A sad Case
UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said he felt sympathy for the Houston coaches, who watched both starting quarterback Case Keenum and backup Cotton Turner go down with season-ending injuries against the Bruins.
After throwing an interception to Akeem Ayers on the 2-yard line midway through the second quarter, Keenum came up lame while chasing Ayers, untouched by anyone, ending his bid for the Heisman Trophy. Keenum came into the game ranked fifth in all-time NCAA passing yards and was off to a great start in 2010 with 553 yards and five touchdowns through two games.
Turner, meanwhile, was effective in relief of Keenum in all three Houston games before suffering a broken clavicle on a hit late in the third quarter.
"It's such a fluke injury," Neuheisel said of Keenum's injury. "I feel terrible for Case, but all he did was try to slow down, and his knee kind of buckled. There was no contact. Reminded me of Koy Detmer at Colorado, he went down with no one around him. A torque in some way that your body says, you can't do it that way."
I sure as heck hope Coach Neuheisel will provide some leadership on the late hit issue. There's no excuse for sloppy, undisciplined play to end any player's season.
Jayc -
WTF are you talking about. Late hit issues?!?!
What are you talking about???? Keenum's injury certainly wasn't the result of a late hit nor was the injury to the backup. No penalties were called on either play.
Um...nobody hit Keenum. And the Cotton Turner hit was certainly not late.
what late hit are you talking about?
the one where Chandler got a personal foul called?
it wasnt a late hit call, he pushed CKs head down before he got up once he landed on top of him. And CK sold it to the refs.
anybody care to bet on Ucla this weekend?
what are you talking about? i can't believe it's not butter!!!
Keenum's injury was a foot-plant problem. He shouldn't have been out there after having his bell rung on the previous play (given the concussion the prior week).
The UH fans sure think the hit on Turner was late. But I stand corrected.
However, UCLA needs to buckle down on defensive penalties caused by careless play. We can't afford it with our schedule and the PAC-10. Holmes was called with a roughing the passer call that extended UH's TD drive. And, to top it off, he was called for a late hit during the PAT. I think he was pulled from the game at that point. Earlier in the game, after Prince had his 2 yd TD run, UCLA was called for a late out of bounds hit during the UH return. From my seat, I couldn't see the hit. Whether or not these calls are merited in the opinion of UCLA fans, they hurt the team. I believe there was some discussion earlier about the viciousness of the hit on Turner. The last thing we want is for UCLA to get a dirty reputation.
I'll bet on UCLA, JoJo. Are we using the official spread? And what are we betting.
Upon further review, it was discovered that the grass around the area where Case got hurt was recently transplanted from Spaulding field where similar injuries occur to Bruins practically every day.
Rick better make sure the hits we laid out on those QB's is saved or at least Ready to go on that smirking pathetic excuse for a qb over at Figueroa Tech. It's only a matter of time...
"Barkley's Reckoning" is the perfect example of Bruin class.