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2011 Houston Cougars football team

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2011 Houston Cougars football
C-USA West Division champion
TicketCity Bowl champion
ConferenceConference USA
DivisionWest Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 14
APNo. 18
Record13–1 (8–0 C-USA)
Head coach
Co-offensive coordinatorJason Phillips (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinatorKliff Kingsbury (2nd season)
Offensive schemeAir raid
Defensive coordinatorBrian Stewart (2nd season)
Base defense3–4
Home stadiumRobertson Stadium
Seasons
← 2010
2012 ⊟
2011 Conference USA football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
East Division
No. 20 Southern Miss x$   6 – 2     12 – 2  
Marshall   5 – 3     7 – 6  
East Carolina   4 – 4     5 – 7  
UAB   3 – 5     3 – 9  
UCF   3 – 5     5 – 7  
Memphis   1 – 7     2 – 10  
West Division
No. 18 Houston x   8 – 0     13 – 1  
Tulsa   7 – 1     8 – 5  
SMU   5 – 3     8 – 5  
Rice   3 – 5     4 – 8  
UTEP   2 – 6     5 – 7  
Tulane   1 – 7     2 – 11  
Championship: Southern Miss 49, Houston 28
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
As of January 10, 2012
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2011 Houston Cougars football team (also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH) represented the University of Houston in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 66th year of season play for Houston. The program was a member of Conference USA in its West Division.

The team was coached by fourth-year head football coach Kevin Sumlin, and played its home games at Robertson Stadium—a 32,000-seat stadium on campus in Houston. After missing a majority of the 2010 season due to injury, starting quarterback Case Keenum had returned for 2011.[1]

The Cougars finished the regular season 12–0, setting a new school record for wins. It was also the first undefeated and untied regular season in the program's 66-year history; however, the team lost to Southern Miss 49–28 in the 2011 Conference USA Football Championship Game. Had the team won the championship game, Houston would have garnered its (and C-USA's) first-ever Bowl Championship Series berth, as well as its first major-bowl appearance since the 1985 Cotton Bowl. Instead, Houston played in the TicketCity Bowl against Penn State—at the site of the Cotton Bowl—beating Penn State 30–14.

Pre-season

[edit]
Houston City Hall illuminated red in celebration of Houston's undefeated regular season and C-USA Championship appearance

Top 25 rankings

[edit]

During the pre-season, Houston was ranked in several notable top 25 polls. Phil Steele ranked the team as No. 21.[2] Just outside the Top 25, Houston was ranked as No. 30 in ESPN.com's power rankings, No. 31 by Sporting News, No. 36 in the AP Poll, and No. 37 in the Coaches' Poll.[3][4][5][6]

Awards & award watch lists

[edit]

Bryce Beall[7]

Case Keenum[7]

Chris Thompson[7]

Marcus McGraw[7]

Patrick Edwards[7]

  • Fred Biletnikoff Award watch list
  • Conference USA Preseason offensive first team selection[8]
  • Conference USA Preseason special teams first team selection[8]
  • Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year

Schedule

[edit]

[10][11]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 32:30 p.m.UCLA*
FSNW 38–3431,144
September 106:00 p.m.at North Texas*
ESPN3W 48–2328,075
September 176:00 p.m.at Louisiana Tech*
ESPN3W 35–3424,628[12]
September 247:00 p.m.Georgia State*
  • Robertson Stadium
  • Houston, TX
CSSW 56–032,005
September 297:00 p.m.at UTEP
CBS SNW 49–4224,111
October 86:00 p.m.East Carolina
  • Robertson Stadium
  • Houston, TX
CBS SNW 56–330,126
October 223:30 p.m.MarshalldaggerNo. 21
  • Robertson Stadium
  • Houston, TX
CSSW 63–2832,107
October 277:00 p.m.RiceNo. 18
  • Robertson Stadium
  • Houston, TX (rivalry)
FSNW 73–3432,112
November 56:00 p.m.at UABNo. 14
CBS SNW 56–1313,909
November 107:00 p.m.at TulaneNo. 11
CBS SNW 73–1717,657[13]
November 192:30 p.m.SMUNo. 11
FSNW 37–732,207
November 2511:00 a.m.at TulsaNo. 8
FSNW 48–1629,015
December 311:00 a.m.No. 24 Southern MissNo. 7
ABCL 28–4932,413
January 211:00 a.m.vs. No. 24 Penn State*No. 20
ESPNUW 30–1446,817
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

[edit]

UCLA

[edit]
UCLA at Houston
1 2 3 4 Total
UCLA 0 14 14 6 34
Houston 10 21 0 7 38
See also: 2011 UCLA Bruins football team

UCLA of the Pac-12 Conference traveled to Robertson Stadium in Houston's season opener. The Bruins led the overall series with Houston 3–2, which started on September 17, 1977, in the Astrodome. In 2010, the Bruins had defeated the Cougars 31–13 in the Rose Bowl.

