Houston Rallies in Fourth Quarter for Win vs. Tulsa

HOUSTON – With the Cougars trailing by nine early in the fourth quarter, University of Houston junior quarterback D'Eriq King rushed for a 61-yard touchdown and added a pair of touchdown passes to lead Houston to a 41-26 win over American Athletic Conference rival Tulsa inside TDECU Stadium on Thursday.

King finished the night with 157 yards and three touchdowns in the air, while adding 110 yards on the ground and a pair of scores on only eight carries to lead the Cougars in their league opener.

Houston improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in The American play. Tulsa fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in conference action.

After Tulsa scored a touchdown on its opening-drive, the Golden Hurricane capitalized on its edge with a field goal to quickly take a 10-0 lead. The Cougars immediately responded with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a score from King to junior wide receiver Keith Corbin.

Following another field goal from Tulsa that pushed its advantage back to a touchdown at the end of the first quarter, Houston found another rebuttal in the playbook to take its first lead of the game. Showing off his versatility as a dual-threat quarterback, King gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with his first of two rushing touchdowns of the night to put Houston ahead 14-13 with 8:39 left in the second quarter.

With Houston immediately forcing a Tulsa 3-and-out, the Cougars wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity, stringing together an 11-play drive that resulted in sophomore kicker Dalton Witherspoon connecting on a career-long, 40-yard field goal to stretch the lead to four at 17-13 at the half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Golden Hurricane managed to utilize a drive of more than five minutes to cut the Cougar lead to just one point with a field goal. On the ensuing drive, Houston went 3-and-out, which resulted in Tulsa catapulting itself back into the lead with a 23-17 edge heading into the final quarter.

After Tulsa extended its lead to two scores with another field goal, Houston rebounded when King took it to the house for the second time of the night, bringing the Cougars back within a pair. From there, the Cougar defense forced the Golden Hurricane to punt the ball away, where Houston put together another positive drive to make the score 27-26 in favor of Houston.

Houston's defensive front then stepped up big time, as a fumble recovery from senior linebacker Emeke Egbule put the Cougars in position to go up 34-26, courtesy of King's third touchdown pass, which was caught by senior tight end Romero Brooker. On the succeeding defensive possession, sophomore defensive back Deontay Anderson hauled in the Cougars' lone interception of the night and ran it down all the way to the Tulsa nine-yard line.

Looking to seal the victory, King connected on a six-yard throw to sophomore wide receiver Marquez Stevenson for Houston's fifth touchdown of the night, which cemented the 41-26 win for the Cougars.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will hit the road for the next two weeks against American Athletic Conference rivals. The road swing begins at 6 p.m. (CDT) at ECU in Greenville, N.C., with that game being shown on CBS Sports Network.

From there, the Cougars take on Navy at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) Oct. 20 in Annapolis, Md. That game will air on CBS Sports Network.

Houston returns to the friendly confines of TDECU Stadium when it plays host to USF on Oct. 27. Kickoff time for that game will be announced soon.

Fans can purchase tickets by calling 713-462-6647 or by visiting uhcougars.com/tickets.

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