Dana Holgorsen says undisciplined reactions during Kansas game unacceptable

Tempers flared in Houston’s loss to Kansas when receiver Samuel Brown and cornerback Ra’Mello Dotson got into it. What happened next was unacceptable, UH head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

Houston was in the middle of a 10-play, 69-yard drive that ended in a touchdown when a skirmish broke out between Brown and Dotson, and later, between Brown and his own teammate, receiver Joseph Manjack.

“Sam Brown got cheap shotted, and he responded in an inappropriate way,” Holgorsen said. “When you retaliate, you’re going to get caught.”

For Holgorsen, the reaction by Brown was more of what the head coach has called undisciplined mistakes that have been the focus of the UH coaching staff to start the season. UH is trying to limit those kinds of mistakes as much as possible, he added.

Holgorsen said Brown should have thrown his hands up and ran to the sidelines to avoid any additional conflict with Kansas. Instead, he retaliated, which led to offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for both Dotson and Brown.

When receiver Joseph Manjack saw Brown getting into it with the opposing player, he got angry, Holgorsen said. Manjack tried to tell Brown the way he was handling the situation was the wrong way, Holgorsen said.

That then led to a sideline conflict between Manjack and Brown that was caught by the ESPN TV crew. Manjack rushed to the UH sideline and shoved Brown to the ground. Holgorsen said the way Manjack reacted was unacceptable as well, but that his intentions were in the right place in terms of trying to get Brown to realize he should not have retaliated.

The drive ended in a one-yard rushing touchdown by running back Brandon Campbell for the Cougars. Manjack and Brown met once again on the sideline after the touchdown and buried the hatchet, Holgorsen said. Both Brown and Manjack high-fived each other on the sideline with quarterback Clayton Tune and receiver Nathaniel Dell also joining in. In the end, Houston lost to Kansas 48-30.

“You’re not going to win games like this when you do stuff like that,” Holgorsen said. “It’s my job to continue to harp on that and get our guys to do what I tell them to do or not to do.”