UTEP notes: Houston takes notice of Cougars

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Houston is a pro sports town first and a Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies and LSU Tigers town next.

Still, the Cougars are starting to make some inroads after a sustained run of success, and last week against Texas State had a Robertson Stadium record 32,119 fans. Another capacity crowd is expected Friday for the UTEP game.

"A lot of people around here are excited about Houston Cougar football," Houston quarterback Case Keenum said. "There is a lot of stuff for people to do in Houston, but there are a lot of people in Houston. To be able to win over that many people is really cool.

"That is really cool for the university, really cool for the program, for the whole athletic department."

Cougars' linebacker Marcus McGraw said seeing the stadium full was a new, nice feeling.

"My first thought was that I could definitely get used to this," he said. "It got the adrenaline pumping through my body. It was exciting."




Chasing history

Keenum needs just four victories to become the program's all-time winningest quarterbacks, and surprisingly, neither quarterback in front of him is Andre Ware or David Klingler.

He needs four victories to give him 27 and pass Kevin Kolb (26 from 2003-06), the current Philadelphia Eagles starter. Former San Angelo Central quarterback Gary Mullins (25 from 1969-71) is second.

Last year Keenum became the seventh quarterback in NCAA history to lead the nation in total offense in consecutive seasons. The only one to do it three straight
seasons was Louisiana Tech's Tim Rattay (1997-99).




Odd challenge

While Houston led Texas State 54-7 at halftime, it was a strange half. Texas State had a time-of-possession advantage of 22:39 to 7:21 while managing just 154 total yards and the seven points. Houston's defense also had seven points in that span.

Houston had seven touchdown "drives" of 90 seconds or fewer.

"It is a Catch-22," coach Kevin Sumlin said. "We were very efficient offensively, but our guys only played seven minutes. You can't be mad at them if they are scoring; you want them to get more work but that didn't happen."

Houston played 60 players.

 

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Case study: Game about winning, not revenge for UH


If UTEP's opponent was someone other than Houston, the plot for Friday's game could write itself.

A year after the Miners' field-storming upset that dashed Houston's BCS bowl dreams, quarterback Case Keenum's Heisman Trophy hopes and the Cougars' No. 12 ranking, a Houston team that has been waiting 49 weeks gets its shot at revenge.

The problem with the easy story is that it doesn't resemble reality.

"Football is never a personal game," coach Kevin Sumlin said. "No, no, we don't ever talk in terms of revenge. This is a different year, a different team, different players, we're different. When we left we weren't very happy about our effort, but I don't think revenge is ever a motivating factor in a game.

"It may help in an offseason, it may help at the beginning of the week but as soon as you're hit in the mouth that goes out the window. At the beginning of the game it's about football."

Houston's problems in the loss certainly weren't from Keenum's end, as he completed a staggering 51-of-76 passes for 536 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions, but nonetheless he fell out of Heisman polls in the immediate aftermath. He finished the year as the nation's leader in total offense for the second consecutive season and passing efficiency after throwing 44 touchdowns.

"It's something I put behind me," Keenum said. "The whole team really is pretty tired of talking about last year, good games and bad games, all of it," Keenum said. "We're a different team, UTEP is a
different team."

Still, Keenum admits he has a special history with UTEP. His freshman year in the Sun Bowl, he was in a rotation before dominating the fourth quarter and establishing himself as the full-time starter.

His sophomore year against UTEP he led a second-half comeback from deficits of 28-9 and later 35-23 to victory. Then came the upset loss last year that closely followed victories over then-No. 5 Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

"Games between us have always been good games, a lot of fun, back and forth," Keenum said. "We're two good football teams who get up and play well against each other. It's exciting and I'm expecting UTEP to play really well."

While Keenum talks about putting last season behind him, the 2009 campaign that ended in a Conference USA West Division title was a learning experience for a program that certainly wants to generate high expectations.

The Cougars were at the center of a media storm as a potential BCS-busting darling before the loss in the Sun Bowl. Obviously that didn't end well, but Sumlin said Houston grew.

"Obviously looking back on it it was a learning experience," he said. "Until you're in that situation it's hard to explain what's going to happen. You can argue we didn't handle it well. Hopefully last year helped us.

"This team is more mature right now. The older guys can explain to the younger guys how to handle that type of situation."

What Sumlin has never questioned is how his star quarterback, and the only quarterback he's ever worked with in his two-plus years as a head coach, has handled success.

"He's been doing that since he's been here," Sumlin said. "He's been at the top of the country statistically the past couple of years. For us to win he's got to play at the highest level and he's handled that as well as anybody. Nobody is harder on Case Keenum than Case Keenum and he's done a great job."

