Thanks TCU
BCS blessed: Boise State choke puts Case Keenum & Houston on the path to an $18million bowl
TCU coach Gary Patterson delighted in gambling against Boise State. Just callhim The Mad Patter.
Case Keenum and Houston just have to win out to make a BCS bowl now.
New Orleans, Miami or the Phoenix area? Sugar, Orange or Fiesta? An SEC opponent like Alabama, a Big 12 test against Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, or an ACC showdown against Clemson?
The possibilities are suddenly all big time for the University of Houston's football team — BCS big. Boise State lost a 36-35 last-second heartbreaker to TCU Saturday, putting the Cougars (10-0) in charge of their own BCS destiny. As long as they win out, Case Keenum & The Coogs will be playing in one of the biggest, and most lucrative, college football bowl games in the land in early January.
It's hard to imagine a college football program ever having a better day than the University of Houston did on Saturday — without even playing a game.
UH will be on national TV in prime time, collecting an $18 million bowl payout and playing one of the haughty, big boy conferences' absolute best.
It's hard to imagine a college football program ever having a better day than the University of Houston did on Saturday — without even playing a game.
Oh, how things broke Case & The Coogs' way. Boise State hadn't lost a home game in 10 years — 10 years! — until Saturday. The Broncos came into the game against TCU as 17-point favorites. And still, Houston watched the Horned Frogs & The Mad Patter pull off the upset it needed to bust into the BCS party.
Boise State couldn't hold the lead against TCU — fumbling with a chance to put the game away, ahead 35-28 inside of three minutes. The Broncos couldn't stop TCU from converting a live-on-the-edge, two-point conversion — with Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson making the gutsy decision to go for the win rather than the tie and then dubbing himself The Mad Patter afterwards. Boise State couldn't even take advantage of one of the worst pass interference calls in recent college football memory — turning that absolute gift into a missed 39-yard field goal as time expired.
TCU 36, Boise State 35. Whose dream is it? Coogs' dream!
If Boise State had won out, Houston would have been blocked from getting into one of the BCS bowls even if it finished 13-0. The Bowl Championship Series is required to take one team from a non-automatic qualifying conference that finishes in the Top 12 — but only one. No. 11 UH seemed to be cursed by having its season for the ages in a year when another non-automatic qualifier was also undefeated and higher ranked.
Until The Mad Patter struck.
Now, Case & The Coogs are awash in wonderful scenarios. The Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 in Glendale, Ariz.? The Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3 in New Orleans? The Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 in Miami? Which one are you rooting for?
Of course, Keenum and Houston have to keep winning to make it happen. The Cougars must beat SMU at Robertson Stadium Saturday afternoon (with ESPN's College GameDay in the house), Tulsa at Tulsa the day after Thanksgiving and likely Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA championship game at Robertson on Dec. 3. SMU (6-4), Tulsa (7-3) and Southern Mississippi (9-1) are all tougher than any opponent UH has faced since the season-opener against UCLA.
But destiny? That's in Case & The Coogs' own hands now.
There are only three undefeated teams left in major college football now — LSU, Oklahoma State and Houston.
