The Big 12 has set West Virginia’s Week 8 trip to TCU for Saturday, October 24, with kickoff slated for 12 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on e.
TCU heads into Week 7 at 2-3, and the record tells the story of a team that has handled the lower tier on its schedule but not the Power Four crowd. The Horned Frogs have beaten Grambling and Arkansas State, while falling to North Carolina, UCF, and BYU.
The defense has carried the load. TCU is giving up just 255 yards of total offense per game, a number that puts it among the Big 12’s best.
The Frogs have also been strong against the run and own the conference’s second-ranked pass defense at 155.4 yards allowed per game. That stinginess has translated to just 13.4 points allowed per game, second-fewest in the league.
The problem is everything on the other side of the ball. Sonny Dykes’ team has been able to throw it around effectively with QB Jaden Craig, but the run game has lagged all the way to last in the Big 12. In other words, TCU looks a lot like West Virginia in reverse: one side built to keep games close, the other struggling to put points on the board.
The series history has produced plenty of that same tension. Since both teams entered the league in 2012, their meetings have swung back and forth, starting with four straight games decided by narrow margins and then each program posting a blowout win.
West Virginia eventually gained the upper hand and now leads the all-time series 8-6. The Mountaineers have won six of the last nine, though TCU has taken two of the past three.
One quirk stands out in the matchup history: West Virginia has been far better in Fort Worth. The Mountaineers are 4-2 there across six trips.
In Other News...
West Virginia Just Got A Brutal Early 2026 Forecast
West Virginias outlook for 2026 is already drawing a cool reception from ESPNs Football Power Index, which sees a long climb ahead for the Mountaineers. The model pegs them at roughly 4.4 wins and 7.6 losses, a forecast that suggests a season spent fighting uphill rather than contending near the top of the Big 12.
The projection is even less encouraging when it comes to the bigger goals. ESPN gives West Virginia only a 14.6% shot at reaching six wins, while the chances of taking the conference or reaching the College Football Playoff are essentially nonexistent. The game-by-game forecast also paints a matchup-by-matchup picture of where the obstacles are likely to come, with historical context adding to the sense that the schedule is not likely to offer much relief. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Offense Did Enough But One Problem Is Getting Hard To Ignore
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The Pro Football Focus grades from the game pointed straight at the problem areas, with the defensive line and cornerback play drawing especially rough reviews. There were also some shaky showings among the wide receivers, which only added to a night when West Virginias offense did enough to stay in it but the defense never found a way to slow Arizona down. [Read more 🡒]
Rich Rodriguez Sounds Off As WVUs Biggest Problem Keeps Growing
West Virginias season has reached a familiar and frustrating point in Big 12 play, with the offense doing enough to keep games competitive while the defense keeps surrendering too many big plays and too much yardage. The imbalance has left Rich Rodriguez with a team that can move the ball but has not been able to put together the kind of complete performance needed to break through in league play.
Rodriguez has made clear his frustration with how little progress the defense has shown, even as the staff continues to work at fixing it. For a team still searching for its first Big 12 win, the issue has gone from a weekly concern to the defining problem of the season, and there is no easy answer until the Mountaineers start getting more stops. [Read more 🡒]