page_title: 2009 Houston Cougars football team
section_title: Rice
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 Houston Cougars football team / Game summaries / Rice
caption_attribution_description: English: A panoramic view of Robertson Stadium taken from the South End Zone during the 2009 Bayou Bucket Classic.
context_page_description: The 2009 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 64th year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by second year head football coach, Kevin Sumlin. The team played its home games at Robertson Stadium, a 32,000-seat stadium on campus in Houston. The Cougars finished the season 10–4, 6–3 in CUSA play, were co–champions of the west division and lost to East Carolina 38–32 in the CUSA Championship Game. They were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they lost to Air Force 47–20. It was the second consecutive year that they had played Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
context_section_description: The final game of the season was a Thanksgiving renewal of the rivalry with Rice, with the two teams playing for the Bayou Bucket.  Houston came into the game with a 27-9 record versus the crosstown Owls.  Much like the Memphis game, Houston's offense scored at will versus the Rice defense.  Case Keenum scored only two touchdowns on 323 yards passing before hitting the showers at halftime, his Cougars leading 59-0.  The game slowed down somewhat in the third quarter, and Houston extended its lead to 65-0 before Houston's reserves conceded two touchdowns.  Houston's reserves added two touchdowns of their own, and the Cougars defended the Bayou Bucket 73-14.  The 73 points was the most scored by any team in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS season.  The victory also sealed a CUSA West title for the Cougars - though SMU won earlier in the day, Houston owned the tiebreaker by way of defeating the Mustangs in October.  Houston's ranking improved two spots in all polls; the Coaches' and Harris polls placed the Cougars at #18 and the BCS at #21.
caption: The 2009 Bayou Bucket Classic at Robertson Stadium
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:19 01:58:00", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "762", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2568", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "31/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:11:28 07:46:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:11:28 07:46:13", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "408067/125000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "11086", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2195", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}