West Division rivals face off at Chapman Field
this weekend, as the 13th-ranked Houston Cougars lock up with the Tulsa Golden
Hurricane in a Conference USA matchup.
The Cougars claimed the West Division crown back in 2006, but Tulsa has taken
the last two titles, giving Houston even more motivation heading into this
weekend. Houston kept control of its destiny in the West Division courtesy of
a last-minute 50-43 shootout victory over Southern Miss this past weekend.
"Every week you see wild games and you hope you're not part of it," said head
coach Kevin Sumlin. "It's how you finish that situation. Our guys didn't
panic, we made enough plays to win and that's the bottom line."
Houston is now tied with SMU atop the West Division standings at 3-1, but the
Cougars defeated the Mustangs the prior week, giving them the edge in the tie-
breaker. At 7-1 overall, the Cougars are off to their best start since 1990,
as they continue to climb the national rankings.
For Tulsa, it had become the team-to-beat in C-USA after consecutive double-
digit win campaigns in 2007-08. The Hurricane however, has fallen off this
season courtesy of a current three-game losing skid, its longest since
dropping three in a row to start the 2004 campaign. In last weekend's C-USA
home-opener, Tulsa came out flat and was stunned by SMU in a 27-13 setback.
"Naturally, a very disappointing day for us," said head coach Todd Graham. "We
didn't play very good in all three phases."
The Hurricane is now just 2-2 within the conference and it has dropped four
games overall, one more than all of last year.
This is the 35th encounter between Houston and Tulsa, with the Cougars holding
a slim 18-16 edge in the all-time series. Houston blasted Tulsa last season,
70-30, exacting revenge for a 56-7 loss the prior year.
Quarterback Case Keenum showed exactly why he deserves Heisman Trophy
consideration, as he threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Edwards with 21
seconds left to give Houston a 50-43 win over USM this past weekend.
"Keenum's level of play establishes an attitude for our whole team," said
coach Sumlin. "If we're behind, we're going to win the game and if it's close
we're going to win that game. I don't think there's any doubt on our whole
team."
USM had actually just tied the game with 57 seconds left before Keenum drove
Houston 77 yards in just 36 seconds for the game-winning score. Keenum
finished the game 44-of-54 for a career-best 559 yards and five touchdowns,
helping the Cougars pile up 750 yards of total offense. Houston is averaging
an electric 563.2 total ypg behind Keenum, who has now completed 71.6 percent
of his tosses for over 3,000 yards, with 25 touchdowns against only five
picks.
James Cleveland has emerged as Keenum's favorite target, but there are plenty
of weapons in the Cougars' arsenal, including four players with at least 37
catches. Cleveland heads the group with 62 catches for 686 yards and eight
scores, and last weekend he enjoyed a career day, pulling in 13 passes for 190
yards and a pair of touchdowns.
In the backfield, Bryce Beall appears to have lost his grip on the starting
job, as freshman Charles Sims begins to emerge. Sims went for 95 yards and a
touchdown last weekend and he now has 347 rushing yards on the year.
Defensively, the Cougars' struggles were brought front and center last
weekend, as they were torched by USM for 608 total yards, including 248 on the
ground. The unit recorded only one sack and takeaway in the poor performance,
while USM averaged 7.4 yards per play.
"We're not going to be able to stop everybody but that's why we are a team,"
said corner Brandon Brinkley. "We have to work together but sometimes we can't
stop them. That's why we have to depend on our offense so that they can create
plays."
The defense is certainly lucky to have an offense that can bail them out, as
the Cougars are allowing 461.8 total ypg, including 222.6 ypg on the ground
this season.
Despite the unit's struggles, Marcus McGraw and C.J. Cavness continue to rank
among the top tacklers around, as they have recorded 87 and 80, respectively,
this season.
Tulsa averaged well over 500 ypg each of the last two seasons, but the
Hurricane has shown it is no longer a prolific offensive team, gaining a
modest 389.5 total ypg in 2009. Last weekend further illustrated this unit's
decline, as the Hurricane had just 13 first downs and 322 total yards in a
loss to SMU.
"Obviously we didn't play very well today," said coach Graham. "It's not on
any one person."
Starting quarterback G.J. Kinne struggled greatly last weekend, throwing for
just 10 yards and two picks, and he was replaced by Jacob Bower, who did a
better job in passing for 206 yards and a score. Kinne apparently had
concussion-like symptoms that affected his play and his status for this
weekend is unknown. That could be a big loss, not only because Bower has a
very
limited amount of experience, but because Kinne was an effective starter,
totaling 15 touchdowns (13 passing) on the season.
Damaris Johnson and Slick Shelley are the team's top two threats in the
passing game and they have combined for 51 catches, 986 receiving yards and
six scores.
Tulsa has had its up and downs on defense this season and last weekend the
unit was beat for 354 yards through the air by SMU's freshman quarterback. The
Hurricane gave up 429 total yards, with 265 of those yards coming in the
second half, when SMU scored 20 of its 27 points.
"Everything about the game was disappointing to me," said coach Graham. "I
thought, at times, we played very well, but defensively we gave up too many
big plays."
The Hurricane gave up countless plays of 35 or more yards and the defense
spent over 37 minutes of the game on the field and that is simply too long of
a time. The defense did come up with two takeaways and four sacks, so there
were some positives, and the unit has now forced 17 turnovers, to go with 21
sacks on the campaign.
Un'tavious Scott had a pair of sacks in last weekend's loss and he continues
to be the team's top pass rusher, with six sacks and eight TFLs on the
campaign.
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