DALLAS (FWAA) Completing a perfect regular season with a dominant win over its closest conference rival earned the Houston Cougars (12-0) the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Nov. 26.
Case Keenum threw for 457 yards and five touchdowns four of them to Patrick Edwards as part of his 181 receiving yards · as Houston earned a spot in the Conference USA championship game by beating Tulsa, 48-16, this past Friday. Edwards broke a school record by surpassing 100 yards receiving for the 16th time in his career and also broke the C-USA career record for receiving yardage (4,251).
The Cougars set a school record for wins in a season and matched records with a 12-game win streak set in 1990 and '91. Ranked sixth in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, Houston is in line to earn a bid to a BCS bowl if it defeats Southern Miss in the C-USA title game.
Other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Nov. 26 included:
LSU (12-0): After facing its largest deficit of the season of 14 points, the Tigers shrugged their shoulders, then shredded Arkansas, 41-17, in Baton Rouge. Undefeated in the regular season for the first time since 1958 (10-0), LSU improved to 12-0 and won the SEC's Western Division. The win extended the Tigers' win streak to 13, a streak that includes eight ranked opponents.
Michigan (10-2): The Wolverines snapped a seven-game skid to arch-rival Ohio State with a 40-34 win and in the process gained a 10-win season for the first time since 2006. Denard Robinson passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more, while moving past the 1,000-yard rushing mark as part of his 337 total yards to lead the Maize and Blue.
The Football Writers Association of America has named a national team of the week since the 2002 season. This is the seventh season that the award has been sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Members of the FWAA All-America Committee decide the weekly honor. Each remaining Monday during the 2011 college football regular season, the FWAA will name the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week.
Founded in 1971, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has hosted seven games that have decided the college football national championship, including four Bowl Championship Series title games. This season, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be played on Jan. 2, 2012, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and the Insight Bowl will be played on Dec. 30, 2011, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
For more information on the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, go to
footballwriters.com or fiestabowl.org.