Conner Weigman set a program bowl record with four touchdown passes, leading No. 21 Houston to a 38-35 victory over LSU in the Texas Bowl in Houston on Saturday evening.
After Houston took the lead on a 25-yard Ethan Sanchez field goal with 7:42 left, the Cougars (10-3) extended the lead to 38-28 on a 20-yard touchdown run from Dean Connors with 2:23 left.
LSU (7-6) responded with a 3-yard scoring run by Zavion Thomas, but failed to recover the onside kick, allowing Houston to run out the clock.
Weigman, who earned MVP honors, completed 27 of 36 passes for 236 yards in his first game without an interception since Oct. 25 for Houston, which won its third straight bowl game.
“We wanted to end the season the right way, send the seniors off right,” Weigman said. “The brotherhood we’ve built over these past seven, eight months, it means the world to me, I know it means the world to my teammates. I’m so proud of these guys. I love this team.”
Amare Thomas caught the first two touchdowns, finishing with seven catches for 66 yards. Tanner Koziel racked up a game-high nine catches for 76 yards and a TD and Dean Connors had 126 rushing yards and a score on 16 carries.
Michael Van Buren Jr. was 16-of-26 passing with a season-high 267 yards and three touchdowns for the Tigers, who had their three-game bowl winning streak snapped.
Trey’Dez Green finished with four catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns — his second career multi-TD game, both of which have come in the Texas Bowl — and Kyle Parker had seven catches for 67 yards and a score.
LSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead 4:12 into the game on just four offensive plays. Barion Brown returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, extending his SEC record with his sixth career kick-return score. It was the first time LSU returned an opening kickoff for a touchdown since 1978.
After a Houston punt, the Tigers quickly added their lead with a 23-yard pass from Van Buren to Green.
The Cougars responded with a 14-0 run of their own behind two Thomas touchdown catches. Weigman found the junior receiver on an 8-yard score midway through the first and a 4-yard TD early in the second.
Houston took a 21-14 lead into halftime after an 11-play, 90-yard two-minute drill ended with Weigman’s third TD pass of the first half to Koziel with four seconds left.
Green leveled the score on LSU’s first second-half drive with a leaping one-handed grab in the end zone with 9:31 left in the third.
Houston took the lead on its ensuing drive with a 2-yard touchdown grab by Traville Frederick Jr. with 4:42 left in the third. The lead again didn’t last, with Van Buren finding Parker for a 6-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 28.
“We just kept fighting and persevering,” Cougars coach Willie Fritz said. “I thought we played in all three phases at times. The offense controlled the ball for the most part, and when we needed big plays, the defense did it. Total team effort.”
