Case Keenum quiets Marshall’s trash talk with historic day

Houston 63, Marshall 28.
Marshall defenders said they wanted to find out who Houston's backup quarterback was, presumably by knocking starter Case Keenum out of the game.

Well, Marshall did meet Cougars' backup Cotton Turner, but only after Keenum had his way with the Thundering Herd completing 24-of-28 passes for 376 yards and six touchdowns in a 63-28 win.

To add insult to injury, Keenum also set the NCAA career total offense mark formerly held by Hawaii's Timmy Chang. His total now sounds at 16,910 yards since 2007, and counting.

Earlier in the week, the Huntington Herald-Dispatch ran a story quoting Marshall players who said their goal was to get Keenum out of the game early by injuring him in some way.

"As a defense, that's our key to the game," Marshall nose tackle Delvin Johnson told the paper. "We try to kill the head of the snake every game. Putting out the quarterback is a real big deal for us."{YSP:MORE}

Keenum and the Cougars appeared to take those comments personally as they orchestrated one of the most efficient games of the season. Not only was Keenum not sacked and didn't commit a turnover, the Cougars managed 63 points on just 57 plays in 17 minutes and 42 seconds of possession.

Houston's 621 yards of total offense is the most the Thundering Herd have allowed at least since 2000 and only the second time they allowed more than 600 (Virginia Tech rolled up 605 in 2009) in that span.

Marshall had every reason to feel confident coming into the game. It had knocked at least four quarterbacks briefly out of games this season and ranked first nationally in tackles for loss with 9.6 per game and 32nd in sacks with 2.4. But the Herd did themselves no favors by boasting about it and more or less calling out Keenum, who ultimately had the last laugh.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.