Keenam Leads Cougars to 50-43 Win Over Southern Miss

UH quarterback Case Keenam threw for 559 yards in the Cougars' 50-43 win over Southern Miss. (Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography, All Rights Reserved)

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2009 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (October 31, 2009) The chances for the Houston Cougars to win the Conference USA Championship may have been dashed if not for a 28-yard touchdown pass from Case Keenam to Patrick Edwards with 21 seconds left in the game to give the Cougars a 50-43 victory over rival Southern Miss.

Southern Miss tied the game 43-43 with 57 seconds left on the game, giving Houston one last possession to get the ball into the end zone.

Case Keenam showed why he is one of the top quarterbacks in the country, passing for four plays and covering 77-yards to give in 36-seconds to secure the win. He threw for a career high 559-yard, completing 43 of 53 passes with one interception.

In a strictly offensive battle, the Cougars and Golden Eagles virtually traded scores the entire game in a game that saw a total of 1,358 yards of combined total offense from both teams.

Southern Miss got on the scoreboard first on a 6-yard run by Damion Fletcher at the 13:38 mark in the first quarter. Justin Esten’s kicked was blocked to make the score 6-0.

The Cougars quickly answered back on a 31-yards run by Charles Sims and a successful Matt Hogan kick to take the score to 7-6.

Southern Miss quarterback Martevious Young came back with 1:00 left in the quarter, hitting Gerald Baptiste on a seventy yard pass play to take the lead by one.

Houston came on like gang-busters in the second quarter, scoring 23 points against nine points for the Golden Eagles.

The Cougars added a field goal in the 3rd quarter to take their lead to 33-22 with 15 minutes to go.

Baptiste added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 43-43.

Then Keenan put on the 36 second show that brought down the curtain on Southern Mississippi.

Keenum had one of the best games of his career; throwing for five touchdowns while only being sacked once. His 557 yards was the highest ever thrown against a Golden Eagles’ team. The previous high was Eric Zeier from Georgia who threw for 544 yards in 1993.