2011 Houston Cougars football team The 2011 Houston Cougars football team ( also known as the Houston Cougars , Houston , or UH ) represented the University of Houston in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season . It was the 66th year of season play for Houston . The program was a member of Conference USA in its West Division . The team was coached by fourth - year head football coach Kevin Sumlin , and played its home games at Robertson Stadium — a 32 , 000 - seat stadium on campus in Houston . After missing a majority of the 2010 season due to injury , starting quarterback Case Keenum had returned for 2011 . The Cougars finished the regular season 12 – 0 , setting a new school record for wins . It was also the first undefeated and untied regular season in the program ' s 66 - year history ; however , the team lost to Southern Miss in the 2011 Conference USA Football Championship Game . Had the team won the championship game , Houston would have garnered its ( and C - USA ' s ) first - ever Bowl Championship Series berth , as well as its first major - bowl appearance since the 1985 Cotton Bowl . Instead , Houston played in the TicketCity Bowl against Penn State — at the site of the Cotton Bowl — beating Penn State . Pre - season . Top 25 rankings . During the pre - season , Houston was ranked in several notable top 25 polls . Phil Steele ranked the team as No . 21 . Just outside the Top 25 , Houston was ranked as No . 30 in ESPN . com ' s power rankings , No . 31 by " Sporting News " , No . 36 in the AP Poll , and No . 37 in the Coaches ' Poll . Awards & award watch lists . Bryce Beall Case Keenum Chris Thompson Marcus McGraw Patrick Edwards Game notes . UCLA . UCLA of the Pacific - 12 Conference traveled to Robertson Stadium in Houston ' s season opener . The Bruins led the overall series with Houston 3 – 2 , which started on September 17 , 1977 in the Astrodome . In 2010 , the Bruins had defeated the Cougars 31 – 13 in the Rose Bowl . The game ' s first quarter consisted of a 10 – 0 lead of Houston over UCLA . Senior running back Michael Hayes was credited with the first touchdown of the game . Redshirt junior Matt Hogan was responsible for the PAT as well as a 35 - yard field goal later in the quarter . Although the Bruins ' Johnathan Franklin and Joseph Fauria with quarterback Richard Brehaut managed to score two touchdowns , Houston still outscored UCLA in the second quarter . Michael Hayes scored another touchdown for Houston , and fellow senior running back Bryce Beall . Senior wide receiver Tyron Carrier scored the third Cougar touchdown when he received a 23 - yard pass from senior quarterback Case Keenum before the half . Houston went to the locker room with a 31 – 14 lead . In the second half , UCLA struck back to make the game close , as UCLA scored an unanswered 14 points in the third quarter with two touchdowns by Derrick Coleman and Brehaut respectively . However , the both teams ' offenses struggled in the fourth quarter . Houston ' s senior offensive lineman Chris Thompson recovered a fumble from teammate Bryce Beall in the UCLA end zone to receive credit for a touchdown . Following the score , UCLA ' s Brehaut completed an 11 - yard pass to Anthony Barr in another UCLA touchdown . Freshman kicker Kip Smith ' s kick was blocked by Houston , thus halting the PAT . Houston won the game with a 38 – 34 score . North Texas . Houston traveled to Denton , Texas to face North Texas of the Sun Belt Conference for the thirteenth time in program history . A former conference - mate of Houston in the Lone Star Conference , Gulf Coast Conference , and Missouri Valley Conference , the Mean Green led the all - time series against the Cougars 7 – 5 . However , Houston had won their last three games against North Texas . The game marked the opening of a new home for the Mean Green at Apogee Stadium . Its attendance was 28 , 075 , and was the third - largest in North Texas ' history . Louisiana Tech . In Houston ' s second away game of the season , the team traveled to Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston , Louisiana to compete against Louisiana Tech of the Western Athletic Conference for the sixth time in history . The two programs had first met in 1948 , and Houston led the all - time series 3 – 2 . Louisiana Tech ' s record was 1 – 1 , and was coached by second - year Sonny Dykes . With a lopsided 14 – 34 score heading into the fourth quarter , Houston managed to achieve their biggest comeback in school history by shutting out the Bulldog offense , and scoring 21 points to win the game . Louisiana Tech took a 7 – 0 lead after Lennon Creer scored a 1 - yard rushing touchdown with 11 : 12 left in the first quarter . Tech extended their lead over Houston to 10 – 0 after Matt Nelson kicked a 30 - yard field goal with 10 : 10 left in the second quarter . Houston scored its first points of the night with 7 : 21 left in the second quarter when Case Keenum connected