GAMEDAY College Football
Texas Tech 33, Houston 30
(AP Photo/Justin Rex)
By SCHUYLER DIXON
AP Sports Writer
LUBBOCK, Texas - Donovan Smith put Texas Tech at risk of losing with his arm.
The sophomore quarterback rescued the Red Raiders with his legs.
Smith ran 9 yards for a touchdown in the second overtime, lifting Texas Tech to a 33-30 victory over No. 25 Houston.
A back-and-forth finish ended with the Red Raiders (2-0) beating a ranked nonconference opponent in the regular season for the first time since 1989, a span of 14 games.
It was the last meeting between the former Southwest Conference rivals before they become league foes again when the Cougars move from the American Athletic to the Big 12 next year.
After Houston's Bubba Baxa opened the second OT with a 20-yard field goal, Smith broke into the open field and ran untouched to the end zone, sending Texas Tech students and fans streaming onto the field.
Baxa kicked a go-ahead 35-yard field goal with 37 seconds remaining in regulation after Gervarrius Owens returned Smith's third interception to the Texas Tech 21 in the final two minutes.
Smith answered with a 27-yard scramble on the next play, sparking a drive to a tying 47-yard field goal from Trey Wolff with three seconds to go. Wolff replaced Gino Garcia, who missed from 45 earlier in the fourth quarter.
"It's always what coach (Joey) McGuire preached, you could look at this game and that's exactly what he said, `What's next?'" said Smith, who threw for 351 yards with three picks and six sacks that cut his rushing total from 86 to 28 yards.
"That's something I did this game. Everyone on the sideline was encouraging and, `Hey, what's next? We got this, we don't got to worry about nothing."
The Cougars (1-1) erased a 17-3 halftime deficit, getting even early in the fourth quarter when Jayce Rogers stepped in front of a pass from Smith and returned it 54 yards for a TD. Still, Houston's 12-game regular-season winning streak ended.
Houston had 11 penalties for 121 yards, including two personal fouls on the same possession that twice let the Red Raiders keep the ball when the Cougars would have taken possession in the first half.
"Just a whole lot of stupid stuff," coach Dana Holgorsen said. "Stupid, stupid, undisciplined stuff. I don't feel like we deserved to win. With that said, I was very proud of our team in how we just kept fighting."
Houston also trailed by two touchdowns in the second half of another overtime game in last week's opener, rallying from 21-7 down entering the fourth quarter for a 37-35 double-overtime victory over UTSA.
"It was chaos," Houston quarterback Clayton Tune said. "It felt a lot like last week, obviously other than the outcome. We've just got to be prepared to play till the clock says zero."
Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime after backing themselves up. Smith converted on fourth-and-20 with a 21-yard completion to Jerand Bradley. The Red Raiders forced the second OT on Tahj Brooks' 4-yard scoring run.
Tune faced second-and-21 to open overtime before a 19-yard completion to Nathaniel Dell, who had seven catches for 120 yards and a 35-yard punt return. Three plays later, he threw a 15-yard TD pass to Matthew Golden.
THE TAKEAWAY
Houston: Before the Cougars made it two-for-two in overtime games this season, so did UTSA. The Roadrunners also rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the second half Saturday, beating Army 41-38 in OT.
Texas Tech: Smith was up and down in his first full game since Tyler Shough again was sidelined by a shoulder injury in last week's 63-10 victory over Murray State. The sophomore struggled at times in the first half before TD passes of 43 yards to Nehemiah Martinez and 54 yards to Myles Price gave Texas Tech its two-touchdown lead.
