At the Bodog Sportsbook the Cougars have been listed as 3-point favorites for Saturday, and despite finishing just 4-4 in the conference and 5-7 overall last season they're also the favorites at 7/4 to win the Conference USA title in 2011.

Southern Mississippi (3/1), UCF (4/1), UAB (8/1), SMU (8/1), and Tulsa (8/1) are seen as Houston's main competition to win the conference championship this season.

And Houston can thank Case Keenum for their lofty odds – the quarterback was given a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA for 2011 after he suffered a torn ACL in Houston's third game of the year in 2010.

Keenum threw for 636 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions in those three contests last season. Back in 2009 the quarterback passed for over 5,600 yards with 44 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

The Bruins ended up ahead of only Washington State in the Pac-10 standings last season, winning just two conference games and four games overall as they struggled behind the quarterback duo of Richard Brehaut and Kevin Prince.

Those two will compete for the starting QB gig again this year, but they have UCLA currently back at 18/1 on the college football odds board to win the expanded Pac-12 conference this season; that's ahead of California (22/1), Colorado (22/1), and Washington State (100/1), but well behind Oregon (5/2) and Stanford (3/1).

And with a wins OVER/UNDER of just 5.5 for the season the Bruins don't have to do much to meet expectations in 2011.

Get all your college football odds at Bodog.