The game's first quarter consisted of a 10–0 lead of Houston over UCLA. Senior running back Michael Hayes was credited with the first touchdown of the game. Redshirt junior Matt Hogan was responsible for the PAT as well as a 35-yard field goal later in the quarter. Although the Bruins' Johnathan Franklin and Joseph Fauria with quarterback Richard Brehaut managed to score two touchdowns, Houston still outscored UCLA in the second quarter. Michael Hayes scored another touchdown for Houston, and fellow senior running back Bryce Beall. Senior wide receiver Tyron Carrier scored the third Cougar touchdown when he received a 23-yard pass from senior quarterback Case Keenum before the half. Houston went to the locker room with a 31–14 lead.

In the second half, UCLA struck back to make the game close, as UCLA scored an unanswered 14 points in the third quarter with two touchdowns by Derrick Coleman and Brehaut respectively. However, the both teams' offenses struggled in the fourth quarter. Houston's senior offensive lineman Chris Thompson recovered a fumble from teammate Bryce Beall in the UCLA end zone to receive credit for a touchdown. Following the score, UCLA's Brehaut completed an 11-yard pass to Anthony Barr in another UCLA touchdown. Freshman kicker Kip Smith's kick was blocked by Houston, thus halting the PAT. Houston won the game with a 38–34 score.

North Texas

[edit]
1 2 3 4 Total
Houston 17 3 21 7 48
North Texas 7 10 0 6 23
See also: 2011 North Texas Mean Green football team

Houston traveled to Denton, Texas, to face North Texas of the Sun Belt Conference for the thirteenth time in program history. A former conference-mate of Houston in the Lone Star Conference, Gulf Coast Conference, and Missouri Valley Conference, the Mean Green led the all-time series against the Cougars 7–5. However, Houston had won their last three games against North Texas. The game marked the opening of a new home for the Mean Green at Apogee Stadium. Its attendance was 28,075, and was the third-largest in North Texas' history.[14]

Louisiana Tech

[edit]
1 2 3 4 Total
Houston 0 7 7 21 35
Louisiana Tech 7 13 14 0 34
See also: 2011 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team

In Houston's second away game of the season, the team traveled to Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston, Louisiana, to compete against Louisiana Tech of the Western Athletic Conference for the sixth time in history. The two programs had first met in 1948, and Houston led the all-time series 3–2. Louisiana Tech's record was 1–1, and was coached by second-year Sonny Dykes. With a lopsided 14–34 score heading into the fourth quarter, Houston managed to achieve their biggest comeback in school history by shutting out the Bulldog offense, and scoring 21 points to win the game.

Louisiana Tech took a 7–0 lead after Lennon Creer scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown with 11:12 left in the first quarter.[15] Tech extended their lead over Houston to 10–0 after Matt Nelson kicked a 30-yard field goal with 10:10 left in the second quarter.[15] Houston scored its first points of the night with 7:21 left in the second quarter when Case Keenum connected with Michael Hayes for a 54-yard touchdown to cut Louisiana Tech's lead to 10–7.[15] Louisiana Tech answered with a 2-yard touchdown run by Ray Holley and a 47-yard field goal by Nelson to take the 20–7 lead at halftime.[15]

