SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) - Texas Tech scored a pair of touchdowns in a
51-second span of the opening four and a half minutes of the game, and
the Red Raiders coasted to a 58-10 victory over Texas State on Saturday
night.
Seth Doege passed for 319 yards and a career-tying five touchdowns by
completing 25 of 32 for Tech (2-0) in less than three quarters of work.
He threw two TDs in the first quarter, his first coming less than a
minute after the Tech defense opened the scoring on Cody Davis' 88-yard
interception return.
Facing a Big 12 school on home turf for the first time, the Bobcats
(1-1) were showing off an expanded, 30,000-seat stadium in front of an
overflow crowd of 33,006 a week after pulling off a shocking 30-13 win
at Houston. But they fell behind 28-0 and didn't score until starting
quarterback Shaun Rutherford was pulled and backup Tyler Arndt threw a
25-yard TD pass to Terrence Franks with just less than 11 minutes left
in the first half.
But the damage already had been done, mostly by Doege. His first two
scoring passes of 23 yards and 4 yards were completed to Darrin Moore.
His third came on a drive that ended the first quarter and opened the
second, a 99-yard march that took all of six plays and less than three
minutes. It finished when Doege found Alex Torres over the middle of the
field for a 23-yard TD.
At that point, Doege had completed 11 of 14 for 142 yards and three
TDs. Texas State had zero passing yards, with Rutherford 0 for 7 plus
the interception that was returned for a touchdown.
So Bobcats coach Dennis Franchione, who has returned to San Marcos
after coaching at TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M, subbed for Arndt. He
went 7 of 11 in the second quarter without being sacked or intercepted.
It's the sort of work that might fare well as the Bobcats play this
season in the Western Athletic Conference after spending their first
campaign as the Football Bowl Subdivision member as an independent a
year ago.
But it wasn't enough against the Big 12's Tech. Doege answered
Arndt's score a minute and a half later with a 19-yard pass to Jace
Amaro. Texas State cut it to 35-10 with Will Johnson's 38-yard kick with
3:25 to go in the half, but Tech answered that with a field goal, as
the first-half horn sounded.
Doege directed two more scoring drives before he was done for the
night. He hit Javon Bell for an 8-yard scoring pass and finished up
after Kenny Williams ran in from 16 yards to give Tech a 52-10 advantage
with 4:59 to go in the third quarter.