West Virginia coaches and players have a lot to do during the week. They have to correct the past and then quickly prepare for the future. There are only a couple of days to do so. This is similar for journalists. Sunday and Monday are for looking at what happened in the past, and then you quickly have to move on to the game ahead.

You can look at stats, box scores and watch some highlights, but you don’t get the nitty-gritty details that a full-time beat writer would.

So, we reached out to the Houston football beat writer for the Houston Chronicle to get the finer details on the Cougars before their matchup with WVU. Here is what beat reporter Joseph Duarte had to say about Houston:

Strengths: The Cougars have sort of found an identity in recent weeks that’s been a big part of their fast start. A lot of ball control, time-consuming drives and finishing drives, and that was not the case last year. They were among the worst in the country on offense last year, 14 points per game.

Houston made it a point this offseason to go out and upgrade the entire offense, from the line to the receivers, to the backfield, and specifically quarterback.

The strengths on offense revolve specifically around Conner Weigman. He’s been the perfect quarterback for the situation. He was the back-to-back Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. Weigman has sort of sparked Houston during this 7-1 start with his ability to play turnover-free football. He’s been a big asset with the running game. He’s close to a little over 200 yards and has at least three rushing touchdowns in the last two games. He’s been a big part.

Weigman’s favorite target is tight end Tanner Koziol. He’s 6-foot-7, so he was one of the top tight ends in the portal this offseason. He was supposed to go to Wisconsin, and he spent a few months there, decided that wasn’t the spot for him, and they got him to sign. Koziol is just a huge target and doesn’t drop many passes. He’s a matchup problem because of his size. He just goes up, and you throw a jump ball to him, and he’s able to go get it.

On the defensive side, Houston’s secondary has been a pleasant surprise. It doesn’t give up a lot of big plays. Fritz really hit on a bunch of players in the transfer portal.

Weaknesses:The depth is an issue on the offensive line. The Cougars had hoped to have eight or nine guys in the rotation, but because of injuries, they go with a six-man rotation, which isn’t a lot of wiggle room if things go bad, or if you lose somebody during a game.

Houston has been much better in the run game, but it hasn’t been as consistent with the backs. Dean Connors is another transfer Houston picked up. He’s got the ability to really be explosive, but when he’s not going, they don’t really have any other proven guys in the backfield. The Cougars go with J’Marion Burnette and D.J. Butler. They had another guy who was a little more versatile, and Stacy Sneed, but he’s been out with some type of leg injury the last few weeks, so there’s not a lot of depth there.

At receiver, Houston lost one of its top guys to a season-ending foot injury, Stephon Johnson, so Houston has to have some players step up. Most of them are young, like Kobe Young. The Cougars throw the ball to Amare Thomas and Harvey Broussard III a lot. But beyond that, when you factor out Koziol in the past games, there’s just not a lot of depth there at a number of positions.

On defense, there have been some games where tackling has been an issue. But there aren’t a lot of weaknesses.

Arizona State win: About four hours before kickoff, the team found out that its strength and conditioning coach had died after fighting cancer for the past eight months. The coaching staff had planned not to tell the team until after the game, but word started to get out, and some of the players had found out, and they just said, ‘Hey, let’s tell them now.’ The team met at the pregame meal at the team hotel and got the news.

Houston went out and played the most inspired 60 minutes of football it has had all year. Houston got out to a 24-point lead on the road against a ranked team that’s the defending Big 12 Champion. It was a huge win. It’s a signature win for Willie Fritz. The players and coaches told the media all week that it was not just about being bowl eligible. They have bigger goals. This is a team that has the schedule set up pretty favorably, where, entering November, Houston has a chance to become the Arizona State of this year.