Head Case?

You’d think your second win over a Big 12 team, a No. 12 Associated Press poll ranking and BCS discussion aboutyour team would get a guy a bunch of second looks in his town. 

But that’s not the case for Case Keenum. The quarterback and poster boy of the undefeated Houston Cougars says no one seems to give him a second look in the sprawling city he calls home. 

Keenum spoke to ESPN.com about his experience picking up food for him and his girlfriend the day after the Cougars’ come-from-behind win against Texas Tech. 

“No one recognized me,” Keenum told ESPN’s Graham Watson. “You gotta love it, it’s still Houston and it’s still 4 million people here. We may have won over a couple hundred thousand, but there are still some people out there that don’t care. That’s fine. We love it.”

According to the report, Keenum is the most level-headed guy in the locker room. And that will help the Cougars as word gets out about their potential run to the BCS, which takes its next step this Saturday at Sun Bowl Stadium against the Miners. 

Keenum had this to say about UTEP:

“This is going to be a big week for us. UTEP has always played us pretty well. They’re a team that’s hard to go play down there at UTEP. They’ve got a really good stadium down there, a cool atmosphere, and that’s going to be a big test. We’re 0-0 in conference and our goal is to win the West and that comes with keeping level headed and taking it one game at a time. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Bowl projections

Houston’s mercurial rise has not been enough for ESPN’s dueling bowl projectionists to make the Cougars part of the BCS picture. 

Mark Schlabach and TUTO’s most-hated prognosticator Bruce Feldman both still have Houston in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, which goes to the Conference USA champ. 

UTEP, most-deservedly, doesn’t show up on either list. 

It is interesting that Schlabach realizes that Idaho is off to a hot start and places the Vandals in the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl. Feldman, meanwhile, continues to make us question his football knowledge by not noticing.

Comments

[wtcoogfan]

Keenum is not recognized everywhere in Houston because it's the fourth-largest city in the United States. Not because people don't know him. But like he said, that's nice. He doesn't seek the limelight, just wins on the football field.