Houston changes QBs after consecutive shutout losses, defeating TCU 30-19

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Zeon Chriss ran 71 yards for a touchdown on a quarterback draw in his first start as Houston suffered back-to-back shutout losses and the Cougars beat TCU 30-19 on Friday night.

Starting in place of Donovan Smith, Chriss ended Houston's eight-quarter streak without points with an 8-yard scoring pass to Devan Williams just under ten minutes into the game.

The Cougars (2-4, 1-2 Big 12) ended a nine-game losing streak against the Horned Frogs, who were 16 1/2-point favorites, according to BetMGM.

Houston's drought began more than 30 years ago in the Southwest Conference, continued into a four-year shared stay in Conference USA and finally ended in the second Big 12 meeting between the schools.

“It's been a tough few weeks,” said first-year Cougars coach Willie Fritz. “And I’m just proud of their resilience and how they kept fighting, clawing and clawing.”

Smith replaced the apparently injured Chriss for just one play in the third quarter, but returned in the fourth quarter after TCU (3-3, 1-2) got within eight.

The Texas Tech transfer led a 14-play drive that took nearly 7 1/2 minutes and ended with Jack Martin's third field goal to take a two-point lead with 1:58 left.

Returning from being squashed by multiple defenders, Chriss had his helmet on while Smith led the decisive drive.

“Had a good week of training,” said Fritz about Chriss’ start. “I wanted to see how he did, give him a few series and he played really, really well. Donovan was ready. He went out there and played extremely well. Had some big plays for us.”

Chriss' scoring dash up the middle came after Josh Hoover's 21-yard TD pass to Savion Williams put the Horned Frogs up 17-6 late in the second quarter.

AJ Haulcy's first of two interceptions against Hoover set up Re'Shaun Sanford II's 2-yard scoring run for a 14-0 Houston lead.

Hoover, who also lost a fumble as TCU had four turnovers without a takeaway, has six picks in three games after throwing 143 passes without one to start the season.

The Horned Frogs have 12 turnovers and are minus-10 in that category in those three games.

“This was a total … disaster of a football game,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said, sighing mid-sentence during a seconds-long pause. “We got up early. It was just hard for us to ever get back into the game. Just couldn’t do it.”

Hoover threw two touchdown passes, including a 29-yarder to Jack Bech that cut Houston's lead to 27-19 early in the fourth quarter. He finished 23 of 37 for 233 yards.

The Cougars had lost to Cincinnati 34-0 and Iowa State 20-0 – their first consecutive shutout losses since 1994 – when Fritz decided to replace Smith with Chriss, a transfer from Louisiana.

Chriss, who played in four of the first five games, completed 11 of his first 12 passes and finished 15 of 18 for 141 yards passing and another 97 yards on the ground.

The takeaway food

Houston: The Cougars have lost seven of eight Big 12 games since their league debut in 2023. Fritz was having a long year after going 23-4 in the last two of his eight seasons at Tulane. Things are suddenly looking better after TCU lost momentum as the Horned Frogs answered back-to-back losses with an 11-point win at Kansas.

TCU: The Horned Frogs gave up Houston's first goal in three games not long after safety Abe Camara was sent off for aiming a hit that ripped the ball away from Stacy Sneed. Instead of facing fourth down, the Cougars had a first down at the TCU 13-yard line and scored three plays later. It was one of three errors in the first half for Houston, but the Cougars were able to recover from all three mistakes.

Next

Both teams have a week off before playing away on October 19th. Houston plays at Kansas and TCU visits No. 18 Utah.

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