on 24-for-42 passing, but threw five interceptions.
