MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University coach Dana Holgorsen says the TCU week is always a fun one for his football team.

 

“I think there’s a little extra incentive in this game just obviously based on the fact that we both came into the league at the same time five years ago,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “You look back at the games that have been played, typically very competitive, a lot of fun and we’ve got a lot of respect for each other.”

 

The Big 12’s latest additions - and for the time being the only additions following Monday’s announcement that the league was not going to expand beyond 10 teams in the foreseeable future - West Virginia and TCU were two of the more appealing football programs located outside the traditional “Power 5” conferences a decade ago.

 

TCU dominated the Mountain West Conference during a six-year period from 2005-11, winning the league four times and posting at least 11 victories in each of those seasons. The highlight of that era was a 21-19 victory over Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl.

 

West Virginia, too, enjoyed impressive success when the Big East became three teams lighter in the mid-2000s. The Mountaineers earned at least a share of six Big East championships during an eight-year period from 2003-2011, including victories over Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl and Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.

 

Since joining the Big 12, however, TCU has had the better of it, particularly of late by winning 12 of 13 games in 2014 and finishing third in the country, and going 11-2 last year and finishing ranked seventh.

 

Three of West Virginia’s four meetings against TCU have been thrillers, particularly the two games played here in Morgantown. In both instances, West Virginia was in position to win the football game but couldn’t make the plays it needed down the stretch to hold off the Horned Frogs.

 

In 2012, a 76-yard Tavon Austin fourth-quarter punt return for a score seemingly gave the Mountaineers the deciding margin, but TCU wide receiver Josh Boyce was inexplicably left uncovered and caught a 94-yard touchdown pass from Trevone Boykin with just 1:28 left to tie the game.

 

In overtime, the Frogs won when coach Gary Patterson rolled the dice by going for two in double overtime. Brandon Carter completed a two-point pass to Boyce off of a reverse to give them a 39-38 victory.

 

Two years later, in 2014, the circumstances were somewhat similar with West Virginia unable to hold onto a 13-point lead in the third quarter. TCU got a pair of B.J. Catalon touchdown runs and a 37-yard field goal from Jaden Oberkrom on the game’s final play to escape with a 31-30 victory.

 

After beating TCU, 30-27, on Josh Lambert’s overtime field goal in 2013, last year’s game in Fort Worth was an anomaly, the Horned Frogs blowing out West Virginia 40-10.

 

“I just think, based on the fact that we had a lot of success outside the Big 12, and then once we’ve been in the Big 12 have had some pretty competitive games … four years ago an overtime game, three years ago an overtime game, two years ago here, I thought we played really good but we just didn’t get it done and they won on a last-second field goal,” Holgorsen noted. “They went on to dominate their New Year’s bowl game (against Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl) that year and they were pretty good. Last year, I thought they were excellent as well.”

 

That performance in Fort Worth last year left a sour taste in the mouths of the players and came at the end of a poor four-game stretch that saw West Virginia lose by 20 at Oklahoma, seven to Oklahoma State at home in overtime and by 24 at Baylor.

 

“It was game four of that four-game stretch that no one really wants to talk about it anymore,” Holgorsen said. “(WVU) didn’t play very well last year, so I know our kids are going to be excited to be able to get back out there to play these guys because typically these have always typically been pretty hard-fought games.”

 

A good number of TCU players from last year’s game will be on the field Saturday in Morgantown, particularly on defense.

 

Holgorsen said he likes what he has seen so far from TCU’s defense, despite having given up 41 points in the opener to South Dakota State, 41 in a week-two loss to Arkansas and 52 in a six-point home loss to Oklahoma.

 

In its most recent game against Kansas two weeks ago, the Horned Frog defense surrendered 23 points in a one-point victory in Lawrence.

 

“They look pretty much the same as they always have,” Holgorsen said. “Their front is good - pretty much the same guys we played last year. Their linebackers are excellent. (Junior linebacker Travon) Howard is all over the place and (senior safety Denzel) Johnson is all over the place. Those guys run, cover ground and make tackles.”

 

On the other side of the ball, Holgorsen said TCU has taken a similar approach to what West Virginia has done on defense to restock its shelf - recruit graduate transfers, four-year transfers and junior college players, most notably former Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill.

 

LSU transfer John Diarse is currently third on the team in receptions, just behind Taj Williams, a junior college transfer. And there is Michigan transfer Derrick Green, who ranks fourth on the team in rushing this week with 92 yards on 24 carries.

 

Hill, of course, is the focal point of the TCU attack averaging 391.3 yards per game in total offense. He has accounted for 2,142 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air and 206 yards and seven scores on the ground.

 

His best game so far this year was a 449-yard, five-touchdown performance in TCU’s loss to Oklahoma, and he also passed for more than 400 yards in games against South Dakota State and SMU.

 

Most recently at Kansas, he completed just 17-of-32 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown. Hill will run it, but not the way Boykin did last year.

 

“The thing about Boykin was, three years ago he was their best receiver,” Holgorsen noted. “I don’t know if Hill would be their best receiver right now, but he looks to throw. He’s a pocket guy who can get out and throw it around. He’ll do more scrambling to throw it like (Texas Tech quarterback Patrick) Mahomes did.”

 

Kyle Hicks, a 5-foot-10-inch, 210-pound junior running back from Arlington, Texas, leads the team in rushing (479 yards and seven touchdowns) and receiving (27 catches for 308 yards and two touchdowns).

 

Perhaps TCU’s most explosive player is diminutive sophomore wide receiver KaVontae Turpin, who produced 295 all-purpose yards in the Arkansas loss and returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown in the season opener against South Dakota State.

 

He has been out since the September 17 win against Iowa State with a knee injury, but Patterson indicated on Monday morning that Turpin might be available for Saturday’s game in Morgantown, as well as center Austin Schlottmann.

 

Both are termed “game-time decisions” by Patterson.

 

TCU could also possibly get back two more injured players in offensive lineman Trey Elliott and cornerback Julius Lewis, who have missed the first six games of the season.

 

TCU is 4-2, 2-1 heading into Saturday’s game and is looking to get back into the Big 12 race with another victory in Morgantown.

 

The Mountaineers, 5-0 for the first time since 2012, are seeking their first 6-0 start to a season since 2006. West Virginia jumped eight spots to No. 12 in this week’s AP poll following last Saturday’s impressive 48-17 victory at Texas Tech.

 

Saturday’s game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ABC (Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy and Tom Luginbill).

 

The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s radio coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. with the Go-Mart Mountaineer Tailgate Show with Dan Zangrilli, Dale Wolfley and Jed Drenning leading into regular game coverage with Tony Caridi and Dwight Wallace at 2:30 on stations throughout West Virginia, online via leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.

 

Saturday’s game is sold out.