| Scoring Summary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Quarter | Hou | TxTch | |||
| TxTch | FG | 11:26 | Trey Wolff 25 yd FG | 0 | 3 |
| Second Quarter | Hou | TxTch | |||
| Hou | FG | 11:17 | Bubba Baxa 24 yd FG | 3 | 3 |
| TxTch | TD | 10:10 | Nehemiah Martinez I 43 yd pass from Donovan Smith (Gino Garcia kick) | 3 | 10 |
| TxTch | TD | 0:18 | Myles Price 54 yd pass from Donovan Smith (Gino Garcia kick) | 3 | 17 |
| Third Quarter | Hou | TxTch | |||
| Hou | TD | 13:24 | Brandon Campbell 2 yd run (Bubba Baxa kick) | 10 | 17 |
| Fourth Quarter | Hou | TxTch | |||
| Hou | TD | 12:25 | Jayce Rogers 0 yd interception return (Bubba Baxa kick) | 17 | 17 |
| Hou | FG | 0:37 | Bubba Baxa 35 yd FG | 20 | 17 |
| TxTch | FG | 0:03 | Trey Wolff 47 yd FG | 20 | 20 |
| OT | Hou | TxTch | |||
| Hou | TD | Matthew Golden 15 yd pass from Clayton Tune (Bubba Baxa kick) | 27 | 20 | |
| TxTch | TD | Tahj Brooks 4 yd run (Trey Wolff kick) | 27 | 27 | |
| 2nd OT | Hou | TxTch | |||
| Hou | FG | Bubba Baxa 20 yd FG | 30 | 27 | |
| TxTch | TD | Donovan Smith 9 yd run | 30 | 33 | |
| Team Stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Houston | Texas Tech | |
| First downs | 15 | 35 |
| Rushing | 4 | 13 |
| Passing | 11 | 17 |
| Penalty | 0 | 5 |
| 3rd Down Efficiency | 5-16, 31% | 5-18, 28% |
| 4th down efficiency | 0-1, 0% | 2-3, 67% |
| Rushes-Yards | 29-88 | 44-117 |
| Passing Yards | 266 | 351 |
| Return Yards | 99 | 13 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 20-39-1 | 36-59-3 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost | 2--15 | 5--39 |
| Punts | 5 | 4 |
| Punts-Average | 50.4 | 44.5 |
| Fumbles Lost | 1-1 | 2-0 |
| Penalties - Yards | 11-121 | 6-44 |
| Time of Possession | 19:41 | 37:18 |
| Houston Passing | |||||
| Player | Cmp | Att | Yds | TDs | Int |
| C. Tune | 20 | 39 | 266 | 1 | 1 |
| Texas Tech Passing | |||||
| Player | Cmp | Att | Yds | TDs | Int |
| D. Smith | 36 | 58 | 351 | 2 | 3 |
| M. Price | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Houston Rushing | ||||
| Player | Carries | Yds | Avg | TDs |
| B. Campbell | 16 | 80 | 5.0 | 1 |
| S. Sneed | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 0 |
| T. Henry | 3 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 |
| C. Tune | 6 | -2 | -0.3 | 0 |
| Texas Tech Rushing | ||||
| Player | Carries | Yds | Avg | TDs |
| T. Brooks | 18 | 80 | 4.4 | 1 |
| D. Smith | 20 | 28 | 1.4 | 1 |
| S. Thompson | 5 | 11 | 2.2 | 0 |
| Houston Receiving | ||||
| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TDs |
| N. Dell | 7 | 120 | 17.1 | 0 |
| B. Campbell | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 0 |
| T. Henry | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 0 |
| M. Golden | 2 | 25 | 12.5 | 1 |
| C. Trahan | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 |
| K. Carter | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 |
| Texas Tech Receiving | ||||
| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TDs |
| M. Price | 5 | 78 | 15.6 | 1 |
| N. Martinez I | 5 | 76 | 15.2 | 1 |
| J. Bradley | 6 | 50 | 8.3 | 0 |
| T. Brooks | 5 | 34 | 6.8 | 0 |
| L. Fouonji | 3 | 30 | 10.0 | 0 |
| X. White | 2 | 24 | 12.0 | 0 |
| T. Cleveland | 3 | 21 | 7.0 | 0 |
| S. Thompson | 4 | 16 | 4.0 | 0 |
| J. Sparkman | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 |
| B. Cupp | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 |
| Houston Interceptions | ||
| Player | Int | Yards |
| G. Owens | 1 | 24 |
| A. Green | 1 | 0 |
| J. Rogers | 1 | 0 |
| Texas Tech Interceptions | ||
| Player | Int | Yards |
| R. Pearson Jr. | 1 | -9 |
| Houston Punting | |||
| Player | Punts | Yards | Avg |
| L. Wilkins | 5 | 252 | 50.4 |
| Texas Tech Punting | |||
| Player | Punts | Yards | Avg |
| A. McNamara | 4 | 178 | 44.5 |
| Houston Punt Returns | |||
| Player | Ret | Yards | Average |
| N. Dell | 1 | 35 | 35.0 |
| Texas Tech Punt Returns | |||
| Player | Ret | Yards | Average |
| A. Frye | 2 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Houston Kick Returns | |||
| Player | Ret | Yards | Average |
| P. Sawyer | 1 | 27 | 27.0 |
| M. Byrnes | 1 | 13 | 13.0 |
| Texas Tech Kick Returns | |||
| Player | Ret | Yards | Average |
| N. Martinez I | 1 | 19 | 19.0 |
| Houston Missed FG | |
| Player | Length |
| B. Baxa | 47 |
| Texas Tech Missed FG | |
| Player | Length |
| T. Wolff | 45 |
| G. Garcia | 46 |