Steven Johnson: An early look at TCU’s next opponent, West Virginia Mountaineers
TCU has finally made it through the gauntlet of four straight Top 25 teams.
But Saturday’s game is far from a given as the Horned Frogs travel to West Virginia. It is yet another matchup that has been dominated recently by TCU’s opponent. The Mountaineers have won four in a row and five of the last six meetings.
Three of those losses came in Morgantown. The No. 7 Horned Frogs haven’t won there since 2014 and the two wins the program does have been by one point.
Thankfully for the Horned Frogs, first-year head coach Sonny Dykes has shown a penchant for making history. TCU has already snapped losing streaks to SMU, Oklahoma and Kansas State in the last few weeks.
With these two teams trending in opposite directions, the Horned Frogs will be in good position to snap another streak. The Mountaineers are 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12. That win came at home against Baylor on Oct. 13.
West Virginia has been competitive in most of their games, but is coming off a 38-point loss to Texas Tech. Confidence and morale could be faltering after a lopsided defeat.
Here are four more things that stand out about TCU’s next opponent, West Virginia:
Leaky defense
The Mountaineers defense has been giving up points and yards at an alarming rate. West Virginia has held just two opponents under 30 points and is last in the Big 12 in scoring defense. The secondary has been picked on all season and is allowing 275 yards per game.
On paper, the defense is average against the run and allows fewer yards per game than TCU’s. But when you dig deeper you see the unit has still been gashed for 200 or more yards by Kansas and Texas Tech. Baylor had 170. There’s no true area you can point to and says the West Virginia defense thrives. Defensive lineman Dante Stills is a difference maker up front, but one of the few standouts on the unit.
Don’t expect West Virginia to be the first defense to hold TCU under 38 points.
Talented, flawed QB
J.T. Daniels was one of the more high-profile quarterbacks coming out of the Class of 2018. He was a former five-star and the No. 2 quarterback in his class before arriving at USC. Then he transferred to Georgia and was supposed to be the quarterback that got the Bulldogs over the Alabama hump. It never worked out at either spot leading him to West Virginia, where he’s been fine.
Daniels has thrown for 1,686 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s completing a respectable 63% of his passers. Daniels will have his moments where he shows why he was ranked so highly coming out of high school and why he turned out to be an above average quarterback.
He does have enough arm talent to make things tough on TCU secondary that has struggled at times, but Daniels has been in a bit of a turnover funk with four interceptions in his last two games. The Horned Frogs ballhawking secondary should be able to capitalize.
Skill weapons solid
With Daniels taking up so much attention, the players around him in the backfield and the perimeter have gone a bit under the radar. There are no household names, but West Virginia has some weapons. Running backs CJ Donaldson and Tony Mathis are eighth and ninth in rushing in the Big 12. The duo have combined for over 900 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Bryce Ford-Wheaton is fourth, two spots behind Quentin Johnston, in receiving with 516 yards and five touchdowns. The 6-foot-3 senior should be an interesting test for Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson or Josh Newton. Sam James and Kaden Prather are two more receivers with 399 yards or more. West Virginia averages 34.9 points per game, just outside the Top 30 nationally.
The offense isn’t elite, but it’s only a tier or two below that threshold.
The Texas and Texas Tech blueprint
West Virginia has been competitive in every game this season with the exception of losses to Texas and Texas Tech. Both games were on the road, but there are some similarities than just that. Both the Longhorns and Red Raiders forced West Virginia to become one-dimensional.
Texas held the Mountaineers to 66 yards rushing and Tech limited them to 73. West Virginia doesn’t have enough pieces on the outside to compensate when Donaldson or Mathis are non-factors. Daniels was forced to throw 48 times against Texas and 36 against Tech before being pulled in the blowout.
In games Daniels has attempted at least 36 passes, he’s been 1-4 this season. That appears to be one of the keys for TCU.
This story was originally published October 25, 2022 at 4:30 AM.
