HOUSTON – – Zeon Chriss threw for 103 yards and a touchdown without an incompletion as Houston rallied in the fourth quarter to beat No. 17 Kansas State 24-19 on Saturday.

Trailing 19-10 to start the fourth quarter, Chriss threw a 1-yard touchdown to Maliq Carr with 11 minutes left. After forcing a punt, Chriss rushed for a 41-yard touchdown with 2:31 remaining.

Chriss, who finished 11 of 11, also rushed for 75 yards and caught a pass for eight yards.

“We’ve been through a lot of adversity this season,” Chriss said. “We tried to be positive about it and have confidence in the defense. The defense told us, ‘We got all of you,’ and we got them.

Linebacker Michael Batton intercepted Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson on the next drive.

After Houston (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) had to punt with 40 seconds left, the Wildcats drove to the Cougars’ 39 with 4 seconds left, but Johnson’s heave was knocked out of the end zone.

“We didn’t play a perfect game, but we played well enough to win, and that’s what matters,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said.

The win was Houston’s first victory over a ranked team since defeating No. 19 SMU 44-37 on Oct. 30, 2021.

“They’re going to believe in it,” Fritz said of Houston’s second straight one-possession win. “We have to keep going.”

The loss ended Kansas State’s four-game winning streak.

Wildcats coach Chris Klieman said his team did not play “with good enough fundamentals and techniques” and pointed to Kansas State’s inability to run the ball as they finished with 89 yards rushing.

“We didn’t run the ball well,” Klieman said. “Our inability to rush the football makes it harder to throw.”

Johnson finished 23 of 39 for 238 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and found Keagan Johnson for a 7-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left in the first half to give the Wildcats (7-2, 4-2) a 16 -10 to be delivered. lead at halftime. Johnson finished with 76 yards receiving.

“It felt like we were flat offensively,” Avery Johnson said. “We couldn’t get anything going. We stood still a lot in the second half. Collectively we didn’t play as well as we wanted.”

DJ Giddens rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown as Kansas State defeated the Cougars 327-232.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them, but I feel like the words to describe it were we let it pass us by,” Keagan Johnson said. “It’s a good team. They played better today. That’s what it comes down to. We didn’t execute when we needed to.”

The match was postponed 55 minutes due to lightning.

The takeaway

Kansas State: The loss hurts the Wildcats’ chances of making the Big 12 championship and the College Football Playoff.

Houston: The Cougars finished 3 for 3 in the red zone after struggling against Utah last week.

Survey implications

Kansas State could potentially drop out of the rankings after the loss.

Next

Kansas State hosts Arizona State on Nov. 16, while Houston plays at Arizona on Nov. 15.

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