No. 11 Texas Tech dominates Houston 35-11 to improve to 5-0
HOUSTON -- — Behren Morton threw for 345 yards and a touchdown, J’Koby Williams ran for two scores and No. 11 Texas Tech improved to 5-0 with a 35-11 victory over previously unbeaten Houston on Saturday night.It’s the first time the Red Raiders have won their first five games since opening the 2013 season 7-0 and is the eighth 5-0 start in school history.
“I felt like we could have scored more points than we did,” coach Joey McGuire said. “But at the end of the day there were teams that went on the road that were expected to win and didn’t. There were teams that went on the road that were in fights like this and couldn’t handle the adversity and our team handled the adversity.”
Texas Tech (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) has dominated through its first five games, winning each contest by at least 24 points and outscoring opponents 243-56.
“They’re holding each other accountable to play at a really high level," McGuire said.
Conner Weigman threw for 71 yards with an interception in the first half for Houston (4-1, 1-1) before going to the locker room late in the second quarter with an apparent injury and not returning.
Coach Willie Fritz didn't provide specifics on Weigman's injury and said he's waiting on more information on his condition.
“I’m going to go down and talk to the trainers and find out… I just didn’t feel like he could stay in there and play,” Fritz said. “I’m going to talk to them and the docs and get a prognosis of exactly where he’s at right now.”
The Red Raiders were up by six late in the first quarter after three field goals when Morton found Cameron Dickey on a short pass and he juked two defenders and ran untouched for a 69-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed to leave Tech up 15-3.
Jacob Rodriguez intercepted Weigman's and returned it to the Houston 25 early in the second quarter. Texas Tech cashed in five plays later when Williams scored on a 5-yard run that made it 22-3.
Caleb Johnson had a season-high 114 yards receiving on seven catches for Texas Tech and Coy Eakin added 10 receptions for 81 yards. Williams had 107 yards rushing and Dickey ran for 98 yards on 21 carries as Texas Tech piled up 552 yards.
Despite their perfect start, Morton believes the team can still play much better.
“There’s a next level that no one has seen,” he said.
Zeon Chriss-Gremillion took over after Weigman exited and scrambled for 11 yards on his first play before throwing a 64-yard touchdown pass to Amare Thomas on his second about 90 seconds before halftime. He connected with Stephon Johnson on the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 25-11.
Chriss-Gremillion threw for 93 yards with an interception and led the Cougars with 59 yards rushing.
“We’ve got to play a lot better than that offensively," Fritz said. “We put a few things together but we were just not able to sustain drives.”
Texas Tech missed a field goal at the end of the second quarter before hitting one from 29 yards in the third to push the lead to 28-11.
The Red Raiders missed a field goal from 53 yards later in the third before the second TD by Williams early in the fourth on a 1-yard run left Texas Tech up 35-11.
Houston: The Cougars have certainly improved from last year’s 4-8 squad but must limit their mistakes if they hope to build on their strong start to the season.
“Everybody up front made it easy,” he said. “Creating all the lanes I was able to run through to make plays.”
“It never felt like it was an away game tonight,” he said. “It was awesome.”
McGuire agreed.
“Our players were just blown away by the support,” he said. “It was incredible. A great environment for us.”
Houston: At Oklahoma State next Saturday.
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