West Virginia battles but beaten 23-17 by TCU
West Virginia battled but fell at home to TCU 23-17 in the Coal Rush game to drop to 2-6, 0-5 in the Big 12 Conference Saturday night.
True freshman Scotty Fox got the start at quarterback for the Mountaineers and played exclusively throwing for 301 yards and two touchdowns.
The Mountaineers started with the football but a penalty on the opening return backed up the offense and they would quickly go three and out from their own 10-yard line. The Horned Frogs then quickly moved the football deep into West Virginia territory but the defense would get a stop on third down and force a field goal to give the visitors an early 3-0 lead with 11:35 left in the first quarter.
On the next possession, the Mountaineers quickly ran off three plays but on fourth and short elected to go for it and were stuffed giving the football back to TCU at the West Virginia 35 yard line. However, a penalty backed up the Frogs and they were forced to punt without adding any points to the board.
The Mountaineers failed to get a first down for the third straight possession leading to a 19-yard punt for Oliver Straw giving the ball to the Horned Frogs at the West Virginia 48-yard line. TCU would then quickly move the football down the field in seven plays capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Trent Battle to take a 10-0 lead with 4:31 left in the first quarter.
The Mountaineers would then roll the dice against on fourth down deep in their own end but this time convert and the offense would then string together their best drive to that point moving the football deep into TCU territory at the 22-yard line. However, the offense would go for it on fourth down again and this time was stopped short resulting in zero points on the scoreboard.
The Horned Frogs would move backwards on their drive though and then a 23-yard punt gave the football back to West Virginia and the offense would cash in this time. The Mountaineers would use four plays to travel the distance capped off by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Grayson Barnes to cut the deficit to 10-7.
TCU would respond with their own long drive where they converted on a fourth down at the Mountaineers 39-yard line. That drive would be capped off with a touchdown pass to Eric McAlister to put the Horned Frogs ahead 17-7 with 6:12 remaining in the half.
The Mountaineers would then put together a drive of their own that traveled to the TCU 40 but on fourth and 2 Fox would be stopped short giving the football back to the Horned Frogs with 2:57 left in the half. The Horned Frogs would then move the football quickly down the field with a 46-yard run but the defense was able to hold inside the five to force a field goal to make it 20-7.
The Horned Frogs opened the second half with the football and moved it to the Mountaineers 40-yard line before the defense would hold and force a punt that traveled into the end zone. West Virginia would go three and out on their first drive, but an offsides would extend the drive although the Mountaineers would then have to punt the football after moving it into TCU territory.
The Horned Frogs offense would quickly move down the field into Mountaineers territory at the 30-yard line putting the visitors in another fourth down situation where the defense would again get off the field on a batted pass.
The Mountaineers would then move the football down the field inside the ten yard line on a deep ball to Cam Vaughn but the offense would bog down and force a 28-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 20-10.
The defense would then force a stop giving the football back to West Virginia trailing 20-10 with 14:11 remaining in the game. The Mountaineers would move the ball to the TCU 38, but on fourth and five Fox would be unable to connect with Vaughn giving the ball back to the Horned Frogs.
The TCU offense would then move the football down the field into the West Virginia red zone while burning off almost seven minutes off the clock to tack on a field goal and push the lead out to 23-10 with just 4:48 to play in the game.
The Mountaineers offense would then operate with pace quickly moving the ball to the TCU 28 yard line with a series of passes. And then Fox would connect with Jeff Weimer on a 28-yard touchdown toss to put the score at 23-17 with 3:15 on the clock.
West Virginia then attempted an onsides kick but TCU was able to recover it giving them the football at the Mountaineers 44-yard line to begin the drive. After a false start to start the drive, the Mountaineers faced a third and 6 at their own 40 but TCU was able to convert for a first down and with no timeouts left they were able to essentially end the game with kneel downs.
West Virginia will head to Houston next Saturday with the game time yet to be determined.
Offer Alert
Fall camp is here and there’s no better time to sign up with us to get all your WVU intel! Sign up today – $1 for the first week, plus a complimentary year of access to The Athletic included. Join – http://gowvu.us/Join
__________________________________________
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
•Like us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok
