Fort Worth Cats pitcher
Aaron Crow taken with
12th pick in MLB Draft
U of H Coogs Start Slow but Finish Strong to Down SMU and Stay Undefeated

HOUSTON -- With the national spotlight on the Houston Cougars, and a packed house at Robertson Stadium hoping to see an offensive onslaught once again, U of H started slow but used a steady effort to crush SMU 37-7 to climb even higher in the college polls.

This time the Coogs (11-0, 7-0) put together one of their most complete games of the season as they used a solid defensive performance to compliment their high powered offense and help come away with the win over a 6-5 SMU team that no one took lightly.

























"We had to settle down. We struggled at first and had to kick some field goals. There are just little things we need to work on and execute. We just need to relax even when we are not

SMU, who was playing without C-USA's leading rusher Zach Line who is finished for the season with a toe injury, opened the second half with an impressive 74-yard drive deep into U of H territory but Phillip Steward came up with the big play for the Cougars when he picked off SMU quarterback J.J. McDermott to snuff out the scoring threat. SMU continued to find the going tough against an aggresive Cougar defense as they turned the ball over again on their next drive. This time D.J. Hayden and Kelvin King brought the heat and forced a fumble when they they muscled their way past the Mustang offensive line and hit McDermott. The turnovers resulted in 10 points for the Cougars as they began to build on their lead and put the game out of reach.























"Another record in definitely awesome. It's not a small thing, and you have to give everybody credit. "It's not just one person. It was a great overall team win," said Keenum.

Now the Cougars will head to Tulsa where they will take on the Golden Hurricanes in their regular season finale with the C-USA West Division title and conference championship berth on the line.

FINAL STATS

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With ESPN's Collge Gameday making an appearance at Robertson Stadium, the Cougars defense seized their time in the spotlight by holding SMU to 24 yards rushing and 263 total yards while giving up just one touchdown to the Mustangs.

"We've improved defensively. We're not anywhere near where we want to be, but that improvement has given us confidence to play in those types of situations. It was good for us to be in a game like that going into Tulsa," said University of Houston Head Coach Kevin Sumlin.

U of H struggled to score in the first half as the SMU defense looked to show they were up to the task of keeping up with the high powered Cougars offense. The Cougars had to settle for a first quarter Matt Hogan field goal as they took a 3-0 lead at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter. Hogan connected again late in the second quarter on a 21-yarder and Micheal Hayes finished off the first half scoring with a 36-yard run late in the first half to send the Cougars to the locker room with a 13-0 lead.
SMU finally put some points on the board midway through the fourth quarter when McDermott connected with Darius Johnson on a 8-yard touchdown pass with 8:33 left in the game. U of H would respond with scoring drive of their own in the form of a 7-play 77-yard drive that Case Keenum capped off with a 16-yard run to make it 30-7. Cotton Turner came on in relief of Keenum and finished of the scoring with a 43-yard pass to Gino Collins with just over a minute to go in the game as the Coogs stayed undefeated with the 37-7 win.

The Cougars did a great job of keeping pressure on McDermott and Sammy Brown helped lead the way as he finished with three sacks on the day.

Keenum, known for setting some NCAA records during his stellar career, continued to etch his name in the record books as he became the NCAA's all time leader in completions with his 30-of-45, 318 yard passing performance.