COLUMN: WVU football needs to keep the momentum rolling into TCU
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football is finally back in the win column. It took some late-game heroics from quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. and receiver Prince Strachan, along with a walk-off 35-yard field goal from Jack Cassidy, but the Mountaineers snapped the three-game losing streak. They secured their first win in 28 days. WVU removed the zero from the Big 12 standings, picking up its second Power Four win of the season.
Now, it's keeping the momentum up into this weekend for the Mountaineers second true road test of the season, heading to Fort Worth to play TCU for another noon kickoff. The game is on ESPN2.
The Horned Frogs have had a puzzling season so far, sitting at 3-3. TCU started the season losing to North Carolina in Ireland, lost to UCF, lost to No. 2 BYU by a touchdown and recently beat Baylor. The Horned Frogs don't have the record to say they’re a great team, but have put together promising performances. A true box of chocolates in the Big 12.
Before WVU focuses on TCU, it has to take care of issues in-house.
The defense still needs a lot of work. Despite the win, defensive coordinator Zac Alley's defense allowed 40-plus points for the fourth-straight week, and a whopping 622 yards of offense. The big plays are a problem, and the tackling needs to be cleaned up. Rich Rodriguez said the defense is still looking for its identity seven games into the season.
There were positive takeaways. The defense created stops. Cincinnati had to punt four times -- three of which were three-and-outs -- to add to a total of five defensive stops. The biggest defensive play came at the end of the game. The Bearcats needed to get into field goal range to win the game, but Alley's unit forced a three-and-out, allowing for the offense to drive and win the game.
There's work to do on offense, too. The passing attack flourished, but the run game couldn't get going. The Mountaineers rushed for a season-low 134 rushing yards and averaged 2.9 yards per carry. Cook carried the ball 15 times for 40 yards, and the longest run of the day was from Hawkins for 16 yards. There was no explosiveness on the ground.
It'll be hard to get anything going offensively against TCU. The Horned Frogs have the best defense in the Big 12, allowing 12.2 points per game. Their pass defense is the second-best and the rushing defense is sixth.
This will be a real test for WVU's high-powered offense that's put even the best defense in the conference through the wringer.
The problem with TCU is that it struggles to score points. The Horned Frogs have the second-worst offense in the conference. The ground attack -- the worst in the Big 12 -- is out of the question, so the only way they move the ball is through the air, and that's not very good.
TCU lost long-time quarterback Josh Hoover, who is now at No. 6 Indiana. Head coach Sonny Dykes brought in Harvard veteran quarterback Jaden Craig. Like his team, Craig has been wishy-washy. He's thrown for 1,694 yards and 10 touchdowns, but has also thrown five picks. Craig is pretty consistent when he does throw and is top 50 in the country in completion percentage.
These two teams are total opposites. TCU has a great defense and can't score; WVU has a great offense and can't stop anything. It should create an interesting matchup on ESPN2, where Rodriguez said something has to give. The Horned Frogs opened as a touchdown favorite, according to ESPN, for those interested.
This is one of the few remaining winnable games for the Mountaineers in pursuit of a bowl game. This game and Kansas are really it. The rest are against three of the four best teams in the Big 12, and two of those games happen to be on the road.
This one is on the road too, making a tough game even more challenging. But it'll be a homecoming for a lot of players, including Hawkins and running back Cam Cook. Can the offense continue its success? I think so.
Prediction: West Virginia 28, TCU 24