WVU football’s defense has favorable matchup facing TCU’s poor offense
Trending
MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football's defense has been put through a gauntlet to start Big 12 play. The Mountaineers opened conference play against Oklahoma State and quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who is projected to be the first passer taken off the board in the NFL Draft. A few weeks later, WVU faced Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, another top-tier quarterback in the Big 12. Last week, Cincinnati brought one of the best rushing attacks to Morgantown.
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley's unit hasn't looked good against any of them. There were improvements, with more stops, but there are a lot of questions. This weekend, Alley's defense gets a little bit of a break on a trip to TCU.
The Horned Frogs are one of the worst offenses in the Big 12. The offense is 97th in college football, averaging 24 points a game. The most the Horned Frogs have scored against a Power Four opponent is 17 points, which happened last week when they played Baylor.
"They’re coming off a big win over their rival Baylor," Rich Rodriguez said. "We gotta have a big day."
The rushing offense is significantly bad. TCU is last in the Big 12 in yards per game and is 126th in the FBS. The Horned Frogs have some weapons on the ground, though. Junior Jeremy Payne broke out towards the end of the 2025 season and has carried that into his starting role in 2026. He's the clear workhorse back on the team and has burst off for 429 yards, two touchdowns and averaged 4.9 yards per carry. Sophomore running back Jon Denman rotates in around the goal line as the bigger back.
It's clear that if the Horned Frogs want to move the ball, it's through the passing game. TCU lost long-time quarterback Josh Hoover to Indiana this offseason, so head coach Sonny Dykes had to hit the portal to find his next quarterback. He landed on Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig. Craig was a winner at Harvard and went 9-2 last season, throwing for almost 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. He lost one Ivy League game.
This season, at the FBS level, Craig has had his ups and downs. On national television, in Week 0, Craig looked lost in a rainy game in Ireland facing Bill Belichick and North Carolina. But Craig has had promising games, especially recently. He's thrown for over 300 yards in three games and almost had his fourth last week against the Bears.
Craig has 1,694 yards and 10 touchdowns. Even with a solid completion percentage (66.8%), he turns the ball over quite a bit, throwing five interceptions.
He is an athlete as a passer. Craig makes throws on the run and puts it on a rope when he does. He's not afraid to throw back across his body, which leads to some of the picks. He is not a threat on the ground, and opts to pass rather than tuck it and run.
"The quarterback makes some throws sometimes, like 'damn," Alley said. "He's a little frustrating in that regard. Where he can make plays, and he's very calm and good in the pocket."
Craig has interesting weapons at his disposal. Tight end Kari Ashley is like a Swiss Army knife on offense. He can line up multiple different ways and leads the team with four touchdowns. Ashley has 29 catches and 392 yards to go along with the scores. Tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton is also just as good.
TCU uses a lot of two-tight-end sets because of its two great tight ends.
"Their two tight ends might be the best in the league," Alley said. "They're impressive to watch them play, to see how fast they are. Their star tight end lines up at wildcat, quarterback and run stretch. He's a really good player. They're going to find ways to get those guys the ball. That stands out as probably the No. 1 thing."
Even with the tight ends, the Horned Frogs are still one of the worst offenses in college football. This should be a prime opportunity for Alley's defense to find themselves. But on the flipside, if TCU's offense looks elite, like all the rest of the offenses, it'll be a really bad look.
Especially since the offense might not score 40-plus points because, unlike TCU's offense, the defense is really good.
"We’ve got to find a way to play better defensively because we won’t be able to score 45 points and all that kind of stuff," Rodriguez said. This is going to be a big challenge."