Houston Answers Cincinnati's Tie with a 51-yard Run
Fifty-one yards. That is how long Re'Shaun Sanford II ran with 5:10 left in the fourth quarter, and it is how Houston turned a freshly tied game into a 31-24 win over Cincinnati. JC French IV had just plunged in from a yard out to make it 24-24, and the Cougars needed all of 71 seconds to take the lead back.
Houston had spent the early going making this look easy. Conner Weigman threw two touchdowns to Amare Thomas in the first quarter (8 and 31 yards) and Houston led 14-0 before Cincinnati had touched the scoreboard. The Bearcats climbed back with a 17-yard French pass to Cole Tabb, a 28-yard Stephen Rusnak field goal and, in the third quarter, a 34-yard French touchdown throw to Gavin Grover that cut it to 21-17. Weigman's 2-yard run had put Houston up 21-10 just before halftime, and a Jonathan Dimas field goal made it 24-17 heading into the fourth.
The numbers say Houston won on the ground. The Cougars ran 33 times for 246 yards (7.5 a carry, if you like that sort of thing) while Cincinnati ran 40 times for 167. Neither team threw an interception, Cincinnati lost a fumble, and Houston did not turn it over at all. Total yards were 473 to 384.
The records say it matters: Houston is 7-2, Cincinnati 5-4. The Bearcats were never ahead, which is a hard way to lose when you tied it late.
For fantasy, this was a quarterback game on both sides. Weigman (30.1 points) and French (29.1) were the top two scorers on the field, and Thomas, with two touchdowns on six catches, was the receiver who made Weigman's day.