FORT COLLINS — Colorado State safety Klint Kubiak will leave it to his father, Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak, to give the hurricane-stricken Houston area a much-needed shot of feel-good news today.
The University of Houston had eight seconds and 15 yards to go Saturday when Kubiak leapt for a Case Keenum pass into an end zone crowd and came down with a 28-25 CSU victory at Hughes Stadium.
“I looked down at my feet. I was 2, 3 or 4 yards inbounds. It didn’t know it was real,” Kubiak said.
He also checked for flags. On the previous play, a face-mask call on a 23-yard Keenum completion to Patrick Edwards put the Cougars at the CSU 19-yard line.
“We tell our players every day
that all we want is to play hard every snap and then let it go,” CSU coach Steve Fairchild said. “And that’s what Klint had to do. You can’t be moping around.”
Kubiak admitted the penalty “weighed on me even though it’s not supposed to. I kept thinking maybe I’d get another chance.”
Kubiak wasted no time heading to his family cheering section, where just about every relative except his dad escaped the heat to come north.
“They flew in because they didn’t have any power. So to share it with them, it’s an incredible feeling,” Kubiak said.
His mother had just hung up the cellphone with Gary, whose team is in Tennessee to play the Titans, with the news of the penalty.
“I barely saw the play for all the tears,” Rhonda Kubiak said. “I’m happy for CSU (but) I know the University of Houston wanted to give the city a lift.”
Keenum refused to use the week his team spent in Dallas escaping the storm and its aftermath as an excuse. The Cougars flew home Thursday, then to Fort Collins on Friday.
“With only eight seconds left, we tried to take a shot at the end zone. We knew we had a field goal for sure,” Keenum said. “I tried to put it in there and that’s something you don’t try to do as a quarterback whenever you have three points for sure. I tried to do too much.
The kid made a heck of a play. I didn’t make a good read, a good throw.”
The Houston QB didn’t see who came down with the ball. His first thought was CSU’s other safety, Mike Pagnotta, who tormented the Cougars with a fumble recovery, an interception and a 15-yard sack.
Kubiak stayed with his coverage because Keenum had gone to the same spot on the left side of the end zone to L.J. Castile on a 3-yard pass and a two-point conversion.
But first-year Houston coach Kevin Sumlin said: “With eight seconds you got two plays. It should be a touchdown or out of bounds.”
CSU (2-1) spent the week preparing for a second-half onslaught from the Cougars, so the Rams rolled to a 21-0 first-half start. CSU set the tone when Billy Farris connected with Dion Morton on a 79-yard TD play on the second play of the game. But CSU couldn’t capitalize on Jeff Horinek’s interception on the next drive.
Nearly lost in Kubiak’s game-ending play was Farris’ outing: 24-of-33 for 276 yards, two TDs and no interceptions. Morton was the main target, catching five passes for 126 yards.
The Cougars (1-3) averted a shutout in the first half with a Ben Bell field goal as time expired. In the second half, Houston either scored a touchdown or turned over the ball.
“It was our second game in a row where we could have easily lost the game, but we ended up coming up with the win,” Horinek said. “It’s huge. We’ll do that every game the rest of the way if we have to.”
Key stat
3-of-54: Houston quarterback Case Keenum was picked off three times (Jeff Horinek, Mike Pagnotta, Klint Kubiak) in 54 passes. Until a week ago against Air Force, Keenum boasted a two-season, 219-pass attempt streak without a pick. The Rams didn’t convert the three picks or fumble recovery into any points.
Key play
Kubiak robbed Houston’s L.J. Castile of the winning touchdown with 2 seconds left, making up for a face-mask call that put the Cougars on the CSU 19 with 8 seconds left.