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Case Keenum, holder of virtually every college career passing record, gave a virtuoso performance during Houston’s 30–14 triumph over Penn State in the second annual TicketCity Bowl in Dallas Monday.
The NCAA FBS career leader in completions (1,546), passing yardage (19,217), touchdowns (155) and 300-yard passing games (39), assisted by his fleet of speedy receivers, overwhelmed the Nittany Lion defense with 45 completions for 532 yards and three touchdowns.
Two of those TDs and an all-time all-bowl record of 227 yards came in the first quarter, which the Cougars dominated, 17–0, while the Lion offense went three-and-out four times.
After those devastating first 15 minutes, in which Penn State had absolutely no offense and even less defense, Houston was actually outscored by the Lions, 14–13.
 This doesn’t mean that the Nittany Lions stopped the Cougars—merely that they slowed them down and kept them out of the end zone in the second half. State matched Houston’s second-quarter scoring with a touchdown and tallied another TD after intermission while holding the Cougars to two field goals.
But, according to Penn State’s interim Head Coach Tom Bradley, it was Keenum’s third TD toss—a 75-yarder after he broke away from the Penn State pass rush in the second quarter—that broke the Lions’ back.
Bradley said it was impossible to simulate Houston’s style and pace of play in practice, and State’s defense just could not adapt to the Cougars’ no-huddle, five-receiver snap-and-play offense, which ran off 35 plays for 245 yards and 17 points, before the Lions’ got their first first-down on their 14th offensive play in the game’s 17th minute.
After Penn State’s defense held the Cougars scoreless for the next 23 plays, safety Drew Astorino slipped as Houston receiver Patrick Edwards made an inside cut, caught Keenum’s perfect throw and raced 75 yards to the end zone less than two minutes before halftime. And Houston went to its locker room with a 24–7 lead.
State played the locals evenly in the second half, gaining 191 yards on 39 plays, including a 69-yard touchdown, while holding Houston to 202 yards on 35 plays and two three-pointers by Matt Hogan.
 The Lions’ brightest moment came late in the third quarter, when quarterback Rob Bolden threw deep down the middle to wide receiver Justin Brown who raced the rest of the way to that 69-yard touchdown that closed the score to 27–14.
But this 17th-ranked, one-loss Houston team, which led the nation with 50 points, 599 yards total offense and 444 yards passing per game, had too much offensive power for 24th-ranked Penn State, which could muster only 14 points on 306 yards of offense, even though the Lions held a 32:11 to 27:49 margin in time of possession.
Nonetheless, the Cougars ran off 85 plays to the Lions 71 and gained an average of 7.1 yards per play to State’s 4.3.
 Houston attempted only 16 rushes but still averaged 4.2 yards per carry compared to the Lions’ 3.8 average on 44 carries. Keenum completed 65.2 percent of his 69 pass attempts with no interceptions, while Bolden could complete only 7 of 27 passes for 137 yards with three interceptions. He could have tied Matt McGloin’s mark of five interceptions in last year’s Outback Bowl, but two Cougar defenders dropped interceptions that might have been pick-sixes. Both quarterbacks had three or four passes dropped by their receivers.
After two tortuous months brought on by the Sandusky child abuse scandal, the Lions appeared to finally wilt under the pressure and showed little heart and desire in the Dallas contest. Penn State fandom showed even less interest, purchasing fewer tickets than for any bowl game in this millennium and focusing their unmitigated attention instead on who would succeed 46-year head coach Joe Paterno as the new gridiron headmaster.
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