HOUSTON — Greg Ward, Jr. threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns and Houston beat Navy 52-31 to reach the first American Athletic Conference championship game.

Houston (11-1, 7-1 American) won the West Division title and will host either Temple or South Florida in the championship game Dec. 5. The Cougars are also well positioned to earn a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game, likely the Fiesta Bowl, if they win the league championship.

Ward was 26-of-35 passing and ran for 83 yards and another score. Brandon Wilson, who was moved from cornerback to running back this week because of injuries, ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Demarcus Ayers had eight catches for 161 yards and a touchdown and threw a touchdown pass.

Keenan Reynolds rushed for 84 yards on 19 carries and a fourth quarter touchdown and was 14 of 17 for 312 yards passing and a touchdown for Navy (9-2, 7-1). He scored his 83rd career touchdown to match the FBS record set by Wisconsin’s Montee Ball.

Washington 45, No. 20 Wash. State 10

SEATTLE — Myles Gaskin ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns, Sidney Jones, Darren Gardenhire and Azeem Victor returned turnovers for touchdowns in the second half and Washington became bowl eligible with a victory over Washington State.

The Huskies (6-6, 4-5 Pac-12) removed any doubt about their postseason status by stemming the best passing game in the country and taking advantage of seven turnovers by the Cougars, the most by Washington State since 2009 against Hawaii.

Peyton Bender made his first college start for Washington State because of an injury to Luke Falk and looked the part of an inexperienced freshman. Bender threw for 288 yards, but the Cougars (8-4, 6-3) failed to take advantage of three good scoring opportunities in the first half.

Bender started after Falk suffered an apparent concussion last week against Colorado.