PROVO, Utah (AP) — Kedon Slovis threw for 145 yards and ran for a pair of touchdowns to lead BYU to a 14-0 victory over Sam Houston on Saturday night.
LJ Martin ran for 91 yards on 16 carries in his BYU debut. The Cougars (1-0) totaled 257 yards and averaged 3.8 yards per play in Slovis’ first game leading the offense after transferring from Pittsburgh during the offseason.
Jakob Robinson led a stout BYU defense with two interceptions.
Keegan Shoemaker threw for 147 yards and tallied three interceptions for Sam Houston. The Bearkats (0-1) totaled 185 yards and 11 first downs in their FBS debut.
BYU marched 50 yards in eight plays on its opening drive, taking a 7-0 lead on a 6-yard run from Slovis. The Cougars couldn’t do much right on offense through the rest of the first half. They totaled just 66 yards their final six drives before halftime. Penalties and an inability to establish the run game were the biggest culprits in the lack of production.
Sam Houston could not take advantage. The Bearkats averaged just 2.9 yards per play in the first half and mirrored BYU’s struggles with running the ball.
Still, Sam Houston had multiple chances to tie the game in the third quarter, but mistakes kept the Bearkats off the scoreboard.
A failed fake punt from Ryan Rehkow gave the Bearkats the ball at the BYU 20. Robinson snagged the first of his two third-quarter interceptions in the end zone to keep Sam Houston off the board. Dakerric Hobbs returned a blocked field goal 60 yards for a touchdown later in the quarter, but an offsides penalty negated his score.
BYU converted a fourth down on the drive and eventually Slovis punched it in from a yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend the Cougars’ lead to 14-0.
THE TAKEAWAY
Sam Houston: Mediocre offense and ill-timed mistakes undermined a strong defensive performance for the Bearkats. Sam Houston made only a handful of big plays and never consistently moved the chains.
BYU: The Cougars showed significant improvement on defense from last season, and it rescued an inept offense. BYU allowed Sam Houston to cross midfield once before halftime and did not allow a third down conversion until midway through the third quarter.
UP NEXT
Sam Houston plays Air Force at NRG Stadium in Houston.
BYU hosts Southern Utah on Saturday.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
