Houston’s efficiency sinks No. 15 Navy
HOUSTON 52, NO. 15 NAVY 31
HOUSTON — Houston rebounded from its first defeat of the season with its biggest victory yet under Coach Tom Herman.
Greg Ward Jr. threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cougars to a 52-31 victory over No. 15 Navy on Friday, sending Houston to its first American Athletic Conference Championship Game.
Houston (11-1, 7-1) clinched the West Division title and will host Temple or South Florida in the championship game Dec. 5. The Cougars are also well positioned to earn a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game, likely the Fiesta Bowl, if they win the league championship.
Ward, who was injured two weeks ago against Memphis, was 26 of 35 passing and ran for 83 yards and another score as Houston opened a 38-17 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Keenan Reynolds rushed for 84 yards on 19 carries and a fourth-quarter touchdown and was 13 of 16 for 312 yards passing and a touchdown for Navy (9-2, 7-1). The Heisman Trophy contender scored his 83rd career touchdown to match the FBS record set by Wisconsin’s Montee Ball. Reynolds also set a Navy record with his 29th career TD pass.
Navy had its five-game winning streak snapped.
MID-AMERICAN
Miscues doom Rockets
TOLEDO, Ohio — Corey Davis caught two touchdown passes and Western Michigan upset No. 24 Toledo 35-30 on Friday to send Northern Illinois to the Mid-American Conference championship game.
The Rockets (9-2, 6-2) could have earned the MAC West title and a spot in the league title game, but the Broncos (7-5, 6-2) created a three-way tie for the division. NIU beat both Toledo and Western Michigan and will face Bowling Green on Dec. 4 at Ford Field in Detroit.
NIU opened the door for the Rockets to win the division outright by losing to Ohio on Tuesday. But the Rockets were undone by crucial penalties and one big turnover, helping Western Michigan pull away.
Toledo moved to within eight late in the third on a 19-yard field goal by Jameson Vest. It appeared to have momentum on its side when quarterback Phillip Ely threw a 30-yard screen pass to Kareem Hunt to get the ball to the Western Michigan 19 with 11:55 to play, but a targeting call on Russell nullified the play.
Toledo eventually scored a touchdown to draw within five with 1:18 to play on a 35yard pass from Ely to Jon’Vea Johnson, but the Rockets missed the two-point conversion and could not recover the onside kick.