TicketCity Bowl By The Numbers

Bill Connelly over at the Big .Com talked about the fine play of your Houston Cougars in their dismantling of the big-time Big 10 defense of Penn State.

My favorite number?

211: Yardage margin after each team’s first five drives. Houston gained 255 yards on 36 plays (7.1 per play), scored 17 points and missed a field goal; Penn State gained 34 yards on 17 plays (2.0) and punted five times. For the rest of the game, things were mostly even (points: Penn State 14, Houston 13; yards: Houston 345, Penn State 272), but only one team was prepared out of the gates. In the game preview, I mentioned that Houston needed to strike early before Penn State adapted to their style. To say the least, they did.

That’s right. Houston outgained Penn State by 211 yards…after the first five drives!!
Case Keenum and the Cougars acquitted themselves very well in this one and Connelly has the numbers to prove it.

2012 TicketCity Bowl: Case Keenum, Tony Levine React To Houston Victory

The No. 20 Houston Cougars finished their 2011 season with a school record for victories as they coasted to an easy win in the 2012 TicketCity Bowl over No. 24 Penn State by a final score of 30-14.

The win was a feather in the cap for both the school and for quarterback Case Keenum, who set Houston bowl records in passing yards (532), passing attempts (69) and completions (45). He also became the first Cougars starting quarterback to lead his team to multiple bowl wins. Here's what Keenum had to say after the game:

It was great getting 13 wins, bowl victory. It's a long time coming. We've been working hard for this day. It feels good to come out on top with the win...As far as rankings and all that goes, all I'm concerned with is our team ranking this year, where we're going to end up. 13-1, hopefully in the top 15 in the country. I think that's pretty special going out with a win against a good football team like Penn State. As far as all that goes, it is special. It's been great playing at a place that's had a bunch of really good quarterbacks. I want to keep it up. I told...those guys, they need to keep it up. This is their team now. They need to get it going.

The win also served as a great inauguration for new head coach Tony Levine, who took over the position after Kevin Sumlin accepted a job at Texas A&M following the regular season. Here's Levine's reaction:

Really excited about the outcome of the game. Really excited not only for our program but for our seniors. They've led this team all year. Some have been here six years, some have been here two years, everywhere in between. Whatthey mean to us, what they mean to our program, their legacy was left with 13 wins today.

The way our entire football team prepared leading up to this game, I think you saw kind of the fruits of their labor. We had a month to prepare. Our kids wanted to go out against a really, really tremendous opponent in a January bowl game on a national stage and show the country that our loss a month ago in the championship game was not the norm, that was a fluke, not the 12 wins leading up to it.

Proud for our players, proud for our seniors, and proud for the University of Houston, really the whole city of Houston and the state of Texas.

For more on the Penn State side of things, please visit Black Shoe Diaries. For everything college football, check out SB Nation's college football news hub.

TicketCity Bowl 2012 Final: Houston 30, Penn State 14

After Houston raced out to a 24-7 half-time lead, Penn State's defense made a series of half-time adjustments that kept Case Keenum and the Cougars high-flying offense in check.

However, Penn State's run-based offense isn't designed for big second-half comebacks, and Houston's defense was able to take advantage of struggling Nittany Lions QB Rob Bolden, intercepting him three times in the second half.

Keenum, meanwhile, finished the TicketCity Bowl with an eye-popping stat-line of 45 completions, 69 attempts, 532 yards and 3 TD's, capping an illustrious career with a 30-14 victory that gave Houston a 13-win season and a likely top 15 finish in the final polls.

Playing a Penn State team used to grind-it-out Big Ten defensive struggles, the Cougars rushing game never really got going. Senior WR's Patrick Edwards and Justin Johnson more than made up the slack, as the two combined for 376 receiving yards in their last game with Keenum.

Houston's defense, which abandoned them in their only loss of the season against Southern Miss in the Conference USA title game, bounced back with a strong performance, allowing only 306 total yards.

It was a resounding win on a national stage for new coach Tony Levine, who will now have to prove he can keep the program's momentum going as it enters the Big East while replacing Keenum.

VIDEO: Case Keenum's 80 Yard Bomb To Patrick Edwards

Despite a record-setting career at Houston, NFL scouts have been leery of Cougars QB Case Keenum.

