PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Sunday, October 19, 1997

Houston 41, Cincinnati 38 (2OT)

By MICHAEL A. LUTZ / AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) -- It took two overtimes, but the Houston Cougars opened defense of their Conference USA title with a victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Sebastian Villarreal kicked a 37-yard field goal and Williams Fields recovered a fumble to end the second overtime, as the Cougars snapped Cincinnati's four-game winning streak with a 41-38 victory Saturday.

"We made one more play than they did," UH coach Kim Helton said. "My hat's off to Cincinnati."

The Cougars (2-4, 1-0) led 31-21 with 9:02 left in the fourth quarter, but they let the lead slip away. The Bearcats (5-2, 1-2) tied it at 31 at the end of regulation on a 56-yard pass from Chad Plummer to Brent Petrus with 6:56 to play and Eric Richards' 22-yard field goal with three seconds to go.

"A lot of people played their guts out," Helton said.

Cincinnati's Landon Smith scored his third touchdown of the game on a 5-yard run that gave the Bearcats a 38-31 lead in the first overtime, but the Cougars kept pace when Jay McGuire scored on a 2-yard run on the first play after Cincinnati's Artrell Hawkins was called for pass interference in the end zone for a 38-38 deadlock.

"It was a great college football game, but we came up on the short end of the stick today," Cincinnati coach Rick Minter said. "We probably won't win the conference now, but we can still have a remarkable season."

In the second overtime, Cincinnati had the Cougars down fourth-and-15 from their own 19-yard line, setting up Villarreal's game-winning kick.

Cincinnati had it's chance to score in the period, but Plummer fumbled on an attempted lateral to Robert Cooper and Houston's William Fields recovered it, ending the game.

"Coming into the second half, we knew we had to get things going," Plummer said. "I think in the first half we didn't take advantage of a lot of mistakes. We didn't play two strong halves of football."

Fields also had a tackle at the one-foot line a year ago that allowed the Cougars to beat Southern Mississippi in overtime.

"I thought the Southerm Mississippi game last year was the most exciting game I'd seen, but this one is the most exciting college football game I've ever seen," Helton said.

Houston took a 14-6 halftime lead on a 78-yard touchdown pass from Jason McKinley to Halley Spencer and a 1-yard run by McGuire.

Smith scored on a one-yard run in the second quarter but Richards had his extra point blocked, ending a school record string of 63 consecutive extra points in a row.

Smith ran 53 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and Plummer added a nine-yard run in the third quarter before Houston took over again for a 31-21 McKinley's 15-yard pass to Maurice Bryant in the third quarter, Villarreal's 22-yard field goal and Vaughn Inniss' 15-yard touchdown run with 9:02 left in the game.