Houston gave the University of Texas all it could handle on Saturday.

Despite being down early, despite going up against the No. 8 team in the nation, despite everything up against the Cougars, they took the Longhorns to nearly the final play of the game.

The University of Houston had chances to make school history and take down the Longhorns, but in the end, the Cougars came up just short, falling 31-24 to Texas in what was one of Houston’s strongest performances this year.

“I’m just proud of this football team,” said University of Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen after the loss. “These guys practiced hard all week, they got better as a team and we had the No. 8 team in the nation on the ropes. This game was down to the wire and that’s a testament to these guys. There’s no moral victories but I’m proud of them.”

The Longhorns came out and easily drove down the field on their first drive, going 75 yards on 11 plays and scoring on a 14-yard pass from Quinn Ewers to Adonai Mitchell. Houston had no such luck on it’s first drive, the Cougars dropped a pass that would have gone for a huge gain on their first play from scrimmage and then got backed up by a personal foul before having to punt. The Longhorns took no time in doubling their lead, only needing four plays to score on their next drive on a deep pass from Ewers to Xavier Worthy.

Texas stretched its lead to three scores early in the second quarter and the Houston offense finally came up with an answer after that, coming back with a four play, 71 yard drive where Donovan Smith found his footing and threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden, getting the Cougars back in the game. That drive was a turning point for the Cougars, they made another big stop before trimming things to just seven points very late in the half when Donovan Smith found Joseph Manjack IV for a score as Houston headed into the locker room with all the momentum but still trailing 21-14.

“The fans were amazing, it was like a party out there when we went into the half with all of that momentum,” Smith said. “They were with us all the way until the last minute of the game and that means everything. College football is all about that energy and we love that, we’re just sad we couldn’t send them home with a win. We just have to finish games the right way and handle our business.”

Houston came right out and continued to attack through the air. Smith went right at the Texas secondary and it took just six plays for Houston to get in the endzone and tie things on a 3-yard pass to Golden. The Houston defense made a big stop, but the Longhorns answered with a stop of their own, getting a strip sack and retook the lead on a field goal after the Cougars held them out of the endzone. Houston had a chance to take the lead after a strong ensuing drive, but an interception ended it. Houston’s defense then made a stop and Houston came back to tie the game on a 40-yard field goal, but Texas had the answer, committing to the run and getting a touchdown on a 16-yard run from CJ Baxter. Houston came close to tying it up, getting it into the Longhorns redzone, but a fourth and one pass attempt fell incomplete with just over a minute remaining to seal the win for the Longhorns and kill the Cougars upset hopes. But despite the loss, Houston had a lot of positives to build on in the game.

“We had a chance to beat the University of Texas in the last couple plays of the game,” Holgorsen said. “That’s amazing when you compare where our program is to where theirs is, and I’m proud of these guys. They fought and they made ever effort and gave us a chance, that’s a huge thing for our program and we have to continue to build off of that and get better.”

The Cougars have another one up next against Kansas State and they hope to be ready for it.

“We just have to keep improving each week,” Smith said. “We’re going to go in and find the takeaways we need from this game and get better. Losing is never fun for anyone but we can learn from it and it’s just going to give us that motivation going forward.”