The Cougars easily avenged last year's loss to their crosstown rivals.
The Good: After sputtering through the first two games of the season, the UH offense finally came to life. Quarterback Donavan Smith passed for 142 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for two more scores, and threw no interceptions. RB Stacy Sneed scored on a 65-yard touchdown run of his own. Mehki Mews returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown as well. The Cougar defense kept the Owls off the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter, made an interception that led to an easy UH touchdown, and limited Rice to 159 total offensive yards for the entire game.
The Bad: While he had a good game overall, Smith only completed 12 of 21 passes and appears to continue to struggle with his passing decisions. The Coogs' third-down efficiency - they only converted 6 of 14 attempts - still isn't great. Two UH defensive players were ejected for targeting.
What It Means: Rice is unlikely to be mistaken for a good team this season, so it's hard to tell just how much this victory means in terms of the Coogs' prospects for the remainder of the fall. But getting the win - the first of the Willie Fritz era - and bringing the Bayou Bucket back to Cullen Boulevard is nevertheless a milestone in this team's rebuilding process.
The Cougars now travel to Cincinnati to begin Big 12 conference play.
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