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West Virginia, TCU Meet in Season Finale

West Virginia travels to TCU in hopes to play spoiler against TCU

Ft Worth, TX – The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-7, 2-6) are playing their final game of the 2019 season versus the Texas Christian Horned Frogs (5-6,). While TCU is playing for a bowl invite, West Virginia is using this week to build into next season.

The Horned Frogs are led by freshman quarterback Max Duggan. Some around the TCU program has compared him to former TCU great, quarterback Andy Dalton. 

Andy Daltons redshirt freshman year compared to Max Duggans freshman season

NameCompATT%YardsTDINT

Andy Dalton

222

371

59.8

2,459

10

11

Max Duggan

166

303

54.8%

1,933

15

8

Nonetheless, TCU is ninth in passing yards in the Big 12 with 209.1 per game. Duggan’s go-to receiver is Jalen Reagor hauling in 3.4 receptions for 50.4 yards a game, along with 5 touchdowns on the season.

What may separate the two is Duggan’s ability to use his legs, averaging 81 yards on the ground the last six games.

Darius Anderson leads the team in rushing (792 yds). He started the season with three consecutive 100-yard games but hasn’t broken the century mark since the win over Kansas in late September. Along with running back Sewo Olonilua’s 507 yards on the season has the Horned Frogs third in Big 12 rushing at 208.6 yards per game.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the TCU defense is near the top of every single defensive category. In a bit of a surprise comes in scoring defense, ranking sixth at 27.0 points per game.

Linebacker Garrett Wallow spearheads this defense and is making his case for Big 12 defensive player of the year, leading the conference with 113 tackles on the season, along with 3.5 sacks on the year.

On the back end, safety Trevon Moehrig leads the team in interceptions (4) and second on the team in pass deflections (9) and tackles (58). Corner Jeff Gladney has a team-leading 12 pass breakups. 

For West Virginia, it’s about finishing the season on a positive note, most importantly on the offensive side of the ball. Although they have slightly improved with Jarret Doege making his first start as a Mountaineer in a road win at Kansas State, the same issues that have plagued this team all year has continued.

The Mountaineers have cemented themselves as the second-worst rushing team in the country at 72.1 yards per game and along with dropped passes has been one of the poorest offenses in all of college football ranking 118.

Defensively, West Virginia has been stellar towards the end of the season holding their opponent to 20 points or less in three out of the last four games. It’s been a mixture of Mountaineers that have stepped up in the secondary with all the attrition, but one constant has been the defensive line.

The Stills brothers, Dante and Darius, are tied for second in the Big 12, each with seven sacks on the season. Defensive end Jeffery Pooler has made his presence felt in the last four games, racking up 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks.

Seeing that neither offenses are lighting up the scoreboards, it’s expected to be a low scoring game and it probably will be. However, with West Virginia playing the role of spoiler and TCU fighting for their postseason lives, expect the offenses to let it all hang out and wouldn’t be surprised if they played above their season averages.

West Virginia and TCU kickoff Friday at 4:15 on ESPN.