Houston-Tulsa Preview

A career-high performance by Case Keenum capped by some last-minute heroics got Houston's vaunted passing game back on track.

Keenum now has the Cougars in position for their longest winning streak in three years and perhaps their first top 10 appearance since 1991.

No.13 Houston will try to match both feats Saturday night when they face Tulsa, a team looking to avoid a fourth loss in a row.

Keenum came through with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Edwards with 21 seconds to play to help the Cougars (7-1, 3-1) to a 50-43 victory over Southern Mississippi last Saturday. The Golden Eagles had taken the lead 36 seconds earlier.

"I try to have that calm demeanor." Keenum said. "I think the quarterback needs to be the steady hand out here. Not too high when things are good and not too low when things are bad."

Keenum finished the game completing 44 of 54 passes for a career-high 559 yards while matching his season high with five touchdowns. That came a week after the junior struggled in a 38-15 win over SMU, throwing for a season-low 233 yards with one score.

Keenum is the linchpin of Houston's passing offense, which leads the nation with an average of 422.6 yards while scoring 26 touchdowns. The team's 333 points ranks third behind Texas Tech and No. 2 Texas, while wide receivers James Cleveland (686 yards), Tyron Carrier (599) and Edwards (564) are among the top eight in the conference in receiving while combining for 15 TDs.

"We expect to go out there and throw and catch and get upfield," said Keenum, who helped Houston climb two spots in this week's AP poll. "We expect to get those first downs and turn those into touchdowns."

The Cougars, who are No. 15 in the BCS, are in position to reach the top 10 of the poll for the first time since Sept. 8, 1991. They could get there with a strong victory over Tulsa (4-4, 2-2) while getting their first five-game winning streak since a six-game run from Oct. 21-Dec. 1, 2006.

Houston holds an 18-16 advantage in the all-time series, winning three of four since Tulsa joined Conference USA in 2005.

The Cougars beat the Golden Hurricane 70-30 on Nov. 15 after losing in their last visit to Tulsa a year earlier, 56-7. Houston is 6-9 at Tulsa.

"They still play hard, and they still have good players," Houston coach Kevin Sumlin said. "They caught a couple bad breaks. For whatever reason, they have not been able to get over the hump. They've been close and just haven't made it."

Tulsa is looking to avoid its first four-game slide since a losing the 2004 Humanitarian Bowl to Georgia Tech and opening the following season 0-3.

The Golden Hurricane are coming off last week's 27-13 loss to SMU, as they committed 14 penalties to nearly double their previous season high.

"We just have to get things back on track and go get a win," coach Todd Graham said. "To do that, we have to play extremely well this week."

Graham's major concern for Saturday could be who'll start under center. Sophomore G.J. Kinne suffered a concussion against the Mustangs and was replaced by junior Jacob Bower.

Kinne's status is uncertain after completing 2 of 10 passes for 10 yards and two picks last week. He's been solid otherwise, throwing for 1,498 yards with 12 TDs and four interceptions in his first season as a starter.

Bower had 206 yards and a touchdown on 9 for 22 passing after entering last week's game in the second quarter. He's completed 15 of 35 passes for 289 yards and two scores in limited action during four games this season.

"One of the reasons we made a change there was because G.J. seemed dazed and out of it and was missing some reads and throws," Graham said.

Tulsa's pass defense will try to rebound from its worst performance of the season. The unit gave up 354 yards and TD passes of 49 and 36 yards to SMU after holding opponents under 200 yards for three of the previous four games.