Rice eases past Texas Southern 59-7 behind JT Daniels' 4 touchdowns

HOUSTON (AP) JT Daniels passed for 255 yards and four touchdowns, true freshman Daelen Alexander rushed for two scores and Rice eased past Texas Southern 59-7 on Saturday.

Rice cornerback Tre’shon Devones recovered a fumble at the TSU 16 on the first offensive play of the game. Alexander scored from a yard out to begin the onslaught.

Daniels had scoring plays of 35 and 70 yards for a 21-0 lead at the 9:39 mark of the first quarter. The 70-yarder was Kobie Campbell's first career touchdown. A 36-yard connection with Luke McCaffrey made it 42-7 with 1:12 left before halftime.

Tim Horn made a career-long 48-yard field goal early in the third quarter.

Rice (2-1) was coming off a 43-41 win over Houston in the 42nd Bayou Bucket, led by Daniels' career-high 401 yards passing. Alexander also scored three touchdowns against the Cougars and added the decisive two-point conversion.

Jace Wilson threw for 104 yards, including a 14-yard strike to Jyrin Johnson in the second quarter, for Texas Southern (0-3).

This is the first time Rice has hosted local schools in consecutive games.

--- AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll