Houston Cougars (AP) Re’Shaun Sanford II ran for 126 yards and the tiebreaking score in the fourth quarter, and Conner Weigman threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns as No. 17 Houston beat Cincinnati Bearcats 31-24 on Saturday.

Sanford's 51-yard TD run with 5:10 remaining gave the Cougars (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) the lead.

Houston coach Willie Fritz said Sanford “did a good job of hitting it clean and sprinting between the two guys” before outrunning the secondary to break a 24-all tie.

“Things didn’t look quite so good when they tied it up,” Fritz said. “Great job of coming down the field, getting that touchdown and putting us in control of the game.”

Cincinnati (5-4, 2-4) drove to the Houston 42, but a throw by JC French IV was ruled a backward pass after a replay review, and Houston recovered with 2:11 remaining.

Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield called the ruling “frustrating.”

“I thought we were moving in the right direction,” Satterfield said. “Unfortunate on that play where we throw the swing pass, they blow it dead and said incomplete, and then we’re getting ready to snap it, they review it and ultimately said it was a backwards pass. I can’t tell from the sidelines. We have to go off what these guys do back at the review station.”

The Cougars ran out the clock from there.

“We talk about game of inches,” Fritz said. “When they called it a lateral on the swing pass, and we got it. It was a lateral but probably by six inches. We’ll take it.”

Cincinnati wide receiver JV Gibson was carted off the field with 6:59 remaining in the fourth quarter after taking a hit in the end zone by Jordan Allen.

Gibson immediately went down and laid motionless for a few moments as personnel from both teams rushed to him. Allen was flagged for targeting on the play and ejected.

“JV got hit there at the goal line on a little slant play in the end zone,” Satterfield said. “Safety comes across and hits him in the head. Our personnel did an amazing job to get out there very quickly and was right on top of JV. Ultimately, got him in a good place there.

“He was moving all four extremities on command. Took him to the hospital for precautionary reasons. Obviously, they got to do their CT scans and those types of things. I don’t have an update, but hopefully, everything checks out great.”

Gibson finished with five catches for 54 yards.

Makhi Hughes rushed for 90 yards, and Weigman, who finished 17 of 24 passing, also rushed for a touchdown. Amare Thomas had six catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns, and Patrick Overmyer had four receptions for 66 yards for Houston, which finished with 468 yards of offense.

French was 19 of 30 for 217 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for a score. Gi’Bran Payne rushed for 71 yards, and Cole Tabb had 60 yards rushing and a touchdown catch.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats lost their second straight and need one win to become bowl-eligible. ... Cincinnati finished 9 of 14 on third down and 1 of 1 on fourth down.

Houston: The Cougars, who were No. 17 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, are poised to move up a bit. Houston also remains in the Big 12 title hunt with three games left.

Cincinnati: At Iowa State next Saturday.

Houston: At Colorado on Friday night.

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