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Houston beats Navy, clinches AAC West

 
Published Nov. 28, 2015

HOUSTON — Greg Ward threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns to lead Houston to a 52-31 win over No. 16 Navy on Friday, sending the Cougars to the first American Athletic Conference Championship Game.

Houston (11-1, 7-1 American) clinched the West title and will host either USF or Temple in the championship game Dec. 5. The Bulls, who routed UCF 44-3 Thursday night, will win the East if UConn wins at Temple tonight (7, ESPNU).

"I'm excited for the city, and I'm excited for our university that we earned the right to host this game," said Tom Herman, the first-year coach who has quickly turned the Cougars into championship contenders. "We'll certainly celebrate the victory tonight, but our goal was not to go 12-0; it was not to win the West. It was to win the conference, and that's something that has not been done around here in a long time."

After struggling to its lowest point total of the year last week in a 20-17 loss at Connecticut, during which Ward hardly played because of an ankle injury, the Cougars were firing on all cylinders.

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 up a 38-17 lead by the end of the third quarter.

"It really means a lot for the seniors for them to have another home game, but the preparations doesn't stop because we have another game next week we have to get ready for," Ward said.

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 Division I-A record set by Wisconsin's Montee Ball. Reynolds also set a Navy record with his 29th career touchdown pass.

Navy's five-game winning streak was snapped.

"Our kids battled hard and did some things, but they made a ton of plays," Navy coach Ken Niumataolo said. "We had a hard time. The difference in the game was that we couldn't get them off the field — 16-for-19 on third downs, and they converted all of their fourth downs.

"We played decent on first and second down, but we could not get them off the field on third downs. It just killed us."

Houston's Brandon Wilson, who was moved from cornerback to running back this week because of injuries, ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.

Houston totaled 555 yards.