Morgantown, West Virginia – The West Virginia Mountaineers (3-4, 1-3) host the undefeated (7-0, 4-0), #7 ranked TCU Horned Frogs today at noon in another huge conference game for the Mountaineers. Here’s how our experts think the game will play out:
Clark Johnson, Senior Writer, The Voice of Morgantown
While many will pick against them, I truly believe that the Mountaineers will knock off the Horned Frogs today in Morgantown. Here are reasons why I believe West Virginia will take down TCU, putting the rest of the Big 12 on notice.
- HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Milan Puskar Stadium will be energized and ready for this one. Mountaineer fans always show up, and for this one they will be extremely loud. They know that bowl season is at stake, and they’ll want nothing more than to end TCU’s playoff hopes.
- JT DANIELS
The Horned Frogs have been helped by some quarterback injuries this season. In victories over Oklahoma, Kansas State, and Kansas, their opponent’s starting quarterback was knocked out of the game. Should Daniels be able to stay healthy, I have no doubt that West Virginia will be in the game late. That’s all they can really ask to be.
- TCU’s DEFENSE
West Virginia’s offense has been improved this year. On the other side, the Horned Frogs haven’t performed great defensively. Giving up almost 400 yards per game, we should expect Graham Harrell to compose a game-plan that will test TCU’s defense early and often. Expect a lot of points on the board.
- NEAL BROWN OWNS THE FROGS
If there is one team that Neal Brown has shown he can beat consistently, it’s TCU. This isn’t late-era Gary Patterson’s TCU, no, but this is still, for the most part, the same roster. Neal Brown knows the personnel he’s going up against. He knows what he has to do to be successful.
- TCU’s SCHEDULE HAS BEEN RELATIVELY SOFT
Outside of a win against #8 Oklahoma State (which took two overtimes), TCU’s schedule hasn’t been that tough. Mostly considering the luck they’ve had with opposing team’s losing their starting quarterback. Also, they’ve needed late-game heroics several times to win. So for that, I’m not necessarily extremely impressed with them.
WVU 33 TCU 31
Joshua Kerns, Writer, The Voice of Morgantown
West Virginia NEEDS a win today if Neal Brown wants to have ANY chance to keep his job. I tink that he will do JUST enough today to keep his job and squeak out a win against a red-hot TCU team.
WVU 42 TCU 38
Brad Smith, Publisher, The Voice of Morgantown
TCU is everything that the West Virginia Mountaineers are not; fundamentally-sound, disciplined and well-coached.
Max Duggan, TCU’s starting quarterback, is the best quarterback in the Big 12 Conference this season, throwing for 19 touchdowns and just one interception through seven games. West Virginia’s defense, particularly its secondary, has been extremely vulnerable this season and Duggan and his talented wide receivers should be able to throw all over the Mountaineers today.
With that said, TCU’s pass defense is 105th out of 131 teams in the nation and JT Daniels could very well have a huge game today as well.
However, TCU is 3rd in the nation in both scoring and yards against much better defenses than West Virginia’s, and they have found ways to win over and over again today.
TCU is a superior team right now and they win in a shootout in Morgantown today.
TCU 51 West Virginia 42