Both teams traded punts to open the third quarter. With 6:47 left in the third quarter, Louisiana Tech QB Nick Isham completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Quinton Patton to increase Tech's lead to 27–7.[15] After Quinn Giles intercepted a pass by Case Keenum, Ray Holley scored his second rushing touchdown in the game on a 7-yard TD run to bring the Louisiana Tech lead to 34–7 with 5:11 left in the third quarter. Houston began their comeback when Keenum completed a 50-yard touchdown pass with 4:27 left in the third quarter to make the score Louisiana Tech 34, Houston 14.[15] Bryce Beall ran for a 2-yard touchdown to cut the Tech lead to 34–21 with 12:53 left in the fourth quarter.[15] After Houston recovered a fumble by Tech's Ray Holley, Houston completed an 80-yard drive down the field with a 4-yard touchdown run by Beall to make the score 34–28 Louisiana Tech with 7:25 remaining in the game.[15] Houston took its first lead of the night after Keenum threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to make the score Houston 35–34 with 1:36 remaining in the game.[15] Houston went on to win the game after Tech turned the ball over on downs in the last minute of the game.[15]

Louisiana Tech generated 444 yards on offense on 98 plays.[15] Lennon Creer and Ray Holley combined for 47 carries, 161 yards, and three touchdowns on the ground, as Louisiana Tech ran 66 rushing plays in the game which is tied for the 2nd-most carries by a Bulldog team in the history of the program.[15][16] Quinton Patton caught five passes for 82 yards and one touchdown for the evening and was later named to the Fred Biletnikoff Award Watch List after the game as a result of his play through the first three games of the 2011 college football season.[15] The crowd of 24,628 at Joe Aillet Stadium for the Louisiana Tech vs. Houston marked the sixth-largest crowd for a Louisiana Tech football game at Joe Aillet Stadium.[16]

Georgia State

[edit]
Georgia State at Houston
See also: 2011 Georgia State Panthers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Georgia State 0 0 0 0 0
Houston 21 14 14 7 56

Houston returned home for their game against Georgia State. An NCAA Division I FCS independent, Georgia State was coached by Bill Curry, and had a 1–2 record at this point in the season. This was the first meeting between the two teams, and it marked the end of Houston's out-of-conference schedule. With a score of 56–0, this was Houston's first shutout victory since the 1999 season, when they defeated Louisiana–Lafayette 45–0.[17][18] Senior quarterback Case Keenum threw for 415 yards, and two touchdowns before being replaced by Cotton Turner in the third quarter of the game.

A sell-out game with 32,005 in attendance, the matchup was regionally televised on Comcast Sports Southwest.

UTEP

[edit]
See also: 2011 UTEP Miners football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Houston 0 21 17 11 49
UTEP 14 7 14 7 42

East Carolina

[edit]
See also: 2011 East Carolina Pirates football team
1 2 3 4 Total
East Carolina 3 0 0 0 3
Houston 14 21 7 14 56

Marshall

[edit]
See also: 2011 Marshall Thundering Herd football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Marshall 7 7 7 7 28
#21 Houston 14 21 14 14 63

Case Keenum became the Football Bowl Subdivision's career leader in total offense, throwing for 376 yards and tying his career high with six touchdown passes as Houston beat Marshall 63–28. The senior quarterback needed 130 yards to eclipse the record (16,910 yards) set by Hawaii's Timmy Chang from 2000–04. He moved past Chang on a 30-yard pass to Justin Johnson with 3:56 left in the first quarter. A.J. Graham threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score for Marshall, which lost handily despite gaining 506 yards and winning possession time by 24 minutes.

External link: [1]

Rice

[edit]
See also: 2011 Rice Owls football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Rice 17 3 14 0 34
#18 Houston 14 24 28 7 73

UAB

[edit]
See also: 2011 UAB Blazers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
#14 Houston 7 14 14 21 56
UAB 7 3 3 0 13

Tulane

[edit]
See also: 2011 Tulane Green Wave football team
1 2 3 4 Total
#11 Houston 0 35 24 14 73
Tulane 0 10 0 7 17

SMU

[edit]
See also: 2011 SMU Mustangs football team
1 2 3 4 Total
SMU 0 0 0 7 7
#11/10 Houston 3 10 10 14 37

This game marked the 26th meeting of the SMU Mustangs and the Houston Cougars. They last met in the previous season on October 23, 2010, where Houston defeated SMU with a final score of 45–20. Following Houston's 37–7 victory, Houston now leads the series 17–9–1.

The game was previewed on ESPN's College GameDay, where it was broadcast live from the University of Houston campus outside of the Cullen Performance Hall. It was the first time that Houston had hosted an episode of the show, and the first time that it had visited a Conference USA school. Cougar alumnus Carl Lewis appeared as a guest on the show. The game itself was nationally broadcast on Fox Sports Net.

