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UP: JADEN OBERKOM - It's not over until it's OBER (I stole this from our commenters, but I can't remember which of you wonderful people said it), and Jaden ended the furious comeback with a 37 yard field goal as time expired. The entirety of Twitterverse was shellacking Coach P for playing conservative and settling for a long kick to decide it either way, in inclement weather, but Gary knows his kicker, and the bigger the moment, the bigger his leg. Oberkrom was also four for four on extra points, and boomed a few kickoffs deep, preventing a return. The game winner? His 50th made field goal at TCU, good for fourth place all time. I have a feeling he will write his name on that record before all is said and done. One of the best things that came out of the post game was that Oberkrom said Trevone Boykin came up to him before the kick and said "Make or miss, we still love you and you're still our guy". That's being a great leader, even in the face of your own person struggles, which lead to...
DOWN: TREVONE BOYKIN - Boykin played his worst game of the season by far, completing only 12 of 30 passes for 166 yards, one TD, and one INT. He sailed balls high all day, forced it to Josh Doctson time and time again, and never looked comfortable in or out of the pocket. He was as flustered and jittery as I have ever seen him, negating the confidence that had been a hallmark of his play to this point. A big part of that was due to the defensive game plan the Mountaineers had for him, blitzing, showing blitz and backing off, changing coverages, and dominating the line of scrimmage through the first three quarters. It's how they beat Bryce Petty and the Bears, and it almost worked yesterday. BUT, I will end this down with an up, because when he needed to come through with a play, driving down the field with time ticking away, needing to get in to field goal range for a chance to win, he floated a perfect ball into the arms of Kolby Listenbee for 40 yards and in to range for Oberkrom. Boykin might be out of the Heisman race, but I don't think anyone will care if he keeps finding ways to win ball games.
UP: KEVIN WHITE - The White on White matchup was much touted pre-game, as TCU's White would be matched up in man coverage with one of the best receivers in the country for much of the game. But it was so one sided that it never became a story line, as the much maligned secondary, who had been burned time and time again this year, absolutely swarmed White to the tune of three catches for 28 yards and no scores. This was a major credit to the Frog's Kevin White, as he blanketed the Eer's Kevin White and never gave him a chance to impact the game. The entire back end of the D had a great game, holding the explosive Mountaineer passing game and impressive QB Clint Trickett to just 15 completions and 162 yards. A defensive battle broke out in Morgantown - who would have thunk it?
DOWN: THE INJURY BUG - Yesterday was a bad day for college football fans, as a bunch of impact guys went down with potentially serious injuries. And that was true for TCU as well, as we saw Chuck Hunter (though he returned), Deante' Gray, and Davion Pierson go down at different points. Doctson played through his bad ankle, but clearly wasn't the same guy, and when he finally did make a Josh type of play, he had the ball stripped. All three of these guys will need to be back next week for the Frogs to take down the Cats, so good thing we have this, eh?
UP: THE D LINE - This was such a vintage defensive performance, and no where was that more obvious than with the guys up front. After surrendering a quick 13 points (aided by turnovers and offensive miscues), the D buckled down, and though they did give up a couple of big pass plays, they kept the Frogs in the game by turning over the Eers five times and controlling the line of scrimmage down the stretch. In the fourth quarter, when Holgo tried to go conservative, the front line took over, and held WVU to -2 yards. NEGATIVE TWO YARDS. FOR THE QUARTER. Against a team that averages 527 yards per game. Oh yeah, and with alllllllll the pressure on them to make stops because the TCU O was still a hot mess. The only thing they didn't do was score themselves, and I think we all thought that would be the only way we would get on the board for a good portion of the game. I think the Frogs held the Eers to three and outs on three consecutive drives to close the game, and by doing so, gave TCU a chance. And that's all they needed.
DOWN: EARLY PLAY CALLING - To their credit, Cumbie and Meacham made an adjustment late, and let the run game go to work, to the tune of 223 yards and three scores. But early, after seeing that Boykin wasn't having a good day, and the weather was impacting both QBs on the deep throws, and oh yeah the short passing game, screens, and slants were really effective against the blitz, they insisted on throwing it deep and asking Boykin to sit back in the pocket and take deep drops. It was very reminiscent of the Baylor game, but this time, either they decided to stop putting square pegs in round holes or GP stepped in and took over, and went to what worked late. I actually loved the 4th and 3 play call late, and it would have worked had B.J. Catalon not been hog tied at the line of scrimmage, but otherwise everything they called on the last two scoring drives seemed to be exactly the right call. Speaking of B.J. ...
BONUS UP: B.J. CATALON - B.J. went out late with what looked like a good bell-ringing, so first and foremost, I hope he's okay. Because my gosh, if he's not the most underrated back in college football, I don't know who is. He doesn't have huge numbers, because TCU has four guys that can be effective, but he has rushed for 100 yards in three games this season and absolutely put the Frogs on his back yesterday, rushing for 105 and two scores, amid a sea of broken tackles and absolute determination. B.J. has close to 500 yards on the season to go with 10 touchdowns, and he continues to impress with not only his speed but his ability to get extra yards after contact. Dude is a BEAST.
Leave your UPs and DOWNs in the comments below, and let's celebrate for one more day before we get ready to BLACK OUT THE CARTER UNDER THE LIGHTS Saturday night!