Late Thursday night, the West Virginia Mountaineers and TCU Horned Frogs put out an updated availability report, and we now have a pretty good idea as to who will suit up and who won't for both teams. There are a handful of key names that we will hit on, mostly for WVU.
West Virginia
CB Nick Taylor (probable): Taylor has been probable all week, and with his status never changing, he is in line to get back on the field today. Assuming he is 100% or pretty darn close to it, I would imagine he would get the start. He is by far the Mountaineers' best and most physical corner. They could roll with Chams Diagne and Andrew Powdrell for a second straight week in the starting lineup if they want to ease him in.
CB Jason Chambers (out): Chambers has struggled in his first three games this season, but you'd still like to have him available for depth purposes, and if there were a week when the defense could get back on track, you would think it would be this week against a lackluster offense. Chambers was the most consistent corner last year for WVU aside from Michael Coats Jr., so at some point, you'd have to assume he is going to turn the corner. It just won't be this week. With some moving pieces in the back end, keep an eye on true freshman Miles Khatri, who had been getting snaps at nickel/sam. There's a chance we could see him at linebacker.
DL Corey McIntyre Jr. (out): It always felt like a long shot that McIntyre would be available for this one, considering he had been doubtful all week. He was shaken up pretty badly in last week's win over Cincinnati, and with the bye week on deck, he'll have some time to recover and maybe limit his absence to just one game.
TCU
RB Jeremy Payne (doubtful): The Horned Frogs have struggled to run the ball all year, and now, they are likely to be without two of their top three backs for this one. Third-stringer Landon Walker was ruled out earlier in the week, and starter Jeremy Payne has been downgraded from questionable to doubtful. Payne is really the only back that the Frogs use consistently, so if he is ruled out, it will be interesting to see how they divvy up the workload.
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