Tulsa

[edit]
See also: 2011 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team
1 2 3 4 Total
#8/7 Houston 6 7 14 21 48
Tulsa 10 0 6 0 16

The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane had an opportunity to accomplish one of the goals set long before the season started: Win the C-USA Western Division Title and play the C-USA Championship game. The task was not easy. Undefeated #8 Houston Cougars (11–0, 7–0 in C-USA) were coming to Tulsa to face off against Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8–3, 7–0 in C-USA). The winner was guaranteed to host the C-USA Championship game against the C-USA Eastern Division Title. The Golden Hurricane kept the game close for the first half, but 457 yards and 5 Touchdowns by Case Keenum proved to be too much for the Golden Hurricane to keep up with.

Southern Miss

[edit]
Main article: 2011 Conference USA Football Championship Game
See also: 2011 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team
1 2 3 4 Total
#24/23 Southern Miss 7 14 21 7 49
#7/6 Houston 0 14 7 7 28

TicketCity Bowl

[edit]
See also: 2011 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

and 2012 TicketCity Bowl

#19 Houston vs. #22 Penn State
1 234Total
• Houston 17 733 30
Penn State 0 770 14
Scoring summary
113:08HOUPatrick Edwards 40-yard pass from Case Keenum (Matt Hogan kick)HOU 7-0
19:12HOUMatt Hogan 35-yard field goalHOU 10-0
12:35HOUJustin Johnson 8-yard pass from Case Keenum (Matt Hogan kick)HOU 17-0
25:57PSUStephfon Green 6-yard run (Anthony Fera kick)HOU 17-7
21:43HOUPatrick Edwards 75-yard pass from Case Keenum (Matt Hogan kick)HOU 24-7
34:21HOUMatt Hogan 38-yard field goalHOU 27-7
32:38PSUJustin Brown 69-yard pass from Rob Bolden (Anthony Fera kick)HOU 27-14
414:52HOUMatt Hogan 22-yard field goalHOU 30-14

Roster

[edit]
2011 Houston Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
QB 7 Case Keenum  Sr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DB 2 D. J. Hayden Jr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster

Poll rankings

[edit]
See also: 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
APRVRVRVRVRVRV252118141111872018
CoachesRVRVRVRVRVRV222018141110761714
HarrisNot released2422181411107617Not released
BCSNot released19171311118619Not released

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Case Keenum granted sixth year". ESPN. January 14, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2011.
  2. ^ Steele, Phil (May 17, 2011). "Top 30 Countdown Begins!". Phil Steele's College Football Blog. Archived from the original on September 20, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  3. ^ "College Football Power Rankings – Preseason". ESPN. August 15, 2011. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  4. ^ Hayes, Matt (August 29, 2011). "College football preseason top 120: A closer look after a busy offseason". Sporting News. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  5. ^ "2011 NCAA Football Rankings – AP Top 25 Preseason". ESPN. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  6. ^ "2011 NCAA Football Rankings – USA Today Coaches' Poll Preseason". ESPN. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Quarterback Case Keenum Named to Walter Camp Award Watch List". Houston Cougars athletics. July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Houston Earns League-Leading Six Preseason All-Conference USA Selections". Houston Cougars athletics. July 27, 2011. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  9. ^ Quarterback Case Keenum Named C-USA Male Athlete of the Year. Houston Cougars, 16 July 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  10. ^ Houston Cougars Schedule – 2011, ESPN, retrieved 1 August 2011
  11. ^ NCAA Football TV Listings, NCAAFootball.com, retrieved 1 August 2011
  12. ^ "Houston Cougars vs. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs – Box Score – September 17, 2011". ESPN. September 17, 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  13. ^ "Houston Cougars vs. Tulane Green Wave Box Score". ESPN.com. November 10, 2011.
  14. ^ Khan Jr., Sam (September 11, 2011). "UH takes charge in third, routs North Texas 48–23". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Houston vs Louisiana Tech (Sep 17, 2011)". Louisiana Tech & CSTV. CSTV. September 17, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  16. ^ a b 2011 Louisiana Tech Football Media Guide, p. 156
  17. ^ "Football Postgame Notes vs. Georgia State". Houston Cougars. September 24, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  18. ^ "Houston 56, Georgia State 0". ESPN. September 24, 2011. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
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