UH Coogs win Bayou Bucket game over Rice in first-year coach Willie Fritz’s ‘special’ first victory

HOUSTON – In a dominant performance by the defense and plenty of big plays on offense and special teams, the University of Houston manufactured their first victory under new coach Willie Fritz.

Following a winless start in games against Oklahoma and UNLV, the Coogs bounced back in a major way against crosstown rival Rice to claim the Bayou Bucket trophy Saturday night at TDECU Stadium.

It was a lopsided win as UH quarterback Donovan Smith passed for 142 yards and scored three touchdowns, two on the ground, and running back Stacy Sneed rushed for 82 yards and one score, including a 65-yard burst in the first quarter followed by wide receiver Mekhi Mews’ electrifying 75-yard punt return for a touchdown. Mews’ punt return for a score was the first for the Coogs since Texans wide receiver Tank Dell in 2022.

And the defense limited the Owls to 149 yards of total offense. A late score from Dean Connors in the closing minutes prevented a shutout when Fritz took out the starting defense for the final drive.

“Special,” said Fritz, who was previously the head coach at Tulane. “That’s your goal. 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.

“I thought we did some good things in all three phases. We always pride ourselves in playing complementary football. Everybody played smart on the field. The guys got a chance to get in there and show us what they can do. Some guys showed good stuff, some showed bad stuff. So, we’ll be able to evaluate them on tape.”

Smith completed 12 of 21 passes for 142 yards. Sneed averaged 11.7 yards per rush. And running back Re’Shaun Sanford II rushed for 71 yards on 15 carries. The Coogs ran for three touchdowns and averaged 5.6 yards on the ground. Stephon Johnson had a 44-yard touchdown catch and tight end Maliq Carr, a Michigan State transfer, caught two passes for 32 yards.

“In this day and age, you have to run the quarterback some,” Fritz said. “That way, you’re playing 11 on 11 football. I thought he started off slow, and gained momentum throughout the game. He played better and better. He gained some valuable experience.”

It was a big struggle for the Owls to get anything going offensively. They started off 0 for 11 on third downs and finished 2 of 14 in that category overall. They had just eight first downs as quarterback E.J. Warner, the son of Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, went 12 of 21 for 50 yards. Connors was limited to 32 rushing yards.

“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.”

The win avenged a 43-31 double overtime loss to Rice last season as UH built a 379-159 yardage edge with 237 rushing yards.

“It showed that we run Houston, and nobody is going to come into our house and beat us,” Sneed said. “Not Rice.”

“We were so much more athletic than them,” UH linebacker Michael Batton said. “They couldn’t get open. They couldn’t get separation and we brought pressure on their quarterback.

“No doubt, I’ve been on the other side of that. I know what it feels like. They were demoralized and they could not get anything going.”

The Owls had issues protecting Warner, who was under duress the majority of the game. He had a 6.3 quarterback rating. Drew Devillier completed 4 of 6 passes for 34 yards. The longest completion was a 14-yard catch by Christian Francisco. The primary bright spot was three sacks on defense, including one appeice by Josh Pearcy, Elroyal Morris III and Michael Larbie.

“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.”

“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. 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.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and www.click2houston.com.