What a nail-biter that was for the Mountaineers in Fort Worth. West Virginia's defense gets a key stop at the end of the game to take down TCU 24-20 and head into the bye week on a two-game winning streak, owning a 5-3 (2-3) record.
As always, here are a few of my takeaways from this one.
What a day for the Mountaineer defense
TCU still put up 484 yards of total offense, but they came up with a couple of key fourth down stops in plus territory and forced some critical turnovers, including the game-winning fumble recovery by Ben Cutter, who came up with two game-changing plays in back-to-back weeks. You knew going into this game that you weren't going to be able to put up 40+ on one of the best defenses in the country, so you needed some things to go your way with a struggling defensive unit. One heck of a job by defensive coordinator Zac Alley and that whole crew for staying focused and finding some answers even when things looked bleak today. Now, you have a chance to build off of that heading into the bye week.
TCU's defense is legit
The Frogs certainly made West Virginia earn every blade of grass in this one. Very few things came easy for the Mountaineers. Their secondary is as good as advertised. The combination of length, closing speed, and ability to make a play on the ball is what makes them such a tough unit to throw it on. WVU may not have had the type of efficiency or number of explosive plays they were hoping for, but that's a salty defense that isn't going to gift you anything. The passing numbers weren't there for Hawkins like they were a week ago, but it also felt like they went away from the quick-game stuff again and took a bunch of vertical shots.
Momentum builder
This was a huge win for this group. No, TCU isn't a great team, but you had to avoid dropping to .500 for the season heading into the bye week. Now you roll in with some confidence in how you've played the past two weeks and can hope to make the final month of the season a lot of fun. The Mountaineers are now one win away from bowl eligibility.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the West Virginia Mountaineers
Add us as a preferred source on Google