HOUSTON — A road trip to Houston was supposed to be the panacea for Utah's offensive woes — or at least the play to jump-start what has been an inept offense for most of the season.

If not against Houston — a team that was averaging a nation-worst 13.4 points per game entering Saturday night — then when?

But not all endings are happy.

With less than two minutes to play, Houston tackled Utah's backup quarterback Brandon Rose at midfield and then ran out the clock to settle for a game-winning 43-yard field goal to take Utah to TDECU Stadium in Houston 17:14 to beat.

Immediately, the Houston (3-5, 2-3 Big 12) sideline stormed the field and celebrated as a team with fans in the West End Zone as the Cougars picked up their second win in Big 12 play.

“We always seem to find the same plan to lose,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Utah (4-4, 1-4 Big 12) finished the night with 306 yards of total offense – more than Houston – but had just 12 first downs, 90 rushing yards and an offense that ultimately couldn't consistently put points on the board.

Adding to the offensive woes, Utah placekicker Cole Becker missed two field goals in the first half – field goals that could have been the difference in the game – and the defense allowed Houston to rush for 228 yards.

“Super frustrating. We played hard,” Utah linebacker Karene Reid said. “Obviously it’s not good enough. We shouldn't have allowed 17 points right at the start. We have to do better.”

In the end it was the offensive again.

Utah appeared to be in the driver's seat early when freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson hit Brant Kuithe with a quick tunnel screen pass on the second play of Utah's opening drive, and the veteran tight end did en route to a 71-yarder -Touchdown is the rest The Utes got momentum on the road early on Saturday night.

Keep playing.

But as the game progressed, there wasn't much to be seen of the performance on the offensive side of the ball. Wilson was eventually replaced by Rose in the third quarter, which Whittingham said was a way to “ignite a spark and try to create something.”

Wilson finished the night throwing for 171 yards and a touchdown on 13 of 22 passes.

Rose didn't do well in his first series either, as Utah was eliminated by a three-pointer. But on the ensuing drive in Houston, Utah's defense was great.

Linebacker Johnathan Hall grabbed Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss and took him to the Cougars' 22-yard line. Three plays later, Micah Bernard scored a 14-yard rushing touchdown to give the Utes a 14-7 lead.

Chriss fought back from the interception and led Houston on a 10-play, 85-yard drive that was capped with a 28-yard pass touchdown to Joseph Manjack IV to tie the score at 14-14 with 8:29 to play before the end of the game.

With Utah looking for a game-winning drive and time running out quickly, Rose threw an interception at midfield on third-and-3 to end all hopes. Rose finished the game for the Utes with 45 yards on 7 of 15 passes.

Whittingham said the upcoming bye week will give the team a chance to assess the quarterback position as well as any other inefficiencies the team has. But the Utes are running out of time.

“We’ll evaluate the film, and every player in this game did a good job,” Whittingham said of the QB situation. “Obviously Isaac has a much bigger workload ahead of him this season, but we'll see how (Rose) did with his reads and what he did with the opportunities he had and then make a decision on which one we'll take have.” I’ll go with you.

“But I'm not saying Isaac lost his job – and everyone has to meet a certain standard and so the quarterback position is no different – and so we're going to take a hard look at it and see where we are.”

But the losses continue to pile up and the offense continues to find ways not to move the ball, even with a new offensive coordinator calling the plays.

“He was in a tough situation,” Whittingham said of offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian. “Do you think he will perform a miracle in five days of action? That won't happen. But I thought we added some things to the offense that were helpful. … The end result is still not where we should be. “But again, you can't expect him to be a miracle worker in five days, that's just not realistic.”

Bernard said he doesn't have a public answer as to why Utah continues to struggle every week, saying he “can't give an answer to that.”

“I’m not going to answer that,” he said. “I know what it is, but I'm not going to answer it.”

Houston's Chriss finished the game with 61 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 6 of 13 passes. Chriss increased his rushing total with success on the ground, rushing for 45 yards on 17 carries.