TCU @ West Virginia

Scouting Report for TCU Horned Frogs(5-3) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers(5-2)
November 3, 2012- Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown,WV

TCU: Of all the things that have happened to the Horned Frogs this season, having a two game skid shouldn't be one of them. While the Frogs lost 36-14 to Oklahoma State on the road, there were many positives that can be taken away from that experience.

Trevone Boykin (21-40) only passed for 185 yards, but he did help give TCU an early 14-0 lead. After their last touchdown, the offense never could sustain their momentum. TCU had 109 YDS total offense on their first 4 drives, their final 11 drives averaged only 19.2 yards. As a result, they had a missed field goal and two interceptions.

The Frogs' defense had a pretty decent day. Elisha Olabode returned an interception for a touchdown from 11 yards to open the scoring. However, they allowed 421 yards in total yards to the Cowboys which didn't help matters. All in all, Oklahoma State scored only 3 touchdowns, yet yielded 5 field goals to Quinn Sharp.

West Virginia: To say that the Mountaineers have had a tough stretch is a massive understatement. Since they were idle last week, West Virginia has had a lot of time to let their 55-14 loss to Kansas State stew.

It was pretty evident that the Wildcats defense had Geno Smith's number. Smith went 21-32 for 143 yards passing the entire game. It took 272 attempts for Smith to throw his first interception and only 7 attempts after that for his second pick. The ground game was stifled for 88 yards. Tavon Austin was a bright spot with a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second and a 5 yard pass from Smith in the 4th.

The defense had no answer for Heisman front runner Collin Klein as he was able to pass for 3 touchdowns and rush for 4. The secondary was caught for a surprise when Klein did most of his damage through the air as he was able to find 6 different receivers.

What to watch for: Ever since West Virginia has entered conference play they have allowed 53 PPG. Which it is imperative for the Horned Frog defense to look at the game that was played a couple of weeks ago to see how they can slow down the Mountaineers' dynamic offense. The offense for TCU should be in good hands if Boykin (probable:knee) is able to go.

Conclusion: During both teams losing streaks, the Mountaineers have lost by an average of 38 points while the Horned Frogs have lost by 7.5. Given the circumstances, this game should be close. For one thing, both these Big XII newcomers are conference champions in their own right (West Virginia-Big East, TCU-Mountain West). The other factor would be that a win makes one of them bowl eligible. With the Horned Frogs remaining schedule (vs Kansas State, @ Texas and vs Oklahoma), they will need to strike the Mountaineers while they are in this predicament.

Prediction: West Virginia by 7.

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