Leddie Brown Carries Mountaineers Past Frogs
Fort Worth, TX - West Virginia hoped to get Saturday night's game off to a hot start and boy, did it ever, just not in their favor. TCU receiver Derius Davis returned the opening kickoff to the house for a 100-yard touchdown to get the first points on the board.
The Mountaineer offense wasn't phased by the quick start and scored on each of their first four possessions of the game. The first series for WVU resulted in a chip shot field goal that snuck through the right upright after QB Jarret Doege nearly threw an interception trying to force a ball to Bryce Ford-Wheaton in double coverage.
TCU moved the ball with ease on the ensuing drive but stalled out thanks to a third down Dante Stills sack, pushing the Horned Frogs out of field goal range. Although the Mountaineers got a defensive stop, they had to work with a long field once TCU punter Jordy Sandy pinned WVU inside the 10, down at the six.
Neal Brown couldn't have scripted a better drive for his offense. The Mountaineers moved the ball out of the shadows of its own end zone but converted a big third down early in the drive to keep the series alive. Jarret Doege pumped left, rolled right, and found Isaiah Esdale at the sticks who got the first down and then some. Later in the drive, Neal Brown left his offense out on the field to go for it on 4th & 1 with Leddie Brown who cashed in to move the chains once again. Brown finished off the drive a few plays later with a 3-yard rushing touchdown to put the Mountaineers on top for the first time, 10-7.
Similar to the previous TCU possession, the Horned Frogs moved the ball to about the WVU 40 but failed to do anything beyond that. Bandit Jared Bartlett swallowed up Derius Davis on a jet sweep touch pass on 3rd and 3 to force another TCU punt. Once again, Jordy Sandy hit another good ball, this time down to the 8-yard line.
In somewhat a surprising move, Brown put in redshirt freshman Garrett Greene at quarterback despite being backed up. It turned out to be a good decision as Greene ripped off a 67-yard run on 2nd & 12 just blowing by several TCU defenders before running out of gas and going out of bounds. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, they had to settle for three once again. Neal Brown called a jet motion touch pass to Winston Wright on 3rd & 5 that went maybe one yard. Casey Legg nailed the kick from 38 to extend the lead, 13-7.
The Horned Frogs moved quickly into WVU territory on the next series after Max Duggan found his running back, Zach Evans, up the sideline for a gain of 22 and then a defensive pass interference on Charles Woods down the field, putting the ball at the Mountaineer 38. TCU's offense has been extremely efficient in the red zone this season, which gave head coach Gary Patterson the confidence to go for it on 4th down and goal. Duggan rolled out right and with miscommunication in the back end, it gave Duggan the option to either run it in for toss it to Taye Barber who was wide open in the end zone. He chose the latter and put TCU back on top.
After hammering the ball on the ground for much of the first half, Jarret Doege hit Winston Wright Jr. on the first explosive pass play of the game, going for 40 yards. On the next play, Doege faked a handoff to Leddie Brown a tossed one out to Ford-Wheaton on a screen that popped for 14 yards thanks to a big block from left tackle Brandon Yates. That set things up at the one-yard line for Leddie Brown who ran in his 2nd score of the day near the goal line.
With just under three minutes remaining in the first half, TCU made a strong push at regaining the lead. The Frogs had gains of 49, 17, and 16 to get inside the West Virginia five. Initially, TCU had the offense on the field to go for it on 4th down but after the timeout from WVU, Patterson trotted out Griffin Kell to trim the lead to three and come away with points. West Virginia took a 20-17 lead into the half.
TCU first drive of the third quarter looked promising with a couple of big runs on the ground including a 28-yard rush from Kendre Miller. However, redshirt freshman corner Daryl Porter Jr. jumped a route on 3rd down and picked off Duggan, running it back to the TCU 43 for a 49-yard return. West Virginia picked up one first down but a false start and a loss of one on 3rd down forced WVU to bring out Casey Legg for his third field goal of the night. Legg's kick was good from 49, pushing the lead out to 23-17.
Early in the 4th quarter, the Mountaineers came away with another interception of Max Duggan. This time, it was Charles Woods who came down with the INT, running it back to the TCU 32. WVU turned around and handed the ball off three straight times to Leddie Brown to put the ball in the end zone for a touchdown, his third of the night. The Mountaineers went for and failed the two-point conversion, keeping the score at 29-17.
TCU stalled out once again at the WVU 40 when linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo blew up a 4th down rush by Zach Evans creating a turnover on downs. The Mountaineers didn't do anything with it as their drive ended in a blocked field goal, the first missed field goal for Legg on the season.
Down two scores and time not on their side, TCU needed to make some big plays happen. Duggan hit Quincy Brown for 14 yards and then went to Quentin Johnston for 29 but Sean Mahone punched the ball loose and was recovered by Charles Woods.
West Virginia milked some clock and instead of kicking a field goal on 4th down, Neal Brown didn't want any part of another potential blocked kick so ran the ball with Tony Mathis which failed to move the chains. TCU failed to do anything with the ball in the final minute of play, falling to the Mountaineers, 29-17.
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