Armed Forces Bowl: Houston 35, Pittsburgh 34

Associated Press

FORT WORTH, texas

Pittsburgh safety Ray Vinopal knows the wild comeback at the Armed Forces Bowl had to be good one for everyone else to watch.

Vinopal and the Panthers were just on the wrong side of Houston’s improbable 35-34 victory Friday.

Cougars quarterback Greg Ward threw three touchdowns in the final 3:41, the last two after recovered onside kicks, and then completed the game-winning two-point conversion to cap the largest comeback in an FBS game this season — and largest ever in a bowl game that didn’t go into overtime.

“There were a lot of opportunities to make plays,” said Vinopal, a Cardinal Mooney High School graduate. “Special teams, offense, and especially defense. I don’t think there’s any way you can point the finger at one person.”

Pitt (6-7) led 31-6 when ACC offensive player of the year James Conner had his second touchdown run with 14 minutes left in the game. The Panthers were still up 34-13 after Chris Blewitt’s 29-yard field goal with 6:14 left.

Everything then started going Houston’s way.

“I don’t think there’s a loss of focus,” interim coach Joe Rudolph said. “I think sometimes when teams make plays and you have to respond to those plays, sometimes it can make you a little bit nervous to just cut it loose and go.”

Ward had an 8-yard TD pass to Greenberry before the Cougars (8-5) recovered their first onside kick. That led to a 29-yard catch by Demarcus Ayers on a fourth-and-13 play with 1:58 left, and Houston tried another onside kick.

While the second one didn’t go 10 yards on the rain-slickened field, the ball was touched by the same Pitt defender who couldn’t handle the first one before Houston running back Kenneth Farrow jumped on it at the Cougars 43. Greenberry started the drive with a 38-yard catch, then on third-and-16 had a 25-yard TD with 59 seconds left.

Along with momentum, the Cougars had been preparing for such a situation to use a two-point play since defensive coordinator Gibbs took over as interim for fired coach Tony Levine. Greenberry made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone.

“The truth is our first bowl practice ... we made a decision that day at practice that if it came down to the end of the game, we were going for two no matter what,” Houston interim coach Gibbs said. “This is a true story. We started practicing the two-point play the very first practice. So we’ve probably run that play, I don’t know, 25, 30 times in practice. ‘’

Ward, the former Cougars receiver, had 237 of his 274 yards passing in the fourth quarter and also ran for 92 yards.

The young Panthers have an FBS-high 81 underclassmen, with Conner, All-ACC receiver Tyler Boyd and quarterback Chad Voytik among 28 sophomores.