Traveling to West Virginia is the most difficult road test in the Big 12, and the farthest to travel for any school. TCU saw Baylor go down in this same stadium last week, and knew that it would need an exceptional effort in order to leave Morgantown with a win.
But they certainly did not start well. They gave up a touchdown on their opening possession when Clint Trickett found Mario Alford for a 23 yard touchdown reception to get the scoring opened up for the Mountaineers. Then Trevone Boykin would throw 3 straight incompletions and the Mountaineers would drive down the field again to the 3 yard line, where Dreamius Smith fumbled on third and goal, but recovered it to set up a 21 yard Mountaineer field goal. This is just one of those plays that will stick in Mountaineer fan's minds as they missed a few opportunities in settling for field goals instead of getting touchdowns. West Virginia then let their special teams do some work as they recovered an onside kick at the TCU 30 yard line. They were unable to get a first down however as they settled for another Lambert field goal, this time from 44 yards out.
TCU would respond on their next possession though, with their drive largely aided by a B.J. Catalon 19 yard rush to get them to midfield, before Boykin would hit Deante' Gray from 47 yards out to get them on the board and within a touchdown. That would be the score as they hit the half, as the second quarter was sloppy on both sides, with both teams getting penalties and turnovers, and lots of punts. Nothing in that second quarter was pretty.
West Virginia would fumble the ball early in the third quarter which would set up a Trevone Boykin 2 yard rushing touchdown to give TCU their first lead of the game at 14-13. West Virginia would respond with a vengeance. Dreamius Smith led the way with 65 rushing yards and the touchdown on the ensuing drive to put West Virginia back on top 20-13. Then on the next TCU play, Terrell Chestnut would do a scoop and score for a fumble return for a touchdown to increase the lead even more, 27-14. TCU struggled still, and after a short field following a Clint Trickett interception, they would respond with B.J. Catalon entering the end zone on a 23 yard rush.
West Virginia would find the red zone again on their next possession when Mario Alford caught a 46 yard pass from Clint Trickett to get the ball to the TCU 12, but they just couldn't get a first down on the short field and settled once again for a Lambert field goal from 23 yards out. B.J. Catalon would respond midway through the fourth quarter by scoring on a rushing touchdown on third and goal from the 6. West Virginia couldn't even get another first down in the game to help their cause, and TCU, despite getting it once after that and getting stopped on fourth down, would get a 40 yard pass reception on their final drive from Kolby Listenbee. Then they decided to settle for a field goal by Jaden Oberkrom from 37 yards out, and he would hit it to give TCU a 1 point lead as time expired.
Next up for the TCU Horned Frogs (7-1, 4-1) is a trip back home to Fort Worth to host the Kansas State Wildcats. Meanwhile the West Virginia Mountaineers (6-3, 4-2) will travel to Texas but further south as they go to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns. Both games will be played on Saturday November 8th.