Houston 38, Sam Houston State 7
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 23, 2023
Where: TDECU Stadium, Houston, Texas
Temperature:
94°
Head Official:
Tuta Salaam
Attendance:
35044
By Field Level Media
Donovan Smith passed for 294 yards and Parker Jenkins rushed for 105 yards on 20 carries in Houston's 38-7 victory Saturday over visiting Sam Houston.
Smith completed 31 of 40 pass attempts with a touchdown and Jenkins scored on three touchdown runs.
Houston (2-2) amassed 538 yards of total offense compared to 178 by Sam Houston (0-3).
The Cougars took control in the first, jumping out to a 24-7 lead heading into halftime.
The Cougars did not punt in the first half. The Bearkats punted four times.
Houston put together three possessions that resulted in Jenkins touchdown runs in the first half after Sam Houston took a 7-3 lead two 6:02 left in the first quarter on a 2-yard scoring run by Trapper Pannell.
Pannell's score was Sam Houston's first touchdown of the season.
The Bearkats lost at BYU 14-0 and at home against Air Force 13-3 in the first two games.
Jenkins' first touchdown run of 4 yards culminated a nine-play, 72-yard drive and his second one of 1 yard ended a nine-play, 78-yard possession.
His last touchdown, with 49 seconds left in the half, was a 2-yard run that completed an eight-play, 56-yard drive.
Houston's first possession of the second half took 8:42 off the clock and included 15 plays for 86 yards.
Smith completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden to culminate the possession that put Houston ahead 31-7.
Golden finished with nine receptions for 92 yards and three other receivers had at least 59 yards receiving.
Stacy Sneed had three catches for 65 yards, Samuel Brown four for 62 and Joseph Manjack IV six for 59.
Houston's last touchdown was a 58-yard pass from backup quarterback Ui Ale to Sneed with 10:06 remaining.
Sam Houston quarterback Grant Gunnell, who has been with Arizona, Memphis and North Texas, completed 14 of 22 pass attempts for 100 yards with an interception.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Receiving
| Sam Houston State |
|
Houston |
|
John Gentry
|
Player |
Matthew Golden
|
|
5 |
Receptions |
9 |
|
32 |
Yards |
92 |
|
6.4 |
Avg Yards |
10.2 |
|
0 |
Touchdowns |
1 |
|
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
| |
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
| Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
| Sam Houston State
|
178 |
52 |
126 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
| Houston
|
538 |
186 |
352 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
2.0 |
1 |