Houston lost to Kansas on Saturday, and that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Two of their receivers, Joseph Manjack IV and Sam Brown Jr., fought on the sideline amid the disastrous 48-30 loss to the Jayhawks. During the third quarter following a Houston penalty, Manjack shoved Brown, who grabbed Manjack’s face mask as teammates came to break up the fight.
“Manjack took it upon himself to go over there and confront Sam, which is not the right thing to do,” Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said in a postgame press conference. “He was dead wrong and shouldn’t have done it and knows it and feels bad about it.”
Houston moved to 1-2 with the loss as Kansas went to a shocking 3-0 under coach Lance Leipold, with a game against fellow undefeated Duke next week.
“It’s unacceptable and you’re not going to win games like this when you do stuff like that,” Holgorsen said. “And it’s my job to continue to harp on that.”
Holgorsen said the two receivers made up quickly following the scuffle.
“Two minutes later, [Manjack] hugged it out with Sam, and those guys are buddies,” Holgorsen said. “And he apologized.”
Houston wide receiver Joseph Manjack IV fought teammate Sam Brown Jr. on the sideline on Sept. 17, 2022. ESPN (2)Houston, which was 12-2 last season, has lost two straight against future conference rivals as Texas Tech beat the Cougars in Lubbock last week.
In its final year in the AAC, a prestigious bowl game seems to already be out of reach.
“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” Holgorsen said. “I got outcoached. We got outcoached offensively, defensively. Put it on me. We have a lot of work to do.”