"I'm more mature," Keenum said of his progress at Houston. "I grow up every game. I've got a lot of guys around me who are more mature as well."

An example of that is how Keenum felt about the opener, a 68-28 victory against Texas State. Keenum and the starting offense played just 7:21 and in that span they scored seven touchdowns while gaining 342 yards, including plays of 63, 40 and 35 yards.

"The team played very well, but we made some mistakes, too," Keenum said. "We're always trying to get better. Every game isn't perfect, there are different things timing-wise, communication is different, the ways receivers run routes, blocking schemes.

"Even when things went well, we can do it better next time."

That attitude begins to explain why Keenum was the best quarterback in the country last year and expects to be even better this season.

 

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UTEP football odds increase

Today, the line on the UTEP-Houston game has UTEP at +20, up from around +18 earlier in the week. Which means sportsbooks are having a difficult time getting people to bet on UTEP, even with the large point spread.

The spread is so large, I thought it would be interesting to look at the five times UTEP was the underdog last year.They were favored in the seven other games.

+36 vs Texas (UTEP lost 64-7)

+14 vs Houston (UTEP won 58-41)

+12 vs Kansas (UTEP lost 34-7)

+8 vs Tulsa (UTEP won 28-24)

+7 vs SMU (UTEP lost, but covered, 35-31)

So, UTEP covered three out of the five times they were underdogs last year. And, more importantly, they covered every time they were underdogs in Conference USA play.

Another good sign? In 2008, UTEP covered as 17-point underdogs against Houston, losing 42-37. Also covered against Houston in 2007, losing 34-31 as 6-point underdogs.

Why is the line increasing this week? I'm guessing because there seem to be more signs pointing toward Buckram not playing. I'm still taking UTEP.

 

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UTEP notes: Knee injury still bothers UTEP runningback


Donald Buckram did not look like someone who would play Friday after not participating in Wednesday's walk-through, but coach Mike Price was still not ruling it out.

"I really don't know," he said when asked about Buckram's status with his bruised knee. "He's feeling better every day. I'm not putting up a cloud, trying to disguise anything. There's been drainage of fluid from his knee to his calf and ankles."

Elijah Goldtrap (ankle) is out at least another week and Paul Santillian (stress fracture in leg) is out for at least several more weeks.

Kicker Dakota Warren was limited in practice Wednesday but Price said that was just precautionary for soreness.

The series

UTEP and Houston met in 1968 and 1948, with the Miners winning both games, before this became a conference game in 2005. Houston is 3-2 since then, winning by an average margin of 38.4 to 37.4. The teams have averaged a combined 1,002.8 yards, by far the most average points and average yards for UTEP against an opponent in the modern era (since 1965).

Bad omen

UTEP has lost 10 of its last 11 Conference USA road games and seven straight since starting 5-4 on the C-USA road. Houston has won a school record 16 consecutive games at Robertson Stadium. Only three teams have home-win streaks longer than Houston: Oklahoma (30), Boise State (26) and Utah (18).

Good omen

The last time UTEP played two conference games in its first four outings was in 2005 when it beat Houston in Week 2. That year it lost to Memphis in Week 4. The Miners play Memphis in Week 4 again this year.

Tale of QBs

Case Keenum is the active national leader in consecutive starts by a quarterback at 41. Trevor Vittatoe is tied with TCU's Andy Dalton for third at 37. Minnesota's Adam Weber is second at 39.

Milestone watch
# Buckram needs 84 yards to tie Fred Wendt (1942, '46-48) at 2,166 career yards for eighth on the program list. He needs 229 yards to tie Pug Gabriel (1947-50) for seventh.

He needs one touchdown for the 21st of his career, which would tie Owen Price (1938-41) for sixth, and three to tie Wendt for fifth.

A 100-yard game would be his 10th and tie Paul Smith (1996-99) for fifth.
# Keenum has 13,224 career passing yards, ranking seventh all-time. He is 29 yards behind Texas' Colt McCoy and 260 behind North Carolina State's Phillip Rivers (2000-03).

He needs 624 total yards to tie BYU's Ty Detmer (1988-91) for sixth in NCAA history with 14,665.

His 107 passing touchdowns is eighth, five behind McCoy.

He needs 25 attempts to give him 1,609, which would tie Missouri's Chase Daniel (2005-08) for 10th and 61 to tie McCoy for ninth.

His next completion will be his 1,094th and tie Daniel for eighth. He needs 22 to tie Hawaii's Colt Brennan (2005-07) for seventh.