Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
No. 6 Houston routs Texas State 64-3 to remain unbeaten
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) — D’Eriq King caught a touchdown pass, threw for a TD and returned a kickoff for another score and No. 6 Houston cruised to a 64-3 victory over Texas State on Saturday night to remain undefeated.
King, a freshman recruited to play quarterback, is playing at wide receiver while Cougars star Greg Ward Jr. directs the offense.
Ward passed for two touchdowns and ran for one before leaving the game after playing one series in the third quarter. He completed 20 of 26 passes for 289 yards.
King made a mistake by calling for a fair catch on the Houston 5 during a first-quarter Texas State punt. He soon compensated for that, however, catching a short pass from Ward on a bubble screen and taking it in for a touchdown from 48 yards out.
Early in the second quarter, King took a handoff from Ward and threw a high pass to the end zone that Steven Dunbar pulled in for a 15-yard touchdown.
King began the second half by returning the kickoff 99 yards for another touchdown.
Houston (4-0) gained 563 yards and limited Texas State (1-2) to 142. Texas State’s Tyler Jones completed 17 of 30 passes for 100 yards. …
Troy 52, New Mexico State 6.: Brandon Silvers threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to help Troy rout New Mexico State 52-6 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night.
Silvers was 23 of 32 for 246 yards. Deondre Douglas had six receptions for 101 yards, and Emanuel Thompson and Sidney Davis each had scoring catches.
The Trojans’ Jabir Frye blocked a punt and Demetrius Cain recovered the ball and ran it 15 yards into the end zone. Frye opened the second half with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Troy (3-1, 1-0) racked up 492 yards of offense and the defense forced Tyler Rogers, the Aggies (1-3, 0-1) quarterback, to throw five interceptions. Rogers passed for 445 yards, and threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Izaiah Lottie late in the third quarter.
Troy beat New Mexico State 52-7 last season. …
Central Arkansas 28, Arkansas State 23: Hayden Hildebrand threw for 270 yards and a touchdown and Central Arkansas beat Arkansas State 28-23 on Saturday for its first ever win against an FBS school.
Jatavious Wilson was Hildebrand’s primary target, catching seven passes for 130 yards. Antwon Wells ran for 47 yards and a touchdown for Central Arkansas (3-1).
The Bears trailed 16-13 at the half and 23-22 deep into the fourth quarter. But Jaylon Lofton recovered a fumble at the Central Arkansas 14 which set up a 14-play, 86-yard touchdown drive, capped by an 18-yard TD strike from Hildebrand to Brandon Cox, which gave the Bears a 28-22 lead with 6:26 left.
The Red Wolves (0-4) threatened on the ensuing drive, but the Central Arkansas defense came up big again, as Tyler Williams intercepted Justice Hansen at the Bears 32.
Hansen threw for 424 yards and three scores. Blake Mack had 142 yards receiving for Arkansas State. …
South Alabama 41, Nicholls 40, OT: The South Alabama defense stopped Dontrell Taylor short of the end zone on a 2-point conversion attempt to seal the Jaguars’ 41-40 overtime win against Nicholls on Saturday night.
Before the play South Alabama (2-2) appeared to have the win when Chase Forcade’s pass was intercepted in the end zone on a 2-point attempt which was nullified due to an offside call.
Taylor had 25 carries for 125 yards and the touchdown for the Colonels to bring the score to 41-40 in the extra session.
Xavier Johnson’s 4-yard touchdown run in overtime put the Jaguars up 41-34.
Dallas Davis completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Williams with 16 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 34. It was Davis’ first TD pass of the night against four interceptions. Davis had 302 yards passing.
Nicholls (1-2) scored 23 points in the second quarter and trailed 24-23 at the break.