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High-powered Houston hammers Tulsa

Nov 16, 2008 - 7:01 AM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- On the 40-year anniversary of scoring 100 points against Tulsa, Houston threatened a repeat performance. Instead, both teams combined to hit the century mark on Saturday.

The Cougars tried to it by themselves but came up short, having to settle for a 70-30 victory over the 24th-ranked Golden Hurricane in a Conference USA clash.

The Cougars also came up just short of outscoring the Houston men's basketball team, which defeated Western Kentucky, 73-64, earlier Saturday.

Case Keenum was 24-of-37 for 402 yards and six touchdowns in little more than three quarters.

"It's huge, it was step two of our four-game season and another step in clinching the West (Division) and that's our goal; it continues next week with UTEP," Keenum said. "We practiced all week and had a really good feeling about what the game plan was and came out there and we executed.

Tyron Carrier had a kickoff return for a touchdown, two receiving scores and 292 yards total offense for the Cougars (6-4, 5-1 C-USA West).

"Our coach told us last week, the only team that can beat us is ourselves, and that's true," the freshman said. ""We had to keep scoring. There were times where we were down in the first half and we would come back and score quick then we got on a roll. We had to stop them from scoring and as soon as they scored, we would have to score quick because they might get a boost and have a comeback."

Loyce Means intercepted three passes for Houston ... to prove there was some defense played. He returned one for a touchdown.

"Each day he is getting better, he has to continue to improve and he will be the first to tell you that," Houston coach Kevin Sumlin said of Means. "He is aggressive and he is making some plays, including some big ones tonight."

The game wasn't the highest-scoring game this season. That went to Tulsa and UTEP, which combined for 112 points on October 18.

Tulsa's David Johnson was 18-of-29 for 271 yards and four touchdown passes. The Golden Hurricane have lost two straight after opening the season 8-0.

"We had mistakes here and mistakes there," Tulsa coach Todd Graham said. "We just couldn't get it together. It's the worst game we've played all year, but you have to give them credit. They played a really, great game."

The teams combined for 1,147 yards in total offense.

The Golden Hurricane (8-2, 5-1 C-USA West) thought they would go into halftime down 35-17 after Johnson connected with Jacob Collums from 7 yards with 22 seconds left in the half.

However, Carrier took the kickoff at his 7 and returned it 93 yards to make it 42-17.

Coach (Tony) Levin told us exactly how it was going to look," Carrier said. "When I caught it, I thought I could take this one into the end zone. I ran fast and my teammates had amazing blocks. I've never seen anything that pretty in high school or college (football)."