Houston earns first victory under Willie Fritz with 33-7 romp over Rice

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

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

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 run Houston, and nobody is going to come into our house and beat us – not Rice,” Sneed said.

After Houston’s Michael Batton recovered a muffed Rice punt, Smith, who finished 12 of 21, found Stephon Johnson for a 44-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter as Houston took a 20-0 lead into halftime.

Fritz, who described his first win at Houston as “special,” said he continued to see improvements each week.

“That’s your goal,” Fritz said. “You want to get a little bit better each and every week. You don’t want to stay the same. We’re dialed in right now defensively. I’m really excited with how we’re playing over there.”

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

“I thought we ran the ball very effectively,” Fritz said. “We had difficulties running it in week 1 and week 2. We ran the ball extremely well today, and that opened up the passing game.”

E.J. Warner finished 12-of-21 passing for 50 yards with an interception for Rice (1-2). Dean Connors rushed for 32 yards and had a 4-yard touchdown run.

“There’s some big plays that we just got to make,” Rice coach Mike Bloomgren said. “It comes down to doing our job, and when the opportunity is there, executing our job. In a couple instances tonight, I don’t think we did.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Rice: The Owls, who entered with a nation-best 11 sacks, had three sacks and nine tackles for loss overall. Rice went 2 for 13 on third downs.

“Obviously, when you start the game 0 for 11 on third down – I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of that – that’s not good,” Bloomgren said. “You’re not moving the sticks, you’re not giving your defense a chance to rest and you’ve got a lot of plays on your call sheet that you want to call that you can’t call.”

Houston: The Cougars finally got going offensively after scoring 19 points over its first two games. Houston was called for five penalties for 64 yards.

TARGETING

Houston lost two members of its secondary to targeting. Cornerback Latrell McCutchen Sr. was called for the penalty on a punt in the second quarter, and defensive back Juwon Gaston was ejected for targeting at the start of the third quarter.

UP NEXT

Rice: At Army on Saturday.

Houston: At Cincinnati on Saturday.

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