Tye Keith had six catches for 102 yards. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        HOUSTON — The University of Cincinnati's Ivan Fields stopped a fake field goal by Houston with 3 1/2 minutes to play to key the Bearcats' 29-28 victory Saturday night before 16,107 at Robertson Stadium.

        The Cougars chose to forgo a 44-yard field goal attempt and holder J.J. Wyatt completed a pass to Kairon Hill, but Fields stopped him short of the first down.

        “I saw a tipoff when they were lining up,” said UC coach Rick Minter. “We were hollering "Fake,' but I don't think the kids heard us.'"

        The Bearcats then killed the clock with the help of a defensive holding penalty and two unsportsmanlike conduct calls on Houston coach Dana Dimel on a third-and-long play.

        Cincinnati freshman quarterback Gino Guidugli completed 19 of 27 for 317 yards and a touchdown, and tailback DeMarco McCleskey carried 15 times for 100 yards and scored two touchdowns.

LaDaris Vann fumbles. | ZOOM |

        “Everytime on the field we were getting things accomplished,” said Guidugli, who directed the Bearcats to 482 yards of offense. “We stopped ourselves a couple of times with little mistakes.”

        UC (4-2) remained in first place in Conference USA with a 4-0 record. Houston is winless at 0-6 and 0-4 in the conference.

        “No way you could tell that team was winless,” Minter said. “We feel fortunate to get out of here.”

        The Bearcats face preseason conference favorite Louisville next Saturday at home.

        UC's defense started the Bearcats rolling late in the first quarter.

        “Gino is getting better,” said Minter. “But he made some freshman-like mistakes in the fourth quarter.”

        Cincinnati led 10-0 in the second quarter, then fell behind 21-10 early in the third before rallying to win.

        “We've been down the last three or four games, so we've learned to play from behind,” Minter said.

        Cincinnati stopped Houston on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-less-than-a-yard from the UC 16. The offense responded with McCleskey running 48 yards off right tackle on first down.

        The Bearcats used a little trickery on the next play, with backup quarterback George Murray replacing Guidugli for one play. Murray pitched to fullback Nathan Wize, who threw back across the field to Murray for a 23-yard gain to the Houston 13.

        That helped set up Jonathan Ruffin's 22-yard field goal, the 35th of his career, for a 3-0 lead with 15 seconds remaining in the quarter.

        The Bearcats moved 65 yards to a touchdown with their next possession.

        Guidugli converted a pair of third-and-longs on the 12-play drive and fullback Ray Jackson scored on a one-yard run up the middle to make it 10-0 with 8:03 left in the first half.

        “Our running game got started early and the offense was just clicking,” Guidugli said.

        Houston responded with a 78-yard drive to its first score. Senior wide receiver Orlando Iglesias caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Nick Eddy, giving him 38 consecutive games with a reception and cutting the UC lead to 10-7 with 2:20 to go in the half.

        Then Houston cornerback Jason Parker picked off a Guidugli sideline pass intended for Tye Keith and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown just 29 seconds before halftime to put Houston on top 14-10.

        Houston's running game became a factor in the third quarter. The Cougars took the second half kickoff and marched 81 yards in 12 plays, 10 of them on the ground, to a one-yard touchdown dive by Chris Robertson and a 21-10 lead.

        “We sat on the sideline for a long time,” Guidugli said.

        Guidugli passed UC back into the game.

        McCleskey completed a 75-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run around left end on an option pitch from Guidugli to cut Houston's lead to 21-17.

        The Bearcats needed to convert a fourth-and-one situation in the drive with McCleskey leaping over the top for a first down at the Houston 20. Guidugli set up the score with a 16-yard pass to Keith on the next play.

        But the UC defense couldn't stop Houston.

        Iglesias caught his second touchdown pass of the game, a 16-yarder from Eddy, to climax a 13-play, 71-yard drive and stretch Houston's advantage to 28-17 just six seconds into the fourth quarter.

        “Our defense is not a stellar unit, but we did make a couple of key stops when we had to,” Minter said.

        Back came the Bearcats.

        Guidugli needed only five plays to move UC 65 yards to a touchdown, Tim Walker catching a 22-yard scoring pass. Trailing by 28-23 with 11:35 remaining, the Bearcats went for a two-pointer but the pass fell incomplete.

        UC forced Houston to punt for the first time in the second half on the Cougars' next possession and Guidugli went back to work.

        Cincinnati took over at its 34 and five plays later regained the lead on McCleskey's five-yard run off left tackle for a touchdown, his seventh career TD against Houston. Another two-point conversion pass failed and the Bearcats led 29-28 with 7:01 to play.

Team		1	2	3	4			SCORE
Cincinnati		3	7	7	12			29
Houston		0	14	7	7			28

Scoring Summary
1st Quarter	Cincinnati Field Goal - 22-yarder by Jonathon Ruffin. 0:15 remaining.
2nd Quarter	Cincinnati Touchdown - 1-yard run by Ray Jackson. (Jonathon Ruffin kick). 6:57 remaining. Houston Touchdown - 15-yard pass from Nick Eddy to Orlando Iglesias. (Jeff Patterson kick). 2:20 remaining. Houston Touchdown - 35-yard interception return by Jason Parker. (Jeff Patterson kick). 0:29 remaining.
3rd Quarter	Houston Touchdown - 16-yard pass from Nick Eddy to Chris Robertson. (Jeff Patterson kick). 10:43 remaining. Cincinnati Touchdown - 4-yard run by DeMarco McCleskey. (Jonathon Ruffin kick). 6:09 remaining.
4th Quarter	Houston Touchdown - 16-yard pass from Nick Eddy to Orlando Iglesias. (Jeff Patterson kick). 14:54 remaining. Cincinnati Touchdown - 22-yard pass from Gino Guidugli to Tim Walker. (two-point conversion failed). 11:35 remaining. Cincinnati Touchdown - 5-yard run by DeMarco McCleskey. (two-point conversion failed). 7:59 remaining.

Attendance: 16,107

Final Team Statistics	Cincinnati	Houston
First downs	26	24
Rushes-yards	36-142	47-157
Passing yards	340	186
Return yards	4	35
Passing (Att-Comp-Int)	28-20-1	24-16-0
Punts-Average	1-36.0	3-42.3
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	0-0
Penalties-Yards	10-87	8-95
Time of Possession	28:14	31:46

Rushing
Cincinnati	- McCleskey 15-100, Jackson 17-57, TEAM 1-(-1), Guidugli 3-(-14).
Houston	- Reynolds 27-116, Robertson 11-52, Eddy 7-(-2), Ross 2-(-9).
Passing
Cincinnati	- Guidugli 19-27-1, 317 yards and 1 touchdown. Wize 1-1-0, 23 yards.
Houston	- Eddy 15-23-0, 184 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wyatt 1-1-0, 2 yards.
Receiving
Cincinnati	- Keith 6-102, Vann 5-65, Jackson 3-84, Walker 3-54, Murray 1-23, Olinger 1-6, McCleskey 1-6.
Houston	- Iglesias 6-76, Thompson 2-12, Tyson 1-29, Robertson 1-20, Brown 1-13, Robinson 1-10, Ross 1-10, Reynolds 1-8, McCardell 1-6, Hill 1-2.

UC 29, Houston 28 UC women driven to NCAA berth Hollman held up by sore shoulder

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