Arndt, defense shine in WVU’s victory over TCU
MORGANTOWN — You can’t turn on a television set these days without hearing some sports analyst blast the Big 12 conference for being only ‘an offensive minded league with no defense played’.
Well, redshirt senior linebacker Justin Arndt has some words of wisdom for those supposedly in the know. Come to Morgantown and say that.
“That’s the thing we want to prove,” said the Morgantown native following No. 12 West Virginia’s 34-10 victory over Texas Christian University. “We wanted to come out and make a name for ourselves.”
And make a name Tony Gibson’s unit is doing.
Facing its second Top 10 (nationally) offense in a row, Arndt and Company surrendered 10 first half points and held the Horned Frogs (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) to only 300 yards of total offense on 60 plays as WVU (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) remained unbeaten on the season with a road tilt at Oklahoma State slated for a noon start next Saturday.
“Obviously, I’m proud of the guys,” sixth-year head coach Dana Holgorsen explained. “It feels good to be 6-0. But, you are only as good as your next one (game) and we have a tough one at Oklahoma State next weekend. Of course, at this time of year, they are all hard.”
Senior quarterback Skyler Howard connected on 16-of-23 attempts for 231 yards and four touchdowns while redshirt senior Rushel Shell carried the football 24 times for 117 more as the Old Gold and Blue finished with 389 yards of total offense and no turnovers while forcing TCU into three miscues.
“That’s two games in a row we have had zero turnovers,” continued the head coach. “And, we got three. The only disappointment I had was that we failed to score on two of those and we need to be better at that.”
West Virginia added a pair of Mike Molina field goals (38 and 26 yards) and a Howard to Ka’Raun White 16-yard scoring pass for all of the points after the intermission.
“The offense controlling the football in the third quarter was a lot of help,” continued Arndt, who finished with six tackles on the night. “We were only on the field once in the third quarter and that made it a lot easier for us.”
That wasn’t the case during the first 30 minutes of play as it was the best of times and the worst of times for West Virginia in its showdown with Big 12 nemesis TCU.
Electing to defer to the second half, the Mountaineers found themselves on offense redshirt senior Nana Kyeremeh came up with a Horned Frogs fumble at the TCU 17. Three plays, and 56 seconds later, WVU put the first points on the scoreboard when Howard found Shorts in the end zone. Molina added the PAT and a sellout crowd at Mountaineer Field were treated to a 7-0 lead.
Moments later the Old Gold and Blue was back in business when redshirt senior Rasul Douglas picked off a Kenny Hill pass at the WVU 30 and returned it 37 yards to the visitors’ 33 with 12:08 showing on the first quarter clock. This time, however, Howard and Company stumbled and bumbled its way to only three yards on three plays and Molina’s 47-yard field goal attempt went wide left of the goal post.
West Virginia would add another six-pointer on a 22-yard pass from Howard to Shelton Gibson and Molina’s second PAT of the afternoon had Mountaineer fans thinking a rout would be the result of the Big 12 rivals’ fifth meeting since both joining the conference in 2012.
However, the same self-inflicted wounds that the hosts suffered during a 38-21 win over Youngstown State – missed tackles – reared its ugly head as TCU marched 62 yards on 11 plays on its next possession and got on the scoreboard on a 31-yard Brandon Hatfield field goal.
The Mountaineers’ second straight three-and-out of the half put the defense back on the artificial surface 96 seconds later and the Frogs, who were coming off a bye week, made their hosts pay for it as Hill drove the Texans 76 yards in 12 plays with the former-Texas A&M signal caller finding Jaelan Austin from 11 yards out for the six pointer.
“We were just over-pursuing,” added Arndt. “We made some adjustments at halftime and I thought we played much better in the second half.”
Clinging to a now four point advantage, 14-10, senior Rushel Shell was the main catalyst on a five play, 67 yard drive that ended on Howard’s third touchdown of the half — an 11-yard hook up with Gary Jennings.
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