Washington State stopped San Jose State from converting the tying two-point attempt in double overtime to hold on for a 54-52 win on Friday in Pullman, Wash.
After Washington State’s Dylan Paine rushed for a 7-yard touchdown to start the second overtime and quarterback John Mateer ran it in for the two-point conversion, San Jose State’s Emmett Brown hit Nick Nash for a 4-yard touchdown.
Brown threw incomplete under pressure on the two-point attempt.
Both quarterbacks were intercepted in the first overtime.
Dean Janikowski made a 52-yard field goal for Washington State (4-0) as time expired to force overtime.
San Jose State (3-1) seized the lead 46-43 with 26 seconds left as Brown found TreyShun Hurry for a 20-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-10. Nash caught the two-point conversion from Brown.
Mateer, who threw for 390 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 111 yards and a score, then engineered a four-play, 40-yard drive to set up Janikowski, who early shanked a tying extra-point attempt with 6:11 left.
With just over five minutes to go in regulation, Kyle Thornton intercepted a Brown pass to get Washington State the ball at San Jose State’s 32. Two plays later, Paine scored a 1-yard touchdown with 4:56 left for a 43-38 lead. The two-point conversion failed.
San Jose State started the fourth quarter leading 38-24 after outscoring Washington State 21-0 in the third. In the fourth, Mateer threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Williams and then a 36-yard score to Josh Meredith to pull the Cougars within a point.
Like Mateer, Brown had a big game, completing 35 of 54 passes for 375 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for a touchdown. Mateer finished 26-for-46 through the air with two interceptions.
Floyd Chalk IV rushed for two touchdowns for the Spartans.
San Jose State, trailing 21-10 in the second quarter, shifted momentum with a successful fake punt on fourth-and-1 from their own 33. Brown then threw a 4-yard touchdown to Jacob Stewart with 1:40 left before halftime.
He fired a 19-yard strike to Nash to start the second half, knotting the score at 24. Brown later went in on a 1-yard quarterback keeper, set up by Jordan Cobbs’ interception and 55-yard return to Washington State’s 20.
The Cougars led 24-17 at halftime. Janikowski’s 36-yard field goal with two seconds left capped a wild first half that featured seven scores, 508 yards of offense and trickery from both teams.
