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

Chriss started in place of Donovan Smith and ended Houston’s eight-quarter pointless streak with an 8-yard scoring pass to Devan Williams just 10 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 three decades ago in the Southwest Conference, lasted four years together in Conference USA and ultimately ended in the second Big 12 meeting between the schools.

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

Smith replaced an apparently injured Chriss for just one play in the third quarter, but came back in the fourth after TCU (3-3, 1-2) pulled 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 for a two-score lead with 1:58 remaining.

Chriss had returned after leaving when he was attacked by several defenders, and had his helmet on as Smith led the clinching drive.

“Had a good week of practice,” Fritz said of starting Chriss. “I wanted to see how he did, give him a few series and he played very, very well. Donovan was ready. He went there and played extremely well. There have been some big plays for us.”

Chriss’ scoring sprint up the middle came after Josh Hoover’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Savion Williams pulled the Horned Frogs within 17-6 late in the second quarter.

The first of AJ Haulcy’s two interceptions of Hoover set up a 2-yard scoring run by Re’Shaun Sanford II 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 committed 12 turnovers and are minus-10 in that category over those three games.

“That was a total … disaster of a football game,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said, sighing mid-sentence during a pause that lasted several seconds. “We got up early. We just struggled to ever get back into the game. It just didn’t work out.”

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 34-0 and Iowa State 20-0 to Cincinnati – 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 with another 97 yards on the ground.

The takeaway

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

TCU: The Horned Frogs gave up the first Houston score in three games not long after safety Abe Camara was ejected for a hit that cleared the ball from Stacy Sneed. Instead of facing fourth down, the Cougars had a first down on the TCU 13-yard line and scored three plays later. It was one of three first-half fumbles for Houston, but the Cougars recovered all three.

Next

Both teams have a week off before hitting the road on October 19. Houston is at Kansas and TCU visits No. 18 Utah.

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