University of Houston Athletics
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- Box Score
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) (Nov. 13) -- Ketric Sanford rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown and had another 28 yards receiving as Houston kept its bowl hopes alive with a 20-7 victory over LSU on Saturday night.
The loss was the eighth straight for the Tigers (2-8) and meant the longest losing streak in the 106 years they have played football.
After consecutive 3-8 records, Houston (6-4) hoped to boost its chances of playing in a bowl game with a win over a Southeastern Conference team, even one struggling as badly as LSU.
LSU's only victories this season came over non-conference schools.
Sanford, a powerful runner with slippery moves, began pounding the Tigers early and rushed the ball 27 times. His partner in the backfield, Mike Green, was also effective, gaining 64 yards on 20 carries.
Houston controlled the ball for 37:03 compared to 22:57 for the Tigers.
The once powerful LSU rushing game again came up short, finishing with just 31 net yards. Rondell Mealey, who had amassed just 509 rushing yards through nine games, put LSU up 7-0 in the first quarter with a 39-yard scoring rush. The Tigers had 43 yards rushing in their first possession, 46 in the first quarter, 43 at halftime.
Houston evened the score with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Scott Regimbald in the first quarter. The Cougars took a 17-7 halftime lead on a 22-yard field by Mike Clark and a 10-yard touchdown run by Sanford.
Sanford's touchdown, his 11th of the season and 27th of his career, came after a holding call against LSU nullified an interception that would have given the Tigers the ball on their 24. Instead a 10-yard penalty gave Houston a first down on LSU' 14. Two plays later, Sanford scored.
Clark capped a 50-yard drive with a 29-yard field goal that made it 20-7 with 6:33 left in the third quarter.
Houston quarterback Jason McKinley was 19-of-27 for 203 yards and a touchdown.
Josh Booty was 20-of-34 for 213 yards and was intercepted twice. Rohan Davey, who came in late in the fourth quarter, was 4-of-9 for 83 yards and was intercepted twice, once on the final play of the game. Davey was sacked four times and the Tigers also fumbled the ball away once.