West Virginia vs. TCU 2017 live stream: How to watch online

Ranked No. 8 in the nation, Texas Christian University Horned Frogs and star quarterback Kenny Hill will try to continue their surge in the polls when they host Will Grier and the West Virginia Mountaineers at 3:30 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1 (live stream).

Kenny Hill is finally starting the resemble the dynamic playmaker we saw at Texas A&M. After a rocky initial season in Fort Worth, Hill’s career has been resurrected by Horned Frogs head coach Garry Patterson. While Hill has been good to start the season, it’s the Horned Frogs’ running game which is the real focal point of the offense. TCU fields the top-ranked rushing offense in the Big 12. Darius Anderson leads the attack and ranks fourth in the league in yards rushing with 422 yards, and he’s tied for league lead for rushing touchdowns with 6. TCU will lean heavily on Anderson against the Mountaineers, who have the second-worst rushing defense in the Big 12.

This game is the battle of transfers as WVU has its own star transfer quarterback. Will Grier is a Florida transfer who’s leading WVU’s high-powered offensive attack. Running back Justin Crawford leads the ground game. WVU has to lean on its offense as its defense struggles to stop anyone from scoring.

TCU loves to run the ball, and WVU’s rush defense is atrocious, it would be shocking if TCU doesn’t run for at least 200 yards.

The biggest matchup this weekend is going to be, ultimately, the Frogs’ running game against WVU’s defense. The Mountaineers are giving up 226.6 rushing yards per game, 114th in the nation, and teams are getting 5.29 yards per carry. That’s worse than Kansas, and puts WVU between Kent State and Toledo.

If TCU hopes to continue the great play it demonstrated against Oklahoma State, TCU will need another strong performance from it’s defense.

When you go on the road, to a top ten team’s venue - a place you haven’t won since the early 90’s - and put it to a Heisman candidate, dominate the trenches on both sides of the ball, and keep the best offense in the country off the field - you earn that distinction.

WVU running back Justin Crawford might be the most underrated payer in college football.

Currently, Crawford ranks 11th nationally in yardage (451), 18th in rushing TD’s (6) and 23rd in avg YPC (7.4). Consider also that Crawford hasn’t carried the ball more than 18 times in a single game this season and that almost, if not all of those carries, have occurred in the first two quarters of each of those games. Based on the committee approach that West Virginia is implementing with its running game and the fact that Will Grier has been so productive in the passing game, its fairly easy to see how productive Crawford has been despite minimal carries.

WVU will have to work to stop the Horned Frogs’ top-ranked rushing offense and will have to preform better than it has this season.

My god. I don’t even know where to start with them. Actually, wait, I do. Let’s start with the 367 rushing yards and 7.3 ypc we gave up to a Kansas team that came in averaging 109 yards and 3.6 ypc. AND THOSE NUMBERS CAME AGAINST SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE, CENTRAL MICHIGAN, AND OHIO! FFS!!

Now it’s no secret to Mountaineer fans that we’ve struggled against the run this year - we came into this game allowing 179 yards (9th in the conference, 97th nationally), 4.4 ypc (last, 90th), and 6.3 explosive runs per game (last, 107th). However, I don’t think anyone saw Saturday coming.

WVU’s second-ranked offense is ready to capitalize on any TCU mistakes on defense

While the Mountaineers field one of the worst run defenses in the Big 12, they make up for it with their third-ranked pass defense. That being said, the strength of this WVU team is not its defense, but its prodigious offense. Only Oklahoma (605.5) averages more yards per game than the Mountaineers’ 596.

Grier has thrown for 1,374 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. He is aided by one of the best wide receiver combos in the nation in Gary Jennings. and David Sills V, who are ranked in the top 10 in receiving yards in the conference. The passing attack will have to be operating at full capacity if they want to beat the eighth-ranked Horned Frogs.

TCU excels at rushing the ball and will look to control the flow of the game through their run game. On the other side of the field, WVU was unable stop a paltry Kansas rushing attack. With that in mind, I’m not sure how WVU will be able to win this game unless its defense suddenly learns how to stop the run. TCU’s lack of an elite passing offense should allow WVU to stay in the game. But, TCU’s overall strong defensive and offensive production should allow TCU to pull out a comfortable victory.