Watch: Houston beats West Virginia on 49-yard Hail Mary pass in wild finish

Thursday's college football matchup between the Houston Cougars and West Virginia Mountaineers ended in dramatic fashion.

With the Cougars trailing 39-35 with 3 seconds remaining in the game, Houston QB Donovan Smith scrambled out of the pocket and threw up a Hail Mary pass as time expired. The ball was tipped in the end zone by several defenders before Houston receiver Stephon Johnson came down with the game-winning, 49-yard touchdown pass as the crowd at TDECU Stadium exploded.

“We practiced that, and we always have a guy who is ready for the tip,” Smith said. “We just executed that.”

Johnson said the ball "wasn’t really planned to be tipped to me," but "it just happened like that, and I made a play on that. I'm just thankful we were able to pull out the win."

The Cougars' 41-39 win over the Mountaineers marked Houston's first conference victory of the season after joining the Big 12 this year. Johnson reminded everyone on the sidelines as he triumphantly yelled, "First Big 12 win... Let's go."

It also marked the first time Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen faced his former team after serving as West Virginia's head coach from 2011 to 2018. Holgorsen took over at Houston in 2019.

West Virginia got a go-ahead, 50-yard touchdown pass from QB Garrett Greene to Hudson Clement on fourth down to go up 39-35 with just 12 seconds remaining in the game. But it wasn't enough.

"(I went) from being as mad as I can possibly be to being as happy as I'd been in this profession in 32 years," Holgorsen said after the game, per The Athletic's Sam Khan Jr.

The Cougars improve to 3-3 on the season. Smith had 21 completions for 253 yards, four touchdowns and rushed for 34-yards and another score. Johnson led all Cougars receivers with four receptions for 96 yards.

The Mountaineers drop to 4-2. Greene finished the night with 20 completions for 391 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, in addition to 47 rushing yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

“I don’t know how that happened at the end. I guess the football gods were on our side today," Holgorsen said. "We’ll take it. It’s good to get that first Big 12 win."

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Houston beats West Virginia on Hail Mary pass as time expires