Neal Brown gives impressions of Houston

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown will lead his team off its bye week on the road to the Lone Star State for a Thursday night matchup with new Big 12 opponent Houston.

The Cougars come in sporting a 2-3 record and 0-2 mark in conference play. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, have been the surprise team of the Big 12 so far. They are 4-1 with a 2-0 record in conference play with their only loss coming in Week 1 versus Penn State in Happy Valley.

Brown gave a rundown of what he has seen from the Houston team on tape during his Monday press conference.

He first highlighted the offense, which is led by quarterback Donovan Smith, Smith has thrown for 1,347 yards and rushed for another 163 yards.

“Their receivers can really run,” Brown said. “That is a strength. They’re explosive. The quarterback is — I go back to what I said — he’s big and strong. He breaks tackles. I can think of numerous times just watching him at Tech and then also watching him at Houston, when people have him wrapped up and he gets out. Sometimes two people on him and he’s strong enough to break tackles. The fact that he can make all throws. He can run to the right and throw it a long distance going back to the left. That’s when you turn them on and watch them offensively, those are the things that stick out.”

The Cougars leading receiver is Sam Brown has 34 catches for 518 yards and one touchdown. Matthew Golden leads the team with four receiving touchdowns on 24 catches for 261 yards. Golden also has a kickoff return for a touchdown.

The Houston defense is allowing 29.8 points per game with opponent’s averaging 405.8 yards per game. Opponents have also connected on seven of eight fourth-down plays.

Brown said the defensive line is the top unit on that side of the football. Team captain Nelson Ceaser is fourth on the team in tackles with 21 while leading the team with six tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. His 4.5 sacks account for half of the team’s total.

Malik Fleming also has a team-high three picks in the secondary. The team has six interceptions in total on the year.

“Then defensively, it’s the defensive line,” Brown said. “They’ve got a really, really stout Power Five d-line. Then Golden on kickoff return. That’s scary.”