TCU head coach Sonny Dykes didn’t spend much time dressing it up when he talked about West Virginia ahead of this weekend’s matchup. His message was simple: the Mountaineers bring speed, stress and a defense that looks better on film than it does in the stat sheet.
Dykes said West Virginia runs “the fastest-paced offense in the country,” and that the challenge starts the moment the ball is snapped. He said the Horned Frogs have to line up quickly and communicate because the Mountaineers get the ball moving faster than anyone else. He also pointed to the speed at running back, quarterback and receiver, plus an attack that can stretch defenses both vertically and horizontally.
The run game, he said, comes with plenty of downhill force. West Virginia can “do a good job running the zone play downhill and knocking you off the ball,” Dykes said, while the quarterback is “a really, really good runner and can make big plays.” Add in the shot plays downfield, and Dykes called the scheme “very difficult” and “different.”
He also had praise for Michael Hawkins Jr., calling him “a good player” and saying, “He's kind of what we thought he was gonna be when we saw him in high school. He's an athletic guy.”
Dykes said West Virginia’s style forces defenses to pack the box and then defend the deep ball, and he added that this will be TCU’s biggest tackling test of the season because the Mountaineers spread the field so much and have players who can create after the catch. “It's a way different offense from what we've seen at any point this year,” he said.
Dykes was just as complimentary on the other side of the ball. He described West Virginia as a young defense in some areas that changes things from week to week and has mixed fronts depending on the opponent. Even so, he said the unit is still being figured out a bit.
On the film, though, he sees plenty to like. Dykes said the Mountaineers are athletic up front and said, “I love their linebackers.”
He noted that their front seven can “run and hit,” and he called them an aggressive, physical group. He said the corners are athletic, the safeties will hit you, and overall it’s “a tough, blue-collar defensive team.”
Dykes also pushed back on what the numbers show. He said West Virginia has allowed some explosive plays that have hurt the statistical profile, and the fast offense has forced the defense to play a lot of snaps.
That volume, he said, has had an effect. His bottom line was clear: “Their defense is considerably better than the numbers.
I like the way they play. They play physical and tough.”
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