TCU coach Sonny Dykes sees no weaknesses in West Virginia’s defense

TCU and West Virginia enter Saturday’s primetime matchup surging with both teams in the midst of three-game winning streaks that include a Big 12 victory.

Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes said Tuesday that he sees a lot of similarities between how TCU and West Virginia started their seasons.

“I think they’ve just gotten better,” Dykes said. “I think they played a really good opponent Week 1 and probably didn’t play their best game. They’ve had a chance to get back on track and play well against Duquense and they’ve gotten better on both sides of the ball.”

Dykes has been especially impressed with what he’s seen defensively from West Virginia. The Mountaineers (3-1, 1-0) have held three straight opponents under 20 points per game.

Against Texas Tech, West Virginia limited the Red Raiders to just four yards per play and 2-of-18 in third down situations. From the sounds of his press conference Tuesday, it seems like Dykes believes this will be the best defense the Horned Frogs have seen this season.

“I don’t see a weakness defensively,” Dykes said. “Typically when you go into a game, you start looking at teams and say ‘hey we want to after this guy or attack that guy or they’re not good at this,’ you don’t really see much of that with West Virginia. They’re a solid defensive football team.”

The strength of the defense lies up front with the defensive line. West Virginia doesn’t have a star on the frontline like the past few seasons, but it’s a group that’s deep and technically sound.

“It’s kind of a typical West Virginia defensive front,” Dykes said. “They’re good up front. They’re big and they’re strong, they play hard. They’re very physical, to me that’s where it starts. To me the mentality of their football team is kind of built on that.”

In the past the Mountaineers have been known for a high-flying, explosive offense but Neal Brown has found success making West Virginia play a more grittier style.

Brown has been able to make that pivot thanks to a solid offensive line that is led by All-American Zach Frazier in the middle and has over 100 career starts combined.

“You see game-to-game they’re getting better offensively,” Dykes said. “They’re becoming more certain with who they are and their identity.”

West Virginia has found most of its offensive success by keeping the ball on the ground as the Mountaineers have one of the worst passing offenses in the country. West Virginia is averaging less than 160 yards per game through the air.

The run game has performed better in part because of the mobility of both quarterbacks West Virginia has had to rely on this season. Garrett Greene began the year as a starter, but has been injured in the last two games and his status is questionable at best for Saturday.

Nicco Marchiol is a freshman that has helped lead the team to two wins, but has struggled when asked to pass. Marchiol did lead West Virginia in rushing against Texas Tech with 72 yards on 15 carries.

With Greene’s status up in the air, the Horned Frogs are preparing for both quarterbacks ahead of Saturday’s matchup.

“I think you have to prepare for both,” Dykes said. “I’m still not exactly sure what we’ll see, but you have to always prepare for both. I think their skillset is somewhat similar. It’s not like they’re completely different guys. One is left handed, one is right handed which makes things a little bit different.”

Another name to know on offense is C.J. Donaldson. Donaldson lit up TCU for 104 yards and two touchdowns last season and has rushed for 80 yards or more twice this season. Expect him to get a heavy workload with the questions West Virginia has at receiver.

As for the Horned Frogs, Dykes has been pleased with the effort he’s seen so far in practice.

“This was probably the best Tuesday (practice) we’ve had in awhile, certainly this season,” Dykes said.

The last time Dykes said something similar to that was against Houston and the Horned Frogs rolled to a 36-13 conference win.

Could we see a similar performance on Saturday?