Replay: No. 8 Texas stuffs Houston's fourth-down try, holds on for 31-24 win over Cougars

It's a bright, sunny day in Houston for today's Texas-Houston game. The No. 8-ranked Longhorns (5-1, 2-1) are kicking off the second half of their regular-season schedule against the Cougars, who are coming off a dramatic win over West Virginia on a Hail Mary touchdown catch.

Follow this thread for updates, live scores and game analysis throughout the afternoon:

Texas pushes back Houston's possible last chance

Texas turned Houston back on a fourth-and-inches try 9 yards away from the end zone, and has beaten the Cougars 31-24.

Donovan Smith moved Houston to midfield on the first play of the drive, a 24-yard strike to Matthew Golden over the middle. The Cougars converted a fourth-and-2 after that and moved inside Texas' 35-yard line on another pass to Golden.

On second-and-8 from Texas' 17, Smith found tight end Mike O'Laughlin for a 7-yard gain. Terrance Brooks was shaken up on the play. On third-and-1 from just outside the 10, Stacy Sneed was stuffed for no gain by T'Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II. On fourth-and-inches, with 1:17 to play, Smith rolled right and his short pass was broken up by Jahdae Barron.

CJ Baxter puts Texas back up

Maalik Murphy's second drive was decisively better than his first. Texas has retaken the lead on CJ Baxter's 16-yard touchdown run with 5:37 to play. The Horns lead 31-24. Jonathon Brooks' 15- and 7-yard runs helped Texas get close.

Texas survives a big play, but Houston ties it up

There's 7:43 left to play, and this game is tied again at 24-24. Jack Martin's 40-yard field goal capped a seven-play, 68-yard drive.

The killer was a third-and-7 completion to Samuel Brown, who got past Michael Taaffe and sped down the right sideline for 51 yards, plus a 15-yard late hit call by Anthony Hill Jr. at the end of the play. Taaffe appeared to bump Hill into Brown, but it was a penalty nonetheless. That set the Cougars up at Texas' 22-yard line.

Quinn Ewers is out, Maalik Murphy is in

Backup quarterback Maalik Murphy is playing for Quinn Ewers, who has been holding his chest since that hard collision with a Houston linebacker earlier. The Longhorns went three-and-out and have punted it back to Houston. There was a muffed punt return but the Cougars ended up with the ball back near its own 5-yard line. Murphy's lone pass attempt was incomplete on third down.

Taaffe picks off Donovan Smith

Donovan Smith committed a turnover for Houston's second straight drive, the first one a fumble that led to Texas' go-ahead field goal and the second an interception in the end zone by Texas safety Michael Taaffe, which was probably a 3- or 7-point play.

The Longhorns, holding a 24-21 lead, will start at its own 25 with 12:41 to go.

Fourth-down gambles pay off for Texas

There's 3:17 left in the third quarter, and Texas has gone back up 24-21 on an important scoring drive for the Longhorns, who hadn't scored since early in the second quarter. Bert Auburn's 25-yard field goal capped an adventurous 11-play, 31-yard drive that was set up by Vernon Broughton's fumble recovery.

Quinn Ewers took a big hit at the end of a third-down scramble that came up two yards short, though it was Houston's David Ugwoebu who took the brunt of the impact, it turns out. On fourth-and-2 from the 19, Savion Red saved things again with a five-yard run behind the block of CJ Baxter off the left side. And the big play of the drive was a third-and-13 conversion that went 18 yards on a flip pass from Quinn Ewers to Jonathon Brooks, who weaved his way behind a front wall of blockers to keep the drive alive to Houston's 23.

Of note: Houston is already down to one timeout. The Cougars burned two of them on this Texas drive.

Texas gets the ball back on a fumble

Texas, in a state of offensive lethargy and needing something big for a spark, got it on defense when Jaylan Ford forced a Donovan Smith fumble on a sack and the ball was recovered by defensive lineman Vernon Broughton. It gives Texas the ball back at Houston's 38-yard line, the game tied 21-21 with 7:36 left in the third quarter.

Texas fails on fourth-and-2 pass

How did Texas answer Houston's third straight touchdown drive?

With a failed fourth-and-2 effort near midfield, a curious lob pass call to Adonai Mitchell, who was covered tightly on the play. Houston, which has battled back from a 21-0 deficit to a 21-21 tie, will take over at its own 44-yard line with 8:17 left in the third quarter.

For the game, Quinn Ewers is 20-of-23 for 188 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Texas is in trouble: Houston ties Horns up

Houston has picked up in the third quarter where it left off the first half: red-hot.

Donovan Smith found Joseph Manjack IV for a 35-yard strike down to inside Texas' 1-yard line, and two plays later Smith tossed a 3-yard touchdown to Matthew Golden to make this a 21-21 game.

