Houston Loses: What This Means for Keenum

This year, there aren’t clear lines separating the best players from the good players. Usually, by mid-season, you can pick out around 10 players who should be in consideration for the Heisman above all others. I don’t think that’s the case this year. One of my friends actually joked last weekend that they should give the Heisman to the best defensive player this year, because there’s not really a quarterback, running back, etc. that deserves the honor.

One player who is in the mix, though, is Case Keenum, Houston’s quarterback, and I do think that it makes sense we talk about him. The problem? Houston hasn’t had a very hard schedule, according to some critics.

That cracks me up, since the same people are talking about Tim Tebow deserving the Heisman. I’m not saying that Tebow isn’t a great player, but really, what has he done this season that’s so spectacular? Florida didn’t have a harder season than Houston, but Keenum’s stats against Tebow’s blow him out of the water. Coming into this weekend, Houston’s star had only five interceptions in over 450 pass attempts, and he led his non-BCS team to victory against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Mississippi State.

And then this weekend happened. Today, Houston lost to Central Florida. Yes, you read that correctly. Central Florida. Now, I’m not saying that UCF is a horrible team, at least not on the level that a team like Western Kentucky is horrible. But with a record of 5 – 4 coming into today’s game, it was certainly surprising that they even held their own against the 8 – 1 #15 Houston, let alone had a chance to win. And the problem wasn’t necessarily that Keenum or the rest of the Houston team played badly. It was just that Central Florida shut them down.

Case Keenum, Image: Newscom

Does that mean that Keenum should be out of the Heisman mix? In my opinion, no. Even though the UCF defense kept him from making big players, Keenum threw for three touchdowns today, which pushed him to be the all-time leader in touchdowns in Houston’s history.

I think that a lot rides on how other players do over the next few weeks. Houston has Memphis and Rice on their schedule to finish out the season, and those teams are so laughably bad that I’m not sure Keenum will really be able to shine in games against them. Unless you have a really tough opponent, it’s hard to prove that you’re the best.