with Michael Hayes for a 54 - yard touchdown to cut Louisiana Tech ' s lead to 10 – 7 . Louisiana Tech answered with a 2 - yard touchdown run by Ray Holley and a 47 - yard field goal by Nelson to take the 20 – 7 lead at halftime . Both teams traded punts to open the third quarter . With 6 : 47 left in the third quarter , Louisiana Tech QB Nick Isham completed a 16 - yard touchdown pass to Quinton Patton to increase Tech ' s lead to 27 – 7 . After Quinn Giles intercepted a pass by Case Keenum , Ray Holley scored his second rushing touchdown in the game on a 7 - yard TD run to bring the Louisiana Tech lead to 34 – 7 with 5 : 11 left in the third quarter . Houston began their comeback when Keenum completed a 50 - yard touchdown pass with 4 : 27 left in the third quarter to make the score Louisiana Tech 34 , Houston 14 . Bryce Beall ran for a 2 - yard touchdown to cut the Tech lead to 34 – 21 with 12 : 53 left in the fourth quarter . After Houston recovered a fumble by Tech ' s Ray Holley , Houston completed an 80 - yard drive down the field with a 4 - yard touchdown run by Beall to make the score 34 – 28 Louisiana Tech with 7 : 25 remaining in the game . Houston took its first lead of the night after Keenum threw a 32 - yard touchdown pass to make the score Houston 35 – 34 with 1 : 36 remaining in the game . Houston went on to win the game after Tech turned the ball over on downs in the last minute of the game . Louisiana Tech generated 444 yards on offense on 98 plays . Lennon Creer and Ray Holley combined for 47 carries , 161 yards , and three touchdowns on the ground , as Louisiana Tech ran 66 rushing plays in the game which is tied for the 2nd - most carries by a Bulldog team in the history of the program . Quinton Patton caught five passes for 82 yards and one touchdown for the evening and was later named to the Fred Biletnikoff Award Watch List after the game as a result of his play through the first three games of the 2011 college football season . The crowd of 24 , 628 at Joe Aillet Stadium for the Louisiana Tech vs . Houston marked the sixth - largest crowd for a Louisiana Tech football game at Joe Aillet Stadium . Georgia State . Houston returned home for their game against Georgia State . An NCAA Division I FCS independent , Georgia State was coached by Bill Curry , and had a 1 – 2 record at this point in the season . This was the first meeting between the two teams , and it marked the end of Houston ' s out - of - conference schedule . With a score of 56 – 0 , this was Houston ' s first shutout victory since the 1999 season , when they defeated Louisiana – Lafayette 45 – 0 . Senior quarterback Case Keenum threw for 415 yards , and two touchdowns before being replaced by Cotton Turner in the third quarter of the game . A sell - out game with 32 , 005 in attendance , the matchup was regionally televised on Comcast Sports Southwest . Marshall . Case Keenum became the Football Bowl Subdivision ' s career leader in total offense , throwing for 376 yards and tying his career high with six touchdown passes as Houston beat Marshall 63 – 28 . The senior quarterback needed 130 yards to eclipse the record ( 16 , 910 yards ) set by Hawaii ' s Timmy Chang from 2000 – 04 . He moved past Chang on a 30 - yard pass to Justin Johnson with 3 : 56 left in the first quarter . A . J . Graham threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score for Marshall , which lost handily despite gaining 506 yards and winning possession time by 24 minutes . External link : http : / / espn . go . com / ncf / recap ? gameId = 312950248 SMU . This game marked the 26th meeting of the SMU Mustangs and the Houston Cougars . They last met in the previous season on October 23 , 2010 , where Houston defeated SMU with a final score of 45 – 20 . Following Houston ' s 37 – 7 victory , Houston now leads the series 17 – 9 – 1 . The game was previewed on ESPN ' s " College GameDay " , where it was broadcasted live from the University of Houston campus outside of the Cullen Performance Hall . It was the first time that Houston had hosted an episode of the show , and the first time that it had visited a Conference USA school . Cougar alumnus Carl Lewis appeared as a guest on the show . The game itself was nationally broadcasted on Fox Sports Net . Tulsa . The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane had an opportunity to accomplish one of the goals set long before the season started : Win the C - USA Western Division Title and play the C - USA Championship game . The task was not easy . Undefeated # 8 Houston Cougars ( 11 – 0 , 7 – 0 in C - USA ) were coming to Tulsa to face off against Tulsa Golden Hurricane ( 8 – 3 , 7 – 0 in C - USA ) . The winner was guaranteed to host the C - USA Championship game against the C - USA Eastern Division Title . The Golden Hurricane kept the game close for the first half , but 457 yards and 5 Touchdowns by Case Keenum proved to be too much for the Golden Hurricane to keep up with .