HOUSTON — Case Keenum threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns in just more than two quarters, and No. 24 Houston beat Memphis 55-14 today.

Keenum set a school record for career touchdown passes with 94, surpassing David Klingler's 91, before being replaced by Cotton Turner after an 18-yard pass to L.J. Castile put Houston (9-2, 5-2 Conference USA) ahead 49-14 early in the third quarter.

It was an easy win for a team trying to get back on track after last week's surprising loss to Central Florida, which left the Cougars in second place in the West division. Houston must win next week against Rice and hope for at least one loss by SMU to make it to the conference championship game.

Memphis (2-9, 1-6) was led by Curtis Steele, who had 160 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Charles Sims ran for 90 yards and two scores and Chaz Rodriguez had 98 yards receiving and a score for Houston.

The scoring didn't stop after Keenum and most of the starters went to the bench. Turner completed his first eight passes and made it 55-14 with an 18-yard toss to Fendi Onobun with about 6 minutes left in the third quarter. The Cougars missed the extra point.

The struggling Tigers, whose difficult season has already led to the dismissal of coach Tommy West, were overmatched from the start of this one.

Keenum's first scoring throw came on a 7-yard pass to Castile with almost 13 minutes left in the first quarter. That pass extended his streak with at least one touchdown pass to 27 consecutive games. Sims' first score, a 13-yard run, made it 14-0 less than 3 minutes later.

Sims' other score came on a 5-yard run just before halftime that made it 42-14.

Houston pushed the lead to 21-0 when Keenum found Tim Monroe for a 9-yard score later in the first quarter. That drive was kept alive when an interception by the Tigers was wiped out by defensive holding.

The Tigers didn't get a first down until there were about 5 minutes left in the first quarter, when they started direct snapping to Steele in a wildcat formation. Steele put Memphis on the board with a 2-yard run that made it 21-7 late in the first quarter.

Keenum broke Klingler's record for career touchdown passes when he hit Rodriguez for a 4-yard score early in the second quarter. His fourth TD pass came on a 57-yard pass to Patrick Edwards later in the second. It made up for what happened a few plays earlier, when Edwards was wide open but dropped what would have been a long reception.

Memphis quarterback Will Hudgens was 9 of 18 for 60 yards on a day where his receivers dropped numerous passes. The Tigers also used Arkelon Hall, who was 6 of 10 for 41 yards and an interception.

The Tigers had a chance for another score in the fourth quarter but Duke Calhoun was hit in the air in the end zone and lost the ball which was intercepted by the Cougars.