There have been questions about his level of competition, his arm strength as well as his ability to make plays in the pocket.

He showed the ability to do all three in this 80-yard bomb to Patrick Edwards at the end of the first half of the 2012 TicketCity Bowl against a top-ranked Penn State defense:

With 380 passing yards in the first half already, Keenum looks like he'll end his college career with a bang.

TicketCity Bowl 2012: Houston Responds To Penn State Run, Has 24-7 Lead At Halftime

After slumbering through a 17-0 first quarter, Penn State seemed to wake up in the second quarter of the 2012 TicketCity Bowl, using strong play from all three units to get back in the game.

Justin Brown walked a tight-rope along the sidelines for a 93-yard punt return that was called back, but not before giving the Penn State offense great field position.

And with starting QB Rob Bolden struggling, the Nittany Lions kept the ball on the ground, controlling the line of scrimmage with RB Silas Redd rushing for 23 yards on 9 carries and RB Stephfon Green getting 36 yards, including scoring up the middle on a fake snap to the QB.

The next drive, Penn State was able to stop Houston on a fourth-and-1 deep in Nittany Lions territory, and all of a sudden, the TicketCity Bowl looked like it would be a game.

But the Cougars quick-strike offense reared its head soon after, as Case Keenum escaped pressure in the pocket to find a streaking Patrick Edwards behind the Penn State secondary for a 75-yard TD pass.

Houston is up 24-7 at the half, with Keenum completing an astounding 30 of 46 passes for 380 yards and 3 TD's.

TicketCity Bowl 2012: Houston Dominates Penn State With 17-0 First Quarter

The TicketCity Bowl had the earliest start of all the Jan. 2 bowl games this year, giving the No. 19 Houston Cougars a rare appearance in the national spotlight.

The Cougars wasted no time showing the rest of the country that their 12-0 start to the season was no fluke.

Looking to make up for a disappointing loss to Southern Miss in the Conference USA title game, Houston opened up their offense against Penn State, with Case Keenum attacking the Nittany Lions throughout.

Keenum has already completed 20 of 31 passes for 270 yards and 2 TD's, spreading the ball around to seven different receivers.

The Nittany Lions have been content to sit in zones to prevent the Cougars from making big plays down-field, with Keenum calmly picking apart the Penn State defense.

Houston's defense, meanwhile, has been just as strong, holding the Nittany Lions to only 34 yards of total offense in the first quarter.

TicketCity Bowl 2012: Houston Comes Out Firing, Opens Up 10-0 First Quarter Lead

The Houston Cougars wasted no time exposing Big Ten power Penn State to the wonders of the high-powered spread offense played throughout Texas.

Cougars sixth-year QB Case Keenum threw 13 consecutive times to open the game, leading Houston to a 10-0 lead over Penn State.

Keenum connected with senior WR Patrick Edwards for a 40-yard TD with more than 13:00 minutes still on the clock in the first quarter:

The Nittany Lions seem shell-shocked to open the game, as their offense responded to the Cougars quick strike with two three and outs, with sophomore QB Rob Bolden looking uncomfortable in the pocket and inaccurate on his throws.

It's the worst possible scenario for Penn State, a defensive-oriented team who wants to play a low-scoring field position battle, and not be forced to play from behind against a high-powered Houston offense for most of the game.

How the Nittany Lions perform, especially defensively, will undoubtedly be a factor in whether Penn State retains interim head coach Tom Bradley to take over for departed legend Joe Paterno, whose absence as a part of the Jerry Sandusky scandal has hung over the Nittany Lions since his sudden departure in November.

Houston Vs. Penn State, 2012 TicketCity Bowl: Time, Location And More

The Houston Cougars have enjoyed the highs and the lows of the college football regular season. They breezed through the regular season schedule before suffering an upset loss to Southern Miss in the Conference USA Championship game. Then came the news that head coach Kevin Sumlin had accepted an offer to be Texas A&M's next coach.

Tony Levine will coach the team in in the TicketCity Bowl as Sumlin didn't want to be a distraction to the club.

"I thought that I would be a distraction to their success," Sumlin said. "I was not walking out on them, but what I was doing was giving them a chance to be successful."

