Case Keenum couldn't have been more calm. Even as the lead wilted, even as everyone else in Robertson Stadium felt his fairytale comeback cracking apart, the University of Houston's sixth-year quarterback just kept throwing darts.

Keenum's seen a lot in his college football career. After all, this 23-year-old's spent even more time at UH then Jeff Spicola did at his California high school. But no one's ever seen anything quite like this.

On a day when the winds picked up, and construction dust from Houston's ever-expanding campus whipped across the field, Keenum shrugged off reconstructive knee surgery, a nearly-one-year layoff and the specter of a Cougar collapse. And he absolutely carved up a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conference team's defense.

How about 30-for-40 for 309 yards against UCLA? How about a 148.1 quarterback rating? How's that for a return game?

It resulted in a statement-making 38-34 over the Bruins, the same BCS team that shredded Keenum's knee and thoroughly embarrassed Kevin Sumlin's program in a 30-13 wipeout last September. Sure, there were moments of doubt in the second half, especially when a 31-14 runaway transformed into a 31-28 white-knuckled, nerve tester. But Keenum kept firing the football to UH's array of targets on those quick slants and the Cougars kept marching.

"It's everything I could have imagined," Keenum said afterwards.

And now . . . well, now almost anything seems possible. Even with a Cougar defense that might make the 2010 Houston Texans' D look all right in comparison.

With no more BCS teams left on Houston's schedule, with really no expected tough games until a regular-season-closing, two-game stretch against SMU and Tulsa, anything but 11-0 would almost be a disappointment now. It sounds a little crazy, but it's true.

What a difference the calmest quarterback in the game makes. "I've got the most experienced player in college football," Sumlin said in a pre-game TV interview.

Which means Houston has much more than a fighter's chance. This team has a goal in mind and even if the players aren't about to say the U-word out loud, the 31,114 in Robertson Saturday know what it is.

"It's a good day to be a Coog!" Keenum said postgame, signing off on 790 AM radio interview.

Bold Gameplan

Keenum didn't ease into the game. He came out throwing. Houston's first four plays were passes — and Keenum completed the first three. This was a show of precision, the type of quick routes, quick throws and even quicker huddles that have Keenum on track to break the all-time NCAA passing record. UCLA might as well have been a boxer, reeling from a series of swift body blows.

But what had to really stun the Bruins is how the quarterback with the reconstructed knee kept hurting them with his legs.

It started on that first drive of the game, Keenum's first drive in almost a year — a 16-play, 80-yard march of hurry-up beauty. On third-and-8, with the Cougars threatening to bog down after an impressive push, Keenum took off right up the middle for a nine-yard gain. Two plays later, Houston had a 7-0 lead.

When UCLA pulled within 10-7 in the second quarter, Keenum used his feet again. On a third-and-3, he scrambled up the right sideline for another drive-sustaining first down. One play later, Bryce Beall burst into the end zone untouched for a 12-yard touchdown and a 17-7 Cougars lead. A Keenum scramble in the third quarter on third down allowed the Cougars to go for and convert a fourth-and-1.

"He made me nervous some times," Sumlin said in the minutes after the game. The coach joked, more than half serious, about how UH's spent a lot of time working on quarterback slides in practice. It's hard to corral a competitor though.

Keenum wasn't just playing with his head. He was putting his body in harm's way, again and again, almost sneering at the football fates. Anything to win.

Still, the biggest play of the game may have come when UH's all-everything quarterback gave the ball to Michael Hayes on a simple handoff. Hayes — a senior who went to the same little Texas junior college where Cam Newton found himself — made it anything but simple after that. He bounced off not one, not two, not three, not four, but five potential UCLA tacklers on a 34-yard touchdown run.

The video-game run came right after UCLA pulled within 17-14. And it changed the game forevermore. UH would score two touchdowns in the last 2:10 of the first half, the last coming on that perfect 23-yard dart from Keenum to Tyron Carrier. In a matter of moments, a close game morphed into a 31-14 runaway.

Goodnight Rick Neuheisel? Goodnight demons of 2010 (who could even remember how badly Houston lost to UCLA at the Rose Bowl at halftime)? Goodnight doubt? Hello, undefeated season?

Not quite. Or at least, not just yet.

As good as Houston played on offense in the first half, that's how bad its defense played in the third quarter. Led by backup quarterback Richard Brehaut, the Bruins scored 14 points in their first two second half possessions, the second touchdown coming on a nine-play, 95-yard drive that started with a fumbled Keenum-Beall exchange on the UCLA five-yard line.

Suddenly, 31-14 was 31-28. Houston's 3-4 defense looks just as shaky as it did last season. So much for just needing time to adjust to Brian Stewart's system. Heck, the Cougars' 3-4 looked so bad, it was enough to make even Texans' fans fret over Wade Phillips' switch.

But Keenum lead another drive and center Chris Thompson — yes, the center — scored the clinching touchdown when he recovered a fumble in UCLA's end zone. Thompson didn't hesitate to use every bit of his 285 pounds to pounce on the ball when Carrier lost his handle on a Keenum pass.

Hey, everyone's calm when Keenum's around.

"I guess one of my touchdowns was complete to Chris Thompson, the center," Keenum laughed. "He's never going to let me forget it."

There's usually a lot to remember when Case Keenum's around, calmly flinging that football.