Despite a glimmer of hope in a 16-point fourth quarter performance, No. 24 Arizona State failed to taste the same elation it had just feasted on a week prior in its 24-16 loss to Houston Saturday night.

Special teams struggles, penalties, and offensive miscues attributed to the Sun Devils breaking their 10-game home win streak. Head coach Kenny Dillingham said ASU was unable to overcome emotions following last Saturday’s comeback.

“I think it’s hard to come back from emotional wins, but that’s no excuse,” Dillingham said. “I mean, that’s football. That’s college football. You got to find ways to do that. Whether you’re dinged up, whether you’re not, that doesn’t matter. If you practice, whether you don’t, like, you got to find ways to win football games, and you got to give a lot of credit to Houston too.”

After leaving the game during ASU’s first offensive drive of the night, sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt would return but leave again on the drive following ASU’s next offensive drive following its first touchdown of the game.

Enters redshirt senior quarterback Jeff Sims, who drove the Sun Devils down the field and connected with senior tight end Chamon Metayer on a 27-yard touchdown pass to bring the game within just a score.

ASU’s defense came out and got a stop, but the Sun Devils offense couldn’t escape being pinned deep inside their own territory, which led to the Cougars ultimately clinching the win.

With all the parity in college football nowadays, Dillingham said it’s all about how the team can still prove it can win a Big 12 championship.

“I told the guys… ‘Listen, we’re in the same spot as we’re last year, we just gotta go get better,’” Dillingham said. “Everybody’s gotta look themselves in the mirror, coaches, players, everybody, and we gotta go prove, and that’s all we can do.”

Box Score

NOTE: View any scoring highlight by clicking on the corresponding bullet point.

First Quarter

• Senior K Ethan Sanchez (Houston) 26-yard field goal is good. (3-0, 10:29)
• Junior QB Conner Weigman (Houston) rushed 1-yard for a touchdown. Senior K Ethan Sanchez (Houston) extra point is good. (10-0, 0:41)

Second Quarter

• N/A

Third Quarter

• Junior QB Conner Weigman (Houston) pass complete to senior TE Tanner Koziol (Houston) for a 7-yard touchdown. Senior K Ethan Sanchez (Houston) extra point is good. (17-0, 10:10)
• Junior QB Conner Weigman (Houston) rushed 1-yard for a touchdown. Senior K Ethan Sanchez (Houston) extra point is good. (24-0, 1:06)

Fourth Quarter

• Sophomore QB Sam Leavitt (ASU) pass complete to senior TE Cameron Harpole (ASU) for a 3-yard touchdown. 2-point conversion attempt is no good. (24-6, 13:56)
• Senior K Jesus Gomez (ASU) 47-yard field goal is good. (24-9, 11:24)
• Redshirt senior QB Jeff Sims (ASU) pass complete to senior TE Chamon Metayer for a 27-yard touchdown. Senior K Jesus Gomez extra point is good. (24-16, 5:12)

TEAM	1ST QTR	2ND QTR	3RD QTR	4TH QTR	FINAL
ASU	10	0	14	0	24
UH	0	0	0	16	16

The Standouts

Arizona State Wide Receiver Malik McClain

With junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson out, ASU needed a player to step up at wide receiver. That player was McClain, who had a career-high seven receptions and a career-high 159 receiving yards. McClain’s biggest play came on a 36-yard reception from Leavitt that put ASU on the Houston 3-yard line and in position to score on the very next play.

“It was awesome to see Malik really flash tonight,” Dillingham said. “That’s a positive when you have seven catches and 160 yards. That was his spring and fall camp showing up. Getting that back could be big for us as we progress towards the end of the season. Who knows where the other guy’s statuses are, but those guys stepped up pretty well. Specifically, Malik.”

Arizona State Senior Linebacker Keyshaun Elliott

Despite the loss, Elliott was making plays all over the field, totaling a career-high 13 tackles. This is the first time Elliott has had back-to-back double-digit tackle performances in his career. Elliott, along with fifth-year defensive lineman Elijah O’Neal, accounted for a tackle-for-loss that gave ASU the chance to block a field goal with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter—the Sun Devils were called for a roughing the kicker penalty and did not block the attempt.

Houston Junior Quarterback Conner Weigman

Weigman was the do-it-all guy for Houston tonight. The junior totaled 124 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries on the ground, as well as throwing for just over 200 yards and a touchdown on 17 of his 22 passing attempts. Weigman’s performance blew away Dillingham postgame.

“You’ve got to give it to that kid,” Dillingham said. You’ve got to give it to Conner, man. That dude was a warrior for them tonight, to take the snap and run quarterback direct, run 20 times, 18 times. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit because he did a nice job, did a good job up front, and that’s a good football team.”

Key Plays

• Leavitt went down with what Dillingham said was a “retweak” of the injury that kept him from playing against Utah early on during ASU’s first offensive drive of the game after picking up 14 yards on the run on third-and-16. Sims came in on fourth-and-2 and rushed for 11 yards and a first down. But not long later, senior kicker Jesus Gomez missed his first field goal of the night.

• Late in the third quarter, Leavitt connected with Metayer on a 21-yard touchdown pass, but an illegal shift penalty on ASU nullified what would’ve been the Sun Devils’ first score of the game. Gomez missed a 42-yard field goal on the same drive.

• Senior defensive back Miles Rowser was called for a targeting penalty on Houston’s last offensive drive in the third quarter. The penalty gave Houston an automatic first down on ASU’s 1-yard line, which Houston capitalized on by scoring a touchdown and taking a 24-0 lead. Rowser will miss the first half of ASU’s game next week against Iowa State due to the penalty.

• On first-and-10 with the ball on the Houston 30-yard line near the beginning of the fourth quarter, Leavitt threw a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw to sophomore wide receiver Jaren Hamilton in the right corner of the end zone, but Hamilton let it fall right through his hands. The drive ended with a 47-yard field goal made by Gomez.

Sound Off

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham on ASU losing its first game at home since joining the Big 12: “It sucks. It was a good run. Ten games in a row here—great environments. We’ve really built a great environment here, and unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done tonight. We didn’t play well enough in the first half, first three quarters, really, of the football game. It’s unfortunate, but great environments. It’s been a good run. Hopefully, we can start another run here in the next home game.”

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham on the illegal motion penalty that nullified ASU’s first touchdown of the game in the third quarter: “We have to get set. That’s on us as a staff, not making sure guys know where they’re supposed to be, getting set, and before the motion, getting guys set. We just switched our feet. It wasn’t a matter of being on or off, which is the part that kind of sucks. It was a small detail switch, and he recognized it halfway through. It was in an illegal motion. It didn’t have any effect on the play, but it was a penalty 100 percent. It was unfortunate. We can’t have it, and that’s on myself to not let those things happen because there’s easily 10 points in that game just off that play alone. Some other things in that game were way closer than (the score) was most of the night. We didn’t play well enough. It was fortunate.”

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham on whether or not he’s going to consider making personnel changes on special teams: “Yeah. I mean, we’re moving people around. But, you know, in season, there’s only so much you can do from that standpoint. So, you know, we’ve been moving people around.”