Houston Cougars On SI

Game recap, analysis: Houston's bowl hopes take a hit with bad loss to Arizona

The Cougars looked listless in a 27-3 loss Friday night

Ben Sherman

Houston Cougars quarterback Zeon Chriss (2) was a perfect 11-of-11 passing in his last game.
Houston Cougars quarterback Zeon Chriss (2) was a perfect 11-of-11 passing in his last game. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
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Coming off a huge upset of Kansas State — and a bye week — the Houston Cougars were in a great position to keep their late-season momentum going on Friday night.

Instead they fell flat in a 27-3 loss to an Arizona team that came in on a five-game losing streak.

Houston (4-6, 3-4) now has to win its final two games to become bowl eligible.

Read our game recap, with in-game analysis and big play highlights, from Houston's loss to Arizona:

Final Stats: Arizona 27, Houston 3

Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss was 16-of-27 for 191 yards and an interception. He also rushed 18 times for 55 yards. Re'Shaun Sanford II rushed 10 times for 76 yards. J'Marion Burnette rushed 2 times for 10 yards — and he fumbled on both carries.

The story of the game: Houston was 2-of-13 on third down and 0-of-4 on fourth down.

Houston (4-6, 3-4) now has to win its final two games (vs. Baylor, at BYU) to become bowl eligible.

Fourth Quarter Live Updates

Final score: Arizona 27, Houston 3

The Wildcats basically ran out the clock in the fourth quarter. Not many positives to take away from this game for Houston.

Third Quarter Live Updates

End of third quarter: Arizona 27, Houston 3

Houston turnover on downs: The Cougars turn it over on downs for the third time, to go along with a lost fumble and interception. Arizona outscored Houston 17-0 in the third quarter. Can we go to a running clock in the fourth quarter?

Touchdown Arizona: What did Houston do during its bye week? The Wildcats score on one play, a 50-yard touchdown run by Quali Conley right up the gut. The tackling angles from Houston's defensive backs were not great. Arizona leads 27-3 with 4:27 left in the third quarter.

Arizona field goal: The Wildcats score again, this time on a 51-yard field goal by Tyler Loop, Arizona leads 20-3 with just over 6 minutes left in the third quarter. Brutal performance by Houston coming off a bye week. This looks nothing like the team that upset Kansas State.

Touchdown Arizona: The Wildcats put together a 10-play, 70-yard dirve, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Noah Fifita to Quali Conley to take a 17-3 lead with 10:01 left in the third quarter.

Houston starts the second half with the ball, trailing 10-3.

Second Quarter Live Updates

Halftime: Arizona 10, Houston 3

Arizona field goal: The Wildcats end the half with an absolutely crushed 62-yard field goal from Tyler Loop. Arizona leads 10-3 at the half.

Houston field goal! The Cougars finally get on the board on a 49-yard field goal from Jack Martin. It's Arizona 7, Houston 3 with 42 seconds left in the half.

Arizona muffs field goal! Houston catches a break as Arizona's holder muffs the snap on a field goal attempt. Houston takes over on its own 20-yard line with 3:48 left in the half.

Houston struggling on offense: The Cougars' five offensive possessions have looked like this: fumble, turnover on downs, punt, turnover on downs, interception. Houston trails 7-0 with 5:15 left in the first half.

Zeon Chriss interception: Houston's quarterback throws a ball up for grabs on third down and Arizona's Tacario Davis picks it off.

Touchdown called back: Houston's Mekhi Mews returns a punt for a touchdown, but a holding penalty nullifies the TD. The penalty was completely unnecessary and did not impact the play. Mews had a clear path to the end zone.

Houston turnover on downs: The Cougars had three shots at the end zone from inside the 2-yard line and couldn't punch it in. On 4th-and-goal Zeon Chriss rolled to his right and threw into tight coverage in the corner of the end zone. Puzzling play call. Arizona takes over on its own 1-yard line, leading 7-0 with 10:54 left in the first half.

First Quarter Live Updates

End of first quarter: Arizona 7, Houston 0

Houston turnover on downs: Willie Fritz goes for it on 4th-and-1 from Arizona's 33-yard line, and J'Marion Burnett is stopped short. He actually fumbled the ball (again) and Houston recovered, but the ball was returned to the spot of the fumble, which was short of the first down. Arizona takes over, leading 7-0.

Touchdown Arizona: Not the start Houston was hoping for. Arizona capitalizes on the turnover with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Noah FIfita to Tet McMillan to take a 7-0 lead with 8:28 left in the first quarter.

Houston fumble: On third-and-long, Houston RB J'Marion Burnette fumbles and Arizona recovers. The Wildcats take over on their own 40 with 11:19 left in the first quarter. Still 0-0.

Arizona starts with the ball and Houston's defense immediately makes its presence felt with a sack by Anthony Holmes Jr. The Cougars force a three-and-out to start the game.

Pregame Updates

TV channel update: Because the Marquette-Maryland basketball game is running long on FS1, the Houston-Arizona football game can be watched and streamed on the FOX Sports app. Once the basketball game is over, the Houston-Arizona game will be available on FS1.

The Cougars are wearing their clean white road uniforms with black pants tonight in the desert. The temperature is hovering around 60 degrees shortly before kickoff.

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Ben Sherman
BEN SHERMAN

Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.

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