Washington State holds off Houston
It wasn’t necessarily the offensive showcase that a Mike Leach-Dana Holgorsen matchup would normally produce, but Washington State got a nice 31-24 win in H-Town. A slow start saw a scoreless first quarter and Leach’s Cougars didn’t get on the board until 5:36 in the second quarter. In the second half, though, Wazzu began to flex its offense. Quarterback Anthony Gordon is quietly one of the most productive of the early season, and he finished Friday’s game with 440 yards passing and three touchdowns. The most impressive part of his game is how well he performed in extending the play. His ability to drop accurate passes downfield on the run was a back-breaker for Houston’s defense. While Houston quarterback D’Eriq King did his usual thing to the tune of 222 yards and three touchdowns, the fact remains that this team is 1-2 with two tough, quality losses to ranked opponents. Penalties were a big part of the game, too, with both teams combining for a whopping 19 flags. None, though, were as devastating as the one that wiped out a would-be King touchdown run in the third quarter.