It’s quite possible that no team on the SMU schedule has more of a Jekyll and Hyde personality than the University of Houston.

At one point, it appeared the Cougars might be bottom-feeders in this year’s version of Conference USA. New coach Kevin Sumlin took over when Art Briles bolted town, and after leading his new team to a rout of an undermanned Southern team, watched as UH dropped three straight, including a lethargic 31-28 “home” loss Sept. 13 against Air Force in SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Season over, right?

Wrong. Sumlin and his staff have gotten their team back on course with a pair of victories, including a 41-24 victory at then-No. 23 East Carolina. His team has evened its record at 3-3 this season, just as the SMU-Houston series is even (4-4-1) in games played in Houston.

OFFENSE

The UH offense — an offshoot of the wide-open attack utilized by the Texas Tech Red Raiders — is averaging 38.5 points per game and piling up just over 400 yards (403.2) yards per game.

UH quarterback Case Keenum was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season (photo by Houston athletics).

Piloting the UH attack is sophomore quarterback Case Keenum, the consensus Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season who has thrown for at least 300 yards in seven consecutive games. Keenum has averaged 381.2 passing yards per game, but according to sophomore SMU cornerback Derrius Bell, Keenum’s ability to throw is not his only weapon.

“He’s a pretty elusive guy,” Bell said. “He has the ability to keep a play going with his legs — honestly, he reminds me a little of Tony Romo. We know that when he starts scrambling, we have to stay on our man, because he’ll keep a play alive and if we leave our man alone, he’ll find him.”

Like the Mustangs, Houston usually uses four wide receivers, the best of whom are Mark Hafner an honorable mention All-Conference USA selection last year as a tight end who has at least one touchdown in five straight games; Patrick Edwards, who leads the UH offense with 83.5 receiving yards per game; and Tyron Carrier, whose average of 67.2 receiving yards per game trails Hafner’s by just a single yard.

While the Cougars might resemble Texas Tech’s offense in scheme, one major difference is the size of the passing targets. Hafner has excellent size, at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, but Edwards is just 5-9 and Carrier is 5-7. As is often the case at Houston, the Cougar wideouts are fast — very fast.

“No. 87 (Hafner) is their lead receiver,” Bell said. “He’s a big guy — our coaches have compared him to No. 12 at Rice (James Casey), and that’s a guy who can do a lot of things. The other guys are really small, but they’re really fast — No. 35 (Carrier) finished third in Conference USA in the 200, I think. They can move.”

Houston’s leading rusher is true freshman Bryce Beall, who is running for an average of 75.3 yards per game. But like SMU, UH uses its running backs as receiving targets, and Beall is a capable target, usually on screen passes.

One wrinkle Houston likes to employ is playing two quarterbacks at the same time. Backup Blake Joseph likely will play some, and is more mobile than Keenum. When both are on the field, Keenum usually will line up as a slot receiver. Joseph could get the ball to Keenum to throw it downfield, but the Cougars often run the ball out of the dual-quarterback alignment.

Keenum and the UH offense operate behind a rebuilt offensive line that averages just under 6-foot-4 and 301 pounds per man in its starting group. The strength of the Houston line is at the tackle spots. Senior left tackle Sebastien Vollmer is enormous, at 6-8, 315, while senior right tackle SirVincent Rogers (6-4, 315) was considered one of the elite blockers in Conference USA before getting hurt last year.

“He looks really good,” SMU defensive end Patrick Fleming said of Rogers. “He’s quick for a guy that size, very light on his feet. For a guy who goes 315, he looks like a great athlete.”

DEFENSE

Three times this season, as the Mustangs prepared for Texas Tech, TCU and Tulane, SMU head coach June Jones has lauded the defensive line of his team’s next opponent as “one of the best groups we’ll see this year.” But the Mustangs’ new leader has singled out an individual player for his defensive prowess just once: senior Houston defensive end Phillip Hunt (6-2, 260).

June Jones says Phillip Hunt might well be the best defensive lineman SMU faces all season (photo by Houston athletics).

A first-team All-Conference USA honoree in 2007, Hunt is a member of the watch lists for the Hendricks Award, the Lombardi Trophy and the Nagurski Award, and recently was named a second-team Midseason All-America by CollegeFootballNews.com.

“You watch him on film, and he doesn’t look like he’s moving that fast,” SMU tackle J.T. Brooks said. “But he plays with leverage probably better than any player we’ll play all year. He’s not that flashy. But what he does better than anyone is he gets his pads under you, and bull-rushes you straight back. You’ve really got to attack him before he attacks you.”

Hunt is the headliner, but Houston’s defensive line is talented and athletic. Only sophomore defensive tackle Isaiah Thompson (6-4, 295) is not a senior.

Hunt, who has 27.5 sacks in his career at Houston, might not be flashy, but his stellar technique, consistency and versatility allow the Cougars to create a number of different looks out of the 4-3 alignment they’ll run virtually throughout every game.

“They’ll play four down linemen just about all the time — either in a 4-3 or a 4-2-5,” senior SMU guard Sean Lobo said. “(Hunt) is the guy who makes it all work for them. They don’t have to blitz a lot, but he’s good enough that they can disguise what they’re doing when they do want to blitz.”

Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said UH will blitz, but echoed Lobo’s assessment that everything in the Houston front seven starts with Hunt.

“They trust him so much they can drop the other defensive end (senior Tate Stewart) off the line into coverage and still get a rush going,” Mitchell said. “Or if they’re going to bring the linebackers, that’s when they like to do it, when they’re dropping the other end back.”

SAM linebacker Matt Nicholson is a former walk-on from Plano who leads the team with 8.5 tackles per game. He is joined in the Cougars’ second line of defense by WILL linebacker Marcus McGraw (second on the team with 7.2 tackles per game) and MIKE linebacker Cody Lubojasky, a fixture in the UH defense with 44 career starts.

The secondary, like much of the UH team, is fast and athletic. Cornerback Brandon Brinkley leads the Cougars with three interceptions, including one he took back 35 yards for a score in Houston’s comeback win over UAB. Ageless free safety Kenneth Fontenette was a freshman All-America in 2005, and has 41 starts in his career, and remains a dangerous kick returner.