Game date/time: Monday, January 2, 12:00 p.m. ET

Location: Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

TV: ESPNU

Spread: Houston favored by seven points

For more on Penn State visit Black Shoe Diaries. For everything college football, check out SB Nation's college football news hub.

Houston Vs. Penn State, 2012 TicketCity Bowl: Nittany Lions Plan To Run The Ball A Lot

The Penn St. Nittany Lions are planning on using their running game to control the time of possession against the Houston Cougars high powered offense. The Penn State running game goes three players deep and the plan is to grind it out:

"A huge part of our game plan is to run the ball," Penn State sophomore running back Silas Redd said on Saturday. "Myself, Stephfon Green, Curtis Dukes, we're going to do our best to do that."

[...]

"They're a smaller defense," Redd said. "They're not as big as defenses in the Big Ten. But they're athletic and they can run pretty well. They've been defending the read-option and things like that. They run really well. So hopefully we can just pound these guys and go into this game with the same mentality as we did the Iowa game and just ground and pound."

Houston is aware of what Penn State is going to do on offense and their defense will need to force them into passing down situations and not allow Penn State to just hold the ball and keep their offense off the field.

Houston head coach Tony Levine is saying that Penn State is possibly the most physical team that Houston has played during his tenure on the coaching staff, and that his team can stand up to Penn State and bring their own brand of physical football.

For more on Penn State visit Black Shoe Diaries. For everything college football, check out SB Nation's college football news hub.

Ticket City Bowl Preview

#19 UH vs. #22 Penn State go at it in the Ticket City Bowl in Dallas, Texas on January 2nd. The Cougars look to end the season on a good note after failing to win C-USA Championship Game.

2012 TicketCity Bowl: Penn State Not Excited To Be Playing Houston, In Dallas

The Centre Daily Times in Pennsylvania quotes several Penn State players as being less than thrilled to be travelling to the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas, Texas and playing 12-1 Houston on January 2. While most SID-massaged quotes from players are nothing but grateful and positive about any bowl experience, a few Nittany Lions were on the record as rather malcontent:

"It had nothing to do with where we were going," fullback Mike Zordich said. "It was just why we were going there."

The Centre Daily Times also reports that multiple players-only meetings were held as to whether or not the team would play in the game, the first being "heated," but ultimately the team decided to carry on. 

"We listened to everybody’s opinion for a long, long time," Astorino said Monday at Penn State’s bowl media day in Holuba Hall. "Some guys were for it, some guys were against it."

Despite plummeting down the selection pecking order for bowls with Big Ten tie-ins, the Nittany Lions still ended up with a top-level team in the Cougars, whose only lose came in the C-USA Championship. Combined with PSU's 9-3 record, the relatively lower-tier TicketCity Bowl feature two teams with over 20 wins this season. Still, there's a little to be left in the way of good P.R. from the Penn State roster:

"I know we were frustrated at first with the bowl selection, but I’m not even looking at the title anymore," senior linebacker Nate Stupar said. "We’re in Dallas, Jan. 2, and a lot of people are going to be watching two good teams."

For more on Penn State visit Black Shoe Diaries. For everything college football, check out SB Nation's college football news hub.

TicketCity Bowl 2012: Tickets Available Below Face Value Through Sponsors Website

The 2012 TicketCity Bowl is obviously sponsored by the ticket brokering site TicketCity. Over at the official bowl website tickets are priced at $25, $50, $75 or $125, however Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel points out that those same tickets can be bought well below face value at the TicketCity website. 

How cheap?

Well, those premium $75 seats can be had for as low as $24 and currently there are 24 of those available at that price. In fact all but  61 tickets in the premium section are less than the $75 asking price. Even the coveted seats that are described as having a chair back can be found for as low as $93 compared to the asking price of $125.

TicketCity is in a peculiar situation in that they are part of the secondary ticket market yet they are sponsoring a bowl game where they are trying to sell tickets at face value through the bowl itself. There is nothing wrong with this, but it is worth a chuckle to see this happening.

For more on this bowl matchup go check out Black Shoe Diaries for all things Penn State.

Ticket City Bowl 2012: Houston To Take On Penn State January 2

After falling to Southern Miss in the Conference USA title game, the Houston Cougars are headed to the Ticket City Bowl to take on Penn State.