Tulsa
Houston
Houston Handles #24 Tulsa 70-30
11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 15, 2008
Final Stats |
Notes
| Photo Gallery 
Houston, Texas - The 24th-ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane didn't have an answer for Houston's offense on Saturday night as the Cougars captured a 70-30 victory in front of 20,855 fans at John O'Quinn Field. It was payback for the Cougars after last year's 56-7 Tulsa win, and the victory gave Houston the upper hand in the Conference USA West Division, as both teams now stand 5-1 on the year.
The loss dropped Tulsa to 8-2 overall on the season, while Houston improved its season record to 6-4.
The Cougars scored on 9-of-13 possessions and capitalized on three Tulsa turnovers, scoring touchdowns after all three takeaways. Houston scored 42 first half points while amassing 304 yards and 9.2 yards per carry to take a 42-17 lead at the intermission. The Cougars added 35 more points in the second half.
Cougar quarterback Case Keenum threw for 402 yards and a career-high six touchdowns, as Houston totaled 641 yards. Tulsa, who came into the game as the nation's leading offense, tallied 501 yards on the day as quarterback David Johnson completed 18-of-29 passes for 271 yards and four TDs.
Houston put the first points of the game on the board after an interception off a fake Tulsa punt. The Cougars went 36 yards in five plays to take the 7-0 lead on a four-yard pass from Keenum to Tyron Carrier.
With just 0:19 left on the first quarter clock, Houston capitalized on Tulsa's second turnover of the game and took a 14-0 lead as Keenum threw his second TD pass of the game, going four yards to Mark Hafner.
Tulsa managed three points on a 35-yard field goal at the 10:35 mark of the second quarter, capping a 12-play, 55-yard drive.
The Cougars took a 21-3 lead at the 9:07 mark before halftime on a 29-yard Keenum pass to Bryce Beall, capping a 60-yard, five-play drive.
Tulsa scored its first touchdown in the last four quarters as David Johnson threw 30 yards to Charles Clay for the score, capping a five-play, 67-yard drive, cutting the Cougar lead to 21-10 with 5:04 left in the first half.
Houston took only 0:33 to answer the Tulsa score as Keenum threw his fourth TD of the game, a 66-yarder to Carrier, to take a 28-10 lead with 4:31 remaining in the first 30 minutes. The final 90 seconds of the first half saw fireworks from both teams as Keenum threw his fifth TD pass of the game to take a 35-10 lead.
It took the Hurricane just 1:46 to get its 17th point of the game as Johnson threw the final seven yards of a 64-yard drive to tight end Jake Collums. But, Carrier took the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for the touchdown to give the Cougars a 42-17 lead with just 0:09 left before halftime.
The Cougars took its first second-half possession 66 yards in 11 plays as Keenum his Hafner for his second TD reception of the game to take a 49-17 lead with 11:14 left in the third quarter.
Tulsa took only 1:14 to answer Houston's score as the Hurricane went 74 yards in four plays as Johnson completed his third TD of the game with a 35-yard strike to Slick Shelley.
Two minutes and 30 second later, Houston's Andre Kohn ran in from 13 yards to cap a 63-yard, six-play drive and take a 56-24 lead. Then the Cougars' Loyce Means took a Johnson interception 69 yards for a touchdown and a 63-24 lead.
Johnson connected on his fourth TD of the game when he hit Brennan Marion with a 48-yard strike in the end zone, cutting the score the UH lead to 33 points, 63-30, and capping a four-play, 59-yard drive in taking 1:23 off the clock.
After throwing for six TDs, Keenum ran for one in the fourth quarter to give the Cougars a 70-30 lead with 14:04 left in the contest. His six-yard run capped a 61-yard, 12-play scoring drive.
Scoring Summary
| 1st Quarter | |
| UH (10:44) - Case Keenum 4 pass to Tyron Carrier (Bell kick) | 0-7 |
| UH (0:19) - Case Keenum 4 pass to Mark Hafner (Bell kick) 0-14 | |
| | |
| 2nd Quarter | |
| Tulsa (10:33) - Jarod Tracy 35 FG 3-14 | |
| UH (9:07) - Case Keenum 29 pass to Bryce Beall (Bell kick) | 3-21 |
| Tulsa (5:04) - David Johnson 30 pass to Charles Clay (Tracy kick) | 10-21 |
| UH (4:31) - Case Keenum 66 pass to Tyron Carrier (Bell kick) | 10-28 |
| UH (1:21) - Case Keenum 36 pass to L.J. Castile (Bell kick) | 10-35 |
| Tulsa (0:22) - David Johnson 7 pass to Jake Collums (Tracy kick) | 17-35 |
| UH (0:09) - Tyron Carrier 93 KOR (Bell kick) | 17-42 |
| | |
| 3rd Quarter | |
| UH (11:14) - Case Keenum 13 pass to Mark Hafner (Bell kick) | 17-49 |
| Tulsa (10:00) - David Johnson 35 pass to Slick Shelley (Tracy kick) | 24-49 |
| UH (7:30) - Andre Kohn 13 run (Bell kick) | 24-56 |
| UH (4:33) - Loyce Means 69 INT return (Bell kick) | 24-63 |
| Tulsa (3:10) - David Johnson 48 pass to Brennan Marion (pass failed) | 30-63 |
| | |
| 4th Quarter | |
| UH (14:04) - Case Keenum 6 run (Mannisto kick) | 30-70 |
