In their first four Big 12 games this year, WVU has lost by over 30 points three times. The fourth loss was by 14, thanks to a late touchdown, otherwise it would have been 21 points. Against TCU, however, the Mountaineers played their best game of the year, outside of the Pitt game. They did lose, but only by 6 points (23-17), and the largest lead TCU had was 13 points.
The defense played OK, and it was their best game in the last few weeks. The open week seemed to do wonders, and they did a pretty good job of flying around swarming the ball. TCU had trouble getting its running game going, and the defense notched its first sack in several games, along with six tackles for loss.
The issue was on offense, which was inconsistent at best. The running game was almost nonexistent, but they did manage to move the ball through the air, once they seemed to realized that you were allowed to throw the ball downfield some, and not just horizontally. Scotty Fox ended up with 301 yards passing, and looked pretty decent doing that.
So while this was a loss, it gave WVU fans some hope, because there were some genuine positives to take away from the game. Is there reason to believe that the Mountaineers will knock off Top 25 Houston this week? Not really, and I won’t be penciling in wins over Top 15 Texas Tech or previously ranked Arizona State. But Colorado? I think WVU should be favored in that one.
The women’s soccer team is close to wrapping up its regular season. After home wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State this week, they are 7-0-3 in Big 12 play, and in position to finish either first or second in the Big 12 regular season. (TCU is probably in position to finish first, and WVU does not face TCU during the regular season this year). They close out the regular season this Thursday against Cincinnati (7:00, ESPN Plus), and move on the postseason next week.
The men’s team headed into the weekend in a three-way tie for first at 5-1 in the Sun Belt conference with a pair of teams also in the top 25: Kentucky and Marshall. Coincidentally, those are the next two opponents for WVU. The Kentucky game was Sunday evening, and the Marshall game is this Friday in Morgantown (7:00, ESPN Plus).
Notes: The Houston game kicks off at noon this Saturday, and will be televised by FS1…Good luck to the Cross Country team, who will compete in the Big 12 Championships this Friday at 11:00am (ESPN Plus). There is no shortage of talent in this race: it has three teams in the Top 10: (#1 BYU, #6 Iowa State, #7 WVU), and three other teams ranked in the Top 20 (#11 Oklahoma State, #16 Colorado, #18 Utah).
