Houston Cougars wide receiver Samuel Brown (4). Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

College football player prop: What Brown can do for HOU

Through its first nine games, Oklahoma State had posted a 7-2 record and climbed to No. 15 in the country thanks to a 27-24 victory over rival Oklahoma. But then the team traveled to Orlando for the first of two road games against new Big 12 foes … and UCF administered a 45-3 beatdown. As the Cowboys look to get back on the horse versus Houston, it’s a playmaker for the home side who we’re riding for our top prop:

The bet: Over 67½ receiving yards for Houston wide receiver Samuel Brown (Bally’s)

After starting his collegiate career at West Virginia, Brown entered the transfer portal and decided he wanted to play in the high-powered offense of former Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen. His breakout game came in the middle of last season, when he caught nine passes for 116 yards as the Cougars pulled out a 33-32 win over Memphis.

The start of this campaign saw Brown average 104 receiving yards over the first five games. He eclipsed the century mark three times and missed it by a yard on another occasion. Brown has drawn at least six throws from Donovan Smith in every game of 2023, but because his five catches in last week’s loss to Cincinnati only produced 12 yards, we’re getting a very manageable number here.

Oklahoma State ranks 113th out of the 130 FBS schools in pass defense, allowing 255 yards per game. In that Bedlam showdown with Oklahoma two weeks ago, the yardage total for this prop was easily exceeded by three different Sooners receivers — Drake Stoops (134), Jalil Farooq (98) and Nic Anderson (92).

With Houston’s other star wideout, Matthew Golden, now out for the rest of the season, expect a heavily targeted Brown to deliver.

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