No. 8 Texas survives Houston scare after controversial late-game spot

It probably wasn’t the way coach Steve Sarkisian drew it up, but his Texas team was able to escape Houston with a 31-24 win on Saturday to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.

It was the first game for the No. 8 Longhorns since the heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, and they came out with a spark. Quinn Ewers completed nine of his first 10 passes, including touchdowns to Adonai Mitchell and Xavier Worthy, as Texas jumped out to a 21-0 lead.

But that lead would not last. Houston rallied back and twice tied the score in the second half — 21-21 and 24-24.

Texas, playing without Ewers after he took a big hit and went into the locker room late in the game, managed to take a 31-24 lead with 5:37 to go on a 16-yard touchdown run by CJ Baxter. That gave the ball back to Houston with a chance to send the game to overtime or even go ahead.

That's when controversy arose.

Houston drove into the red zone and appeared to pick up a first down on a third-and-1 play at the Texas 10-yard line. It looked like UH running back Stacy Sneed reached the line to gain, but he was ruled short after a measurement.

That set up a fourth-and-inches play with the clock ticking down toward the 1:00 mark. UH running backs had gained just 28 yards on 12 carries on the day, so Houston rolled quarterback Donovan Smith to his right instead of trying another short-yardage run. Smith could not connect with Stephon Johnson, who caught a game-winning touchdown on a Hail Mary to beat West Virginia last week.

The turnover on downs gave the ball back to the Longhorns, who ran out the clock to seal the closer-than-expected win.

It was a dramatic turn of events after such a hot start for Texas. The lead was 21-0 by the 12:49 mark of the second quarter, but the Cougars fought back with vigor.

Smith threw two touchdown passes before halftime and then threw a third to open the second half. All of a sudden, the game was tied at 21-21 and Texas was in for a four-quarter battle.

Both teams moved the ball in the second half, but there weren’t a lot of points showing up on the scoreboard. There was a Texas turnover on downs and then two turnovers by Houston — a fumble and interception from Smith.

The teams later traded field goals to make it a tie game, 24-24, with 7:43 to play. At that point, Ewers had gone to the locker room and backup Maalik Murphy was in the game. Even without Ewers, Texas embarked on what proved to be the winning touchdown drive.

The drive was capped off by the Baxter touchdown run, which gave Texas the winning score.

With the win, Texas improved to 6-1 on the season and kept its national championship hopes alive. The Longhorns had no room for error after losing in the final minute to rival Oklahoma back on Oct. 7. Following the bye week, Texas did just enough to get it done. Next on the schedule is a visit from BYU next Saturday.

Houston, meanwhile, fell to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in Big 12 play. The Cougars will travel to Kansas State next.