HOUSTON (AP) — Conner Weigman threw for 305 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another score, Re’Shaun Sanford II and Mekhi Hughes added rushing scores and No. 23 Houston beat Oregon State 33-20 on Saturday in the teams’ season opener.
Weigman completed 20 of 30 passes and tossed a 31-yard scoring pass to Amare Thomas in the first quarter. Weigman also scored on a 1-yard run with five minutes left in the fourth, increasing Houston’s lead to 33-20.
“I thought Conner did a pretty darn good job today,” Houston coach Willie Fritz said. “It’s the first game. We’re going to improve and get better defensively, offensively, punt return.”
Sanford had a 56-yard touchdown run with 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter to put the Cougars up 16-7. Hughes added a 1-yard score with 6:40 remaining in the third to increase the lead to 26-7.
Thomas caught eight passes for 133 yards, and Hughes rushed for 98 yards for Houston, which outgained Oregon State 533 yards to 402.
“We want to be able to run the ball and not have to run it with our quarterback,” Fritz said. “I thought we did a good job of handing it off and running. … When you have 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing, that is always a good combination.”
Braden Atkinson finished 29 of 48 for 376 yards and a touchdown, and Jesse Legree caught five passes for 136 yards and a TD for the Beavers.
“Fifty percent of the teams across college football lost a football game over this weekend, and guess what? We were one of them.” Oregon State coach JaMarcus Shephard said. “I don’t think this particular game will define our football team. It will just give us an opportunity to look at the information and build on that.”
Trailing 26-7, Oregon State cut the lead to six on Legree’s 7-yard touchdown reception from Atkinson with 44 seconds left in the third and a 4-yard touchdown run by AJ Newberry with nine minutes remaining. But Weigman’s touchdown run sealed the win for Houston.
The takeaway
Oregon State: The Beavers had issues on third and fourth downs, going a combined 6 of 20 on the downs. … Oregon State was 3 for 3 in the red zone, and Atkinson connected with nine receivers.
“I thought we created opportunities for ourselves throughout the game and put ourselves in some good positions to come out with the victory, but we have to be better about closing out the football game,” Shephard said.
Houston: The Cougars should at least maintain their No. 23 ranking in the AP poll. … Houston allowed 376 yards passing, but only 26 yards rushing and had four sacks.
“I thought our tackling wasn’t real crisp,” Fritz said. “There was some simple kind of pass concepts, route concepts that we didn’t do a good job of covering and denying. We lost leverage a few times.”
Up next
Oregon State: Hosts Texas Tech on Saturday.
Houston: Hosts Southern on Saturday.
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The Associated Press
