Tune, Golden connect late as Houston sinks Temple

Nov 13, 2023, 11:17 am

HOUSTON -- — Clayton Tune threw three touchdowns and his last one of the day with 40 seconds left was the game winner when he found Matthew Golden as Houston beat Temple 43-36 on Saturday.

Temple managed to reach the Houston (6-4, 4-2 American Athletic Conference) 25-yard line but time expired.

Temple (3-7, 1-5) used a 12-play, 73-yard drive that lasted five minutes that ended when E.J. Warner threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Zae Baines with 1:22 remaining to put the Owls up 36-35.

Houston then used a mere 42 seconds to go 71 yards when Tune found found a wide-open Golden who he nearly overthrew.

With the win, Houston moved to 12-2 in its last 14 American Athletic Conference matchups dating to the start of the 2021 season, marking the Cougars’ best 14-game stretch in league play since replicating the feat from Sept. 2, 2006 -- Nov. 4, 2007.

Stacy Sneed scored two rushing touchdowns and set a career high with 143 yards on the ground. It was most for a Cougar since Duke Catalon ran for 177 yards at SMU on Oct. 7, 2017.

Warner threw for a single-game program-record 486 yards on 42-for-59 passing and had three touchdowns.

------