Houston, down 19 in 4th, rallies to stun Memphis
Houston became the first FBS team this season to erase a fourth-quarter deficit of 19 or more points, rallying to stun…
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Clayton Tune threw a pair of touchdown passes inside the final two minutes as Houston scored 26 fourth-quarter points to stun Memphis 33-32 on Friday night.
Tune tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to KeSean Carter that capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive to pull Houston to 32-26 with 1 minute, 17 seconds to play. Houston took possession following the ensuing onside kick. Tune and Carter connected six plays later for the game-winner on a 2-yard touchdown with 18 seconds to play.
Entering Friday, FBS teams were 0-129 this season when trailing by 19 or more points in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Houston (3-3, 1-1 American Athletic Conference) has won two straight against Memphis (4-2, 2-1) since ending a five-game losing streak to the Tigers in a 31-13 home win last season.
Tune finished 36-of-57 passing for 366 yards with three touchdowns. Sam Brown had nine receptions for 116 yards, and Nathaniel Dell made 10 catches for 81 yards and a score. Carter had four receptions for 36 yards.
Memphis looked to be headed toward an easy victory when Seth Henigan threw a lateral to Gabriel Rogers near the sideline. Rogers then avoided three defenders and ran back toward the logo and lofted a pass to Asa Martin in the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown that stretched the Memphis lead to 26-7 with 14:50 remaining.
Jayce Rogers returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter for Houston, but Chris Howard made his fourth field goal, a 39-yarder, to push the Tigers’ lead to 32-19 with 4:04 to play.
Henigan completed 21 of 32 passes for 241 yards for Memphis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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