HOUSTON — Case Keenum sank to his good knee, handed the ball to the referee and embraced his teammates at the end of a surreal day at Robertson Stadium.
Houston’s star senior quarterback looked like his old self Saturday, completing 30-of-40 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns in the Cougars’ 38-34 win over UCLA.
Richard Brehaut completed 17-of-26 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns in relief of Kevin Prince, who left with a concussion. Johnathan Franklin rushed for 128 yards for the Bruins, but it wasn’t enough.
The outcome offered redemption for Keenum, who tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in the second quarter of a loss to UCLA last September in the Rose Bowl. He underwent reconstructive surgery and wondered if he’d ever play college football again until the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility in January.
The reprieve allows him to resume his chase of several NCAA career records, and Keenum could hardly contain his excitement as he counted down the hours before kickoff.
“This whole day has just been everything I wanted it to be,” he said. “It was just awesome.”
Prince, who started and finished 3-for-3 with 58 yards, left in the second quarter with a concussion when Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden upended him on a scramble.
Sacramento State 29, Oregon State 28 (OT)
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Sacramento State’s Jeff Fleming hit Brandyn Reed with a touchdown pass in overtime to pull even with Oregon State and found him again in the end zone when the Hornets went for the two-point conversion for an upset win.
With the game tied at 21, true freshman Malcolm Agnew put the Beavers ahead in overtime with a 17-yard touchdown run. Fleming countered with a 4-yard scoring pass to Reed and the conversion to win it.
Fleming completed 22-of-35 passes for 257 yards and three scores for the Big Sky’s Hornets, who were 0-10 against upper division opponents since 2002.
No. 7 Stanford 57, San Jose St. 3
STANFORD, Calif. — Andrew Luck threw two touchdowns and ran for another score, while connecting with seven different receivers.
No. 25 USC 19, Minnesota 17
LOS ANGELES — Freshman quarterback Max Shortell came off the Gophers’ bench in the fourth quarter and threw a 12-yard TD pass to Brandon Green with 8:03 to play, but Torin Harris intercepted his pass near midfield with 53 seconds left and USC hung on to spoil Jerry Kill’s coaching debut for Minnesota.Washington St. 64, Idaho St. 21
PULLMAN, Wash. — Backup quarterback Marshall Lobbestael threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns in relief of starting quarterback Jeff Tuel, who fractured his left clavicle.
California 36, Fresno State 21
SAN FRANCISCO — Zach Maynard threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns to Marvin Jones in a game played at a neutral site, Candlestick Park.
Washington 30, Eastern Washington 27
SEATTLE — Desmond Trufant intercepted Eastern Washington quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell in the end zone with 29 seconds left.
