You’ll have to pardon various members of the Houston football program if you see them walking around various locales while holding their breath.
While Houston came away with their 17th straight home win Friday night -- 54-24 over UTEP -- star quarterback and Heisman hopeful Case Keenum was removed from the game in the third quarter in favor of backup Cotton Turner. The senior, who passed Texas’ Colt McCoy and North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers to move into fifth in all-time passing yards, appeared to have his bell rung after tossing an interception and attempting to make a tackle.
Keen left the game and did not return, and afterwards head coach Kevin Sumlin showed no outward signs that the injury/ding could be worse than what it actually is.
“I just talked to him; he was smiling in the locker room,” Sumlin said. “So we’ll evaluate it and see where he is. The situation was such at that point of the game, the way Cotton was playing, there was no need to do anything. We’ll see where it is.”
Given the way things are nowadays, with a greater focus on concussions, any blow to the head -- especially one suffered by such a high-profile player -- is something that can’t just be blown off by the media and dismissed as nothing.