There's 12:29 left to play in the third quarter, and Texas is in trouble: Houston's first four drives of this game were punt, punt, punt and punt; it's last three drives have gone touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.

Houston cuts into Texas' lead at halftime

Texas dominated the first quarter. Houston has gotten the best of the second.

The Cougars have cut Texas' lead to 21-14 on Donovan Smith's 21-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Manjack IV in the final minute of the first half. And for good measure, Houston sacked Quinn Ewers on the final play of the half.

The drive was set up by a failed fake field goal from Texas. On fourth-and-6, Texas lined up for a 44-yard field goal. But Ryan Sanborn, the holder, instead pitched it to kicker Bert Auburn, who was quickly corralled for virtually no gain. That gave Houston the ball back at its own 25.

Cougars get on the board

There's 6:07 left in the first half, and Houston has cut Texas' lead to 21-7 on Donovan Smith's 32-yard touchdown strike to freshman wide receiver Matthew Golden. It was a quick four-play drive that spanned 71 yards.

Savion Red puts Texas up by three scores

There's 12:49 left in the second quarter and No. 8 Texas is leading Houston 21-0.

Savion Red, a sophomore backup, scored his first touchdown of his season on a 1-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat direct snap.

Texas looks to pad its lead in 2nd quarter

Texas takes a 14-0 lead into the second quarter and the Longhorns are in good position to pad their lead.

Quinn Ewers found Ja'Tavion Sanders for a 23-yard gain on the final play of the first quarter, which was all Texas. So far Ewers is off to a 11-for-12 start for 137 yards and a pair of TDs to Adonai Mitchell (1-14-1) and Xavier Worthy (3-68-1). Jonathon Brooks has 40 yards on seven carries and also has three catches.

Houston fished the first quarter with just 13 total yards. Texas will open the second quarter with a first-and-10 on Houston's 19-yard line.

Ewers finds Worthy for another touchdown

There's 6:56 left to go in the first quarter, and Texas is now leading Houston 14-0 on a really nicely placed 42-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy, who hauled it in on the run despite good coverage.

Ewers is starting this one hot: 9-of-10 for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

Things didn't start well for Houston, which fell behind 7-0 after Texas' opening drive and then saw Samuel Brown drop a nearly 40-yard pass downfield despite getting open, followed by a 15-yard facemask penalty on its offensive line. The Cougars had to punt after failing to convert on third down.

Texas goes up early on a Ewers touchdown pass

There's 10:02 left in the first quarter and No. 8 Texas has started this game humming.

The Longhorns lead 7-0 on Quinn Ewers' 14-yard touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell, the Georgia transfer's fifth score of the season. It capped an efficient 11-play, 75-yard drive that saw the Horns convert one third down and also one fourth down. Jonathon Brooks (two carries for 15 yards and two catches for 15 yards) has been involved early, Quinn Ewers has completed 7 of his first 8 passes and Xavier Worthy has two early catches for 24 yards, including a 16-yarder on fourth-and-2. That was the play right before the touchdown.xx

Houston won the opening toss and deferred to the second half, which led to an odd moment: UH kicker Jack Martin, an Alabama transfer, kicking off to Texas' Keilan Robinson, also an Alabama transfer.

How we're calling the game

We've got our full crew at TDECU Stadium in Houston — UT beat writers Danny Davis and Thomas Jones and columnists Kirk Bohls and Cedric Golden. They're all picking the Horns today:

Kirk Bohls: Texas, 48-13. I expect to see an emotionally riled up Longhorns team that is eager to correct all that went wrong against Oklahoma.

Danny Davis: Texas. Despite that loss to Oklahoma and a bye week, it doesn't seem as if Vegas has jumped off UT's bandwagon. I'm not placing any money on the Longhorns covering that large spread, but I also don't think Texas will have any problems as it attempts to return to its winning ways.

Cedric Golden: Texas, 38-14. The Horns take out their OU frustrations on the homestanding Cougars in workmanlike fashion. Quinn Ewers throws three touchdown passes in the win.

Thomas Jones: Texas, 48-24. Houston's offense will cause some headaches for Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, but the Longhorns have too much firepower on offense not to control the game.

All eyes on Matthew Golden

We're about 20 minutes away from kickoff.

There are a couple of Cougars that Texas will be focusing particularly close attention to today, including freshman kick returner Matthew Golden. A four-star recruit at receiver who picked his hometown Cougars over an offer from Texas, Golden brings elite speed to both the offense and special teams.

He’s already returned two kickoffs for touchdowns this season.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns football vs. Houston: Updates, scores, game analysis