Armed Forces Bowl...

For the second year in a row Houston played Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl on New Year's Eve morning. Houston quarterback Case Keenum graduated from Wylie High School in Abilene. And it's a lot closer to drive to Fort Worth than down to Houston. I shot this game last year and Keenum played a lot better. This year's game was - forgettable for the quarterback. He threw six interceptions, the same number he threw in the first 10 games. Of course I shot a lot more than just one player, that would make shooting the game pretty boring. The top photo pretty much told the story of Case;s day as well as the whole day for Houston. I've been watching the kid play since he was a sophomore in high school, and this may have been the worst. I'm sure he'll be fine playing during his senior year next year, and with some of the numbers he's put up, there's a good chance he could be a Heisman candidate.

Humidity Sux...

Now, I grew up in Atlanta, which I always thought was the most miserably humid place on Earth. But, after having lived in dry West Texas for the last 10 years my tolerance for humidity has slowly eroded. So, when I went to shoot Texas Tech play Houston Saturday in Houston I had no idea how much I hated the humidity. The weather here has been pleasant the last few weeks. Highs in the 80's with almost no humidity.

So, when I looked at the forecast for Houston and saw it would be in the mid 80's for game time I thought great. I guess I should have thought back to the Texas game the previous week in Austin. Out of site out of mind I guess. Well, despite my guess of losing about 10 pounds from sweating during the game (no worries, I've found all of those pounds, none are missing anymore), I survived after feeling like I had just taken a bath in a warm vat of corn syrup! I have never been so excited to see the shower at my hotel as when I got there after the game!

So anyway, the whole reason I was at the game was because both teams' starting quarterbacks went to high school in Abilene. I've talked plenty about Tech's quarterback Taylor Potts. But Houston's quarterback Case Keenum (he's #7 in all these photos) was one of those kids that wasn't real highly recruited. He was one of those kids that was a great player but didn't have the prototype size or 40 time. However, the one thing the kid did have was the intangibles. He was not only a great leader, but he was one of those kids that always seemed to find a way to win.

Finding a way to win is pretty much what he did that night too. Down 5 points with just about 5 minutes left Keenum led Houston on a 95-yard drive to win the game. He capped off the win scoring on a quarterback draw to put them ahead with only about 40 seconds left. It was something I'd seen him do a lot in high school, but since Houston is merely a mid-major level football team I didn't get to really see him play a whole lot on TV and Houston isn't exactly a short drive from Abilene. It's about a 6-7 hour drive. Which is good I guess since it's so damn hot down there!