West Virginia Stays Perfect at Home in Dominant Win Over TCU

MORGANTOWN, WV - TCU came out and converted on a couple of third downs as they moved the ball into West Virginia territory on the opening drive of the game. The Mountaineer defense held their ground and forced a punt from Jordy Sandy who pinned the ball inside the one-yard line. Despite the long field, West Virginia moved the ball efficiently on their first drive and went 15 plays and 99 yards for the first score of the game while eating up 7:33 off the clock.

Jarret Doege found his groove early going 7/8 for 77 yards but ended the drive by keeping the ball on the ground with a quarterback sneak from a yard out.

The Horned Frogs went three and out on their next possession but were bailed out by a roughing the kicker penalty as West Virginia turned up the heat on Sandy. TCU took advantage of the penalty and drove down the field to put up three on the board off the leg of Griffin Kell. QB Max Duggan made a pair of nice throws for a combined 38 yards that helped get the wheels moving for TCU.

West Virginia quickly erased the field goal by TCU, scoring on the ensuing drive going 75 yards on six plays. Running back Leddie Brown got the drive going by bouncing one to the out on the edge on the weak side for a 30-yard gain. Doege found Sam James wide open for a 16-yard catch that moved the sticks driving the ball deep into TCU territory. On the very next play, James was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which could have been a drive killer for the Mountaineers. On 3rd and 19, Doege took a shot toward the end zone to Sean Ryan and was able to draw a pass interference penalty. The very next play, West Virginia struck for six as Doege pump faked a screen to Ryan and hit a wide open T.J. Simmons for a 26-yard touchdown to give the Mountaineers a 14-3 lead.

Similar to their opening drive of the game, West Virginia took a methodical approach on the first drive of the 2nd half by chewing off over seven minutes on the clock. Leddie Brown got the drive off the ground with a big gain of 34 yards, bringing it down to the TCU 33. After a 3rd down conversion on a pass to tight end Mike O'Laughlin, the Mountaineers stalled out. Casey Legg hit his fifth field goal of the season, sneaking it just inside the left upright to push the lead to two touchdowns.

TCU changed their pace offensively to uptempo and for the first time, they had some serious rhythm and it caught West Virginia off guard. The Horned Frogs did most of their damage on the ground accumulating 41 yards combined between RB Kendre Miller and QB Max Duggan but the Mountaineers were able to slam the door shut in the red zone. Dante Stills picked up a huge tackle for loss on first down and goal that resulted in a loss of four yards. TCU then threw a screen out to the running back Miller but fell after making the catch for another loss of four, putting TCU in a 3rd down an 18. West Virginia corner Dreshun Miller collapsed on the underneath route on 3rd down and let Taye Barber slip through, but fortunately for West Virginia Duggan overthrew him, sailing the ball through the back corner of the end zone incomplete. Kell tacked on another 32- yard field goal to bring the score to 17-6.

Early in the 4th quarter, TCU's defense came up with a stop and were about to get decent field position on a short punt by Tyler Sumpter but the ball was muffed by Trevon Moehrig and was recovered by West Virginia for the first turnover of the game. Two plays later, Doege threw it up deep to T.J. Simmons who hauled it in for his second touchdown receptions of the day, this one from 38 yards, extending the Mountaineer lead to 24-6.

TCU made a last ditch effort to make a late comeback as Duggan found Emari Demercado for a 52-yard gain on third down to move the ball to the West Virginia 20. Just as TCU was about to cut into the lead, Duggan threw an interception at the goal line to safety Tykee Smith who ran it back for 42 yards.

West Virginia improves to 5-3 overall on the season and 4-3 in conference play. The Mountaineers have a bye week next week and will play their final home game of the 2020 season on November 28th as they play host to the Oklahoma Sooners.

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