The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Houston Cougars’ Wild Win Over Oregon State
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It's safe to say the Cardiac Coogs are back in style.
The Houston Cougars won an absolutely unexpected thriller late Friday night, 27-24 in overtime, over the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis to move to 4-0 for the first time since 2016.
Here’s the good, bad, and ugly of this incredible comeback victory.
The Good: Cougars Show Up in the Clutch
After Houston trailed 24-10 with 8:17 left, it seemed like they were headed to an extremely disappointing loss. However, something suddenly clicked for this offense that had been practically sleepwalking in the second half. Houston suddenly tied the game up in just about four minutes.
It started on a seven-play, 76-yard drive in just over two minutes. That drive ended on a 27-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Stephon Johnson down the sideline with perfect placement. That brought life back to Houston.
After the defense forced a stop, UH exploded with a four-play, 64-yard touchdown drive in 51 seconds. It was a 50-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Conner Weigman to senior tight end Tanner Koziol.
Weigman was dicing up the defense. The hurry-up tempo was a real success and spark for this team. Weigman was 8 of 10 for 136 yards and two touchdowns in the last two drives. The offensive line was able to give some protection, and former five-star prospect was seeing the defense much better.
In the first four drives of the second half, the Cougars had 12 plays for five yards and four punts. The next two drives, they had 11 plays for 140 yards and two touchdowns.
A special shoutout is deserved to the special teams of Houston for blocking two field goal kicks, one right before the first half and the other one that could have been the game winner. Houston’s field goal block team was all over the Beavers, who never even got a chance to kick it properly.
Beavers junior kicker Caleb Ojeda’s 49-yard attempt right before halftime was blocked by senior defensive back Latrell McCutchin Sr. and the potential 46-yard game winner from sophomore Cameron Smith was blocked by senior defensive back Marc Stampley II at the end of regulation.
Oregon State has been struggling mightily in field goal kicking, and it continued to haunt them in this loss. Houston, on the other hand, has stood out in special teams, especially with head coach Willie Fritz’s expertise in that area. Senior kicker Ethan Sanchez drilled the 24-yard field goal for the walk-off.
The Bad: Poor Start and the Third Quarter
The Cougars were heavily favored in this matchup, but once again got out to a slow start, something they have struggled with this season. On the Cougars’ second drive, Weigman completely overthrew a ball over the middle that was intercepted. It set up Oregon St. at the seven-yard line, and they quickly punched it in for the touchdown. Weigman had a poor start, but the offense stuttered early in pass protection as well.
Defensively, there was not enough pressure on Oregon State quarterback Maalik Murphy. The Cougars allowed long drives and were down 14-0 to the Beavers early in the second quarter.
Houston looked terrible coming out of halftime. The first four drives of the second half were a combined total of five yards. The Cougars put up no points and had a total yardage of just seven. The first first down of the second half came with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
The Ugly: Penalties and Run Defense
Houston’s run defense against the Beavers was exceptionally poor. The Cougars gave up 189 yards of rushing, and almost 400 total. Freshman running back Cornell Hatcher Jr. had 17 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown, on 5.5 yards per pop.
Houston had the sixth-ranked rushing defense in the Big 12 coming in, as they only allowed 3.1 yards per carry coming in. This was way above what they’d like and quite disappointing. The Beavers’ rushing attack allowed them to dominate time of possession and control the whole flow of the game until late in the fourth quarter. Oregon State had over 35 minutes of possession compared to just 24 minutes for Houston.
While the defense struggled in general, they did come through when they needed to. However, penalties really hurt this team. It was shocking to see as Houston racked up eight flags for 60 total yards. This was one of the key principles that Fritz has constantly preached. UH was third in the Big 12 with only 14 penalties called on them prior to this matchup.
On the Cougars’ first good drive of the game, pre-snap penalties drove it in the ground. Two false starts took away a touchdown. With first and goal on the one-yard line, an early jump moved it back to the six. After an Oregon State pass interference call placed the ball on the two with a fresh set of downs,
Weigman threw to a wide-open Connors for a touchdown. Even that was called back for another false start. That made it a very disappointing ending to the drive as Weigman threw three straight incompletions after the ball was moved to the seven-yard line.
Instead of the score being 14-7, it was only 14-3. The Cougars only had three points to show for almost an eight-minute march of 78 yards on 17 plays. A couple of holding calls were also a drive killer. On a third and three near the end of the third quarter, senior linebacker Jalen Garner jumped early for an offside as well.
Houston will feel mighty thrilled about this epic road victory, but there is a lot to work on.
Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.