VIDEO RECAP
CINCINNATI YEAR-IN-REVIEW VIDEO
CINCINNATI -- Gunner Kiel threw for a pair of touchdowns before leaving again, and Mike Boone ran for three touchdowns as Cincinnati held on for a 38-31 victory over Houston on Saturday that that clinched a share of the American Athletic Conference championship.
Cincinnati (9-3, 7-1) finished in a three-way tie for the title. Memphis clinched part of the title last weekend, and Central Florida made it a split by beating East Carolina 32-30 on Thursday night with a 51-yard desperation pass at the end.
The Bearcats won their last seven games to earn a share of the title for the sixth time in the last eight seasons. Their previous ones came in the Big East.
Greg Ward Jr. ran 40 yards for a touchdown and threw for two more in the second half, but Houston (7-5, 5-3) couldn't stop Cincinnati's passing game even after Kiel left early in the third quarter.
The Cougars drove to the Cincinnati 11-yard line in the closing seconds, but Ward threw three incompletions as time ran out.
Kiel was coming off two subpar games. He threw a pair of touchdown passes to put Cincinnati in control 21-10, including a 12-yarder to Shaq Washington with 33 seconds left in the half.
Kiel, who sat out last season after transferring from Notre Dame, has thrown 30 touchdown passes in his first season as the Bearcats starter, one shy of the school record. He missed most of one game and parts of others because of severely bruised ribs, and failed to make it through another game on Saturday.
Kiel completed his first pass on the opening drive of the second half, came to the line of scrimmage for the next play, called timeout and jogged to the locker room. The school provided no information on his problem.
Munchie Legaux got into Cincinnati's final home game, completing a 22-yard pass that kept the drive going. Boone ran the final yard for his second touchdown of the game and a 28-10 lead. Legaux and coach Tommy Tuberville chest bumped as the offense left the field.
Legaux's 34-yard completion set up Boone's third touchdown run -- all out of a wildcat formation -- late in the third quarter for a 35-17 lead. Boone is the first Bearcat to run for three touchdowns in a game since George Winn in 2012. Legaux was 10 of 14 for 158 yards.
One of Cincinnati's main goals was to avoid the game-turning turnover. The Bearcats ended Houston's streak of getting at least one turnover in 34 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the nation.
Houston stayed in it with Kenneth Farrow's sixth 100-yard game of the season. He had a 58-yard run -- the longest of his career -- that set up a field goal in the second quarter and ran for a career-high 138 overall.
Ward had one costly interception, throwing a pass that was picked off at the Cincinnati 13-yard line during the second quarter. He finished 27 of 45 for 360 yards and scrambled 11 times for 84 yards.