Houston 33-7 Rice (September 14, 2024) Match Report

HOUSTON – Donovan Smith threw for 142 yards and three touchdowns and Stacy Sneed ran for 82 yards and a touchdown as Houston earned its first win under coach Willie Fritz, beating cross-city rival Rice 33-7 on Saturday night.

With 5 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter, Sneed ran around right end for a 65-yard touchdown, and less than two minutes later, Mekhi Mews returned a punt for a 75-yard touchdown.

Sneed said Houston’s win in the Bayou Bucket game meant a lot. The Owls beat Houston 43-41 in double overtime last season.

“It showed that we dominate Houston and no one is going to come to our house and beat us – not even Rice,” Sneed said.

After Houston’s Michael Batton recovered a botched punt from Rice, Smith, who completed 12 of 21 passes, found Stephon Johnson for a 44-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter, giving Houston a 20-0 halftime lead.

Fritz, who called his first win in Houston “special,” said he continues to see improvements each week.

“That’s the goal,” said Fritz. “You want to get a little better every week. You don’t want to stay the same all the time. We’re fully in sync defensively at the moment. I’m really excited about how we’re playing there.”

Smith ran for touchdowns of 1 and 37 yards in the second half. Re’Shaun Sanford II ran for 71 yards for Houston. The Cougars (1-2) outgained Rice 379-159 yards, including 237-75 rushing yards.

“I thought we ran the ball very effectively,” Fritz said. “We struggled with that in Week 1 and Week 2. Today we ran the ball extremely well and that opened up the passing game.”

EJ Warner completed 12 of 21 passes for 50 yards with an interception for Rice (1-2). Dean Connors ran for 32 yards and had a 4-yard touchdown run.

“There are some big plays we just have to make,” Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “It comes down to doing our job and when the opportunity presents itself, executing our job. In some cases tonight, I don’t think we did that.”

THE RESULT

Rice: The Owls, who entered with a national lead of 11 sacks, totaled three sacks and nine tackles for loss. Rice completed 2 of 13 third downs.

“When you start the game 0-11 on third down — I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in that — obviously that’s not good,” Bloomgren said. “You’re not moving the posts, you’re not giving your defense a chance to rest, and you have a lot of plays on the game plan that you want to call but can’t call.”

Houston: The Cougars finally got going on offense after scoring 19 points in the first two games. Houston was assessed five penalties for 64 yards.

TARGET GROUP

Houston lost two players in its secondary to targeting. Cornerback Latrell McCutchen Sr. was penalized for a punt in the second quarter, and defensive back Juwon Gaston was ejected for targeting early in the third quarter.

Next

Rice: On Saturday at the Army.

Houston: On Saturday in Cincinnati.

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