TCU vs. West Virginia: Score and Twitter Reaction

The Big 12 has been an adventure to watch all season. This week's showdown between TCU and West Virginia at Mountaineer Field may have been the strangest game of the year, though it was never lacking for drama. 

If you were told that a team turned the ball over five times, all in its own territory, the natural assumption would be that it got blown out. There was no blowout, though West Virginia did blow a late lead to lose in heartbreaking fashion. 

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	4th Quarter	Final
TCU (7-1, 4-1 in Big 12)	7	0	14	10	31
West Virginia (6-3, 4-2 in Big 12)	13	0	14	3	30

The final lead change of the game came with no time left in the fourth quarter, as Jaden Oberkrom hit a 37-yard field goal to give TCU the victory, via Bleacher Report College Football: 

TCU's shot at the College Football Playoff remains alive by a slim margin. The Horned Frogs lost their own heartbreaker against Baylor on October 11, blowing a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter, and they nearly let a golden opportunity slip away Saturday. 

It was alarming to see Gary Patterson's offense so inept. It came into this game leading the nation in scoring at 50.4 points per game. ESPN Stats and Info noted that this was TCU's first game scoring less than 24 points in the first half:

Patterson has slowly built the Horned Frogs into a title contender. He told Bill Nichols of The Dallas Morning News that winning on the road has been critical to the program's recent success in the Big 12: "I think over the last two years, we've played very well on the road," Patterson said. "I don’t know of any of the games we’ve played on the road—except for the Baylor game this year—that would be of more magnitude than what this one is."

TCU's problems on offense were mostly from quarterback Trevone Boykin, who struggled with all of his passes (12-of-30, 166 yards)—deep throws especially, per ESPN College Football:

Even though Boykin is still learning the quarterback position, his decision-making for most of this game was awful. His completion percentage coming into this game was a mere 58.7, but he always made up for it with big plays. 

Chris Brown of SmartFootball.com took note of a deep throw that really shouldn't have happened, given the coverage by West Virginia:

The junior quarterback did have one miracle up his sleeve on the game-winning drive, hitting Kolby Listenbee for a 40-yard gain on the second play. 

Turnovers were the story of this game. There were seven total, with five coming from West Virginia. The Mountaineers aren't known for their defense, but that unit deserves a lot of credit for this performance.

In the loss, West Virginia only allowed 14 points off turnovers, which is compounded when you consider all those drives started on the Mountaineers' side of the field. 

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen saw how his offense, especially quarterback Clint Trickett, was unable to hold the ball late in the game. He went conservative in the second half by calling a lot of running plays, trying to run out the clock.

It backfired. 

Trickett was terrible, with two interceptions and at least one other pass that should have been picked off, so it was hard to argue with Holgorsen's approach. West Virginia ran the ball 54 times on 80 offensive snaps. Per Max Olson of ESPN, here's how bad the Mountaineers were on offense over their last three drives:

In terms of one-on-one matchups, West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White versus TCU cornerback Kevin White went in favor of the latter. He held the Mountaineers star to 28 yards on three catches, though that wasn't a surprise to Brown:

White has to show up in a game like this. He is West Virginia's best playmaker and opens up everything on the offense. On a day when Trickett had nothing working, especially in the second half, he needed a safety net that wasn't there. 

Credit has to go to TCU. It didn't play a sharp game by any stretch, and conditions weren't ideal. Finding a way to win against a ranked conference opponent on the road is what championship teams do. The Horned Frogs have work to do before next week's showdown against Kansas State, but they are happy with a 7-1 record. 

If you want to talk sports, hit me up on Twitter @adamwells1985.