Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016 | 8:52 p.m.
SAN MARCOS, Texas — 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 is the first Houston player ever to pass, run and return a kickoff for a touchdown in the same game.
The freshman was recruited to play quarterback but moved to wide receiver after the Cougars lost two receivers.
"If I played quarterback, I might have redshirted," King said. "I really like what I'm doing now."
Greg Ward Jr. 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 made up 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.
"Houston is a talented team that plays hard," Texas State coach Everett Withers said. "We've got a lot of work to do. We took a step back tonight and we are not talented enough not to play smart."
THE TAKEAWAY
HOUSTON: The Cougars, who came in as five-touchdown favorites, have handled two overmatched opponents (Lamar and Texas State) and two tougher ones (Oklahoma and Cincinnati) with aplomb so far. The margin of victory against Texas State was the largest for Houston since beating Louisiana Tech 73-3 on Aug. 31, 1991.
TEXAS STATE: With the loss to Houston, the Bobcats are 0-5 against Top 25 teams since moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012.
UP NEXT
HOUSTON: The Cougars have their second quick turnaround of this season when they host Connecticut in an American Athletic Conference game on Thursday. Houston had a Saturday-Thursday turnaround against Lamar and Cincinnati for its second and third games of the season. UConn handed Houston its only loss last season, 20-17, in East Hartford.
TEXAS STATE: The Bobcats play host to FCS Incarnate Word from San Antonio next Saturday.
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