Keenum sets passing record on the fringes

Case Keenum set the record out on the fringes, which is where he lives.

He was in Birmingham, Ala., about 60 miles from the big game in Tuscaloosa. And while Keenum's performance was nationally televised, that hardly means the nation saw it.

Yet Keenum became the most prolific passer to ever play college football on Saturday. He has the big three records — career marks for touchdown passes, total yardage and passing yardage — and plenty more. On Saturday,  he passed former Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang for the career passing yardage record. Chang threw for 17,072 yards from 2000-04. Keenum finished his night having thrown for 407 yards and two touchdowns on 39-for-44 accuracy. He now has 17,212 career passing yards.

He led No. 14 Houston (9-0, 5-0 Conference USA) to beat the University of Alabama-Birmingham (1-8, 1-5) 56-23. The Cougars are 9-0 for the first time.
 
"I'm having a blast playing football right now," Keenum said. "It has been a very special season, and we still have a lot of special things out in front of us."

Keenum has been on this march since last season. He made 636 yards of progress toward the record before blowing out his knee in the third game.

When the NCAA granted him a sixth season of eligibility on account of the injury, the march began anew.

And it has been a march. You hate to call a successful passing offense "plodding," but there is a certain cadence to it. He has thrown for at least 304 yards in every game this year, but only topped 500 once.

You don't throw for 17,000 yards in your career without hitting some bombs, but that is not the way Keenum has done it. The Cougars last two opponents, coach Kevin Sumlin said, have bought into a perception that Houston is a "dink and dunk" offense — death by a thousand cuts. Those teams have played man coverage on the outside and blitzed the linebackers. That's when Keenum drops the razor blades and swings the axe. He threw for 534 and nine touchdowns last week against Rice.

Keenum and the Cougars never seem impressed by themselves. This is merely the offense they run, they run it well, and this is what happens. They call these team records and, though the spotlight likes Keenum, he is happy to share it if he can.

Which, of course, he can't. Every week at Houston there is a press conference that comprises three parts: the Sumlin portion, the Keenum portion and the portion for everybody else. Keenum is the only Cougar who sits at the table and takes questions via the phone lines. This is purely pragmatic; Houston is merely supplying the demand, but the media treat Keenum as an almost separate entity. There is the Keenum story, and there is the Cougars story. They are related, but not the same.

Until now, that is.

The passing of Chang's record fuses the two story lines. There are no more records for Keenum to break. There might be some awards to win, but Keenum won't be seriously considered for the Heisman Trophy unless Houston remains undefeated.

"He has had a record every week for the last three weeks, and that is a big deal," Sumlin said. "A lot of great players have played this game. In order for all these records to take place, it takes 10 other guys in protection, running after the catch and catching footballs, so our team is as happy as he is. Our team takes great pride in everybody's individual success because they understand that it is a team effort. That is why they play so hard."

Keenum has said it would be "pretty cool," to get to this place. Of course it would. Who wouldn't want to have these records? But Keenum has never viewed these as separate stories. Before the season began, he knew he'd get to this point;  he knew who was on Houston's schedule; and he knew most people thought the Cougars would win all their games and, who knows, get into the BCS.

But he said what he wanted out of this season was not a record or a trophy or an invitation to a certain bowl. He said he wanted to win the Conference USA championship. He wanted that because it mattered, and because it could be controlled.

That, of course, has not yet been decided. So Keenum jets out of Birmingham with a new record — the big one. But it was not the big story of the day.

That was 60 miles southwest.