Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Neal Brown has talked a lot about his young football program making incremental improvement. 
 
Today, we saw some more tangible evidence of that.
 
West Virginia (5-3) used a powerful ground game, sprinkled in some timely Jarret Doege passes and got another dominant performance from its defense to easily handle TCU 24-6 here at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  
 
"A huge win for us," coach Neal Brown, now 10-10 in his  two seasons at West Virginia, said afterward.
 
A sun-soaked crowd of 11,111 saw the WVU defense keep TCU out of the end zone for the first time this season. In fact, offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie's Air Raid attack has managed to generate just 26 points in the Horned Frogs' last three Morgantown appearances – a 34-10 loss in 2016 and a 47-10 defeat two years ago.
 
Today, all TCU could muster was a pair of Griffin Kell field goals. West Virginia's Casey Legg kicked a 42-yard field goal and missed from 40.
 
Late in the game, with West Virginia playing mostly backups, the Horned Frogs drove to the Mountaineer 8, but Tykee Smith picked off a Max Duggan pass at the goal line and returned it 42 yards before being tracked down by Duggan and wide receiver Quentin Johnson.
 
TCU finished today with just 295 total yards against West Virginia's No. 6-rated defense, the first time this season it failed to get at least 300 yards of offense.
 
West Virginia got 156 yards on the ground from junior Leddie Brown, and Doege tossed a pair of touchdown passes to T.J. Simmons. 
 
Doege also scored from the 1 on a quarterback sneak.
 
The junior completed an efficient 19-of-26 passes for 212 yards – 90 of those going to Simmons on four catches. Simmons' touchdown grabs covered 26 and 38 yards, his first two of the season.
 
West Virginia began the game with a 99-yard drive, which consumed 15 plays and 7:33 of game time. Doege was 7-of-8 passing on the drive and Simmons also contributed a 15-yard run. Brown said he was able to get the game script once the Mountaineers got a first down on Doege's 15-yard pass to Sean Ryan moving the ball out to the 22.
 
"I know it was early, but on that 99-yard drive we really took control of the game," Brown noted. "Offensively, I thought that was as efficiently as we've played. We controlled the clock."
 
"They did a great job of moving their formations around, and to be honest with you, our kids didn't handle that very well and that's my fault," TCU coach Gary Patterson said.
 
Following a Horned Frog field goal, the Mountaineers also reached pay dirt on their second offensive possession. A Brown 30-yard run moved the ball to the TCU 45, and a Doege pass to James netted 16 to the Horned Frog 29.
 
A defensive holding penalty on TCU cornerback Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson trying to cover Sean Ryan on a third-and-17 play gave West Virginia a fresh set of downs at the 26.
 
Here, Doege faked a screen pass out in the flat and lofted a pass to Simmons running toward the nearside pylon. He was able to outfight double coverage to haul in his first touchdown of the season.
 
Simmons' second touchdown grab, following a muffed punt by Trevon Moehrig that was recovered by Sean Mahone at the Frog 42, was the product of Simmons beating man coverage.
 
He outdueled safety La'Kendrick Van Zandt on a lofting pass to the far side of the field that he caught at the TCU 3 and carried La'Kendrick Van Zandt into the end zone.
 
Simmons' second TD came with 12:01 left in the fourth quarter.
 
TCU's first score was aided by a roughing-the-punter penalty on Tony Mathis Jr., one of 10 penalties called on West Virginia for 85 yards 
 
That scoring drive covered 59 yards in 10 plays.
 
The Frogs' other scoring march on their opening possession of the third quarter consumed 57 yards in 10 plays and a third drive accounted for 71 yards before Smith's interception in the end zone.
 
TCU's six other offensive possessions netted just 102 yards, an impressive performance by the WVU defense.
 
Duggan was 16-of-29 passing for 161 yards, and he was limited to just 19 yards rushing on 10 attempts. In TCU's three wins this year, Duggan has rushed for 258 yards and five touchdowns. In its four losses, he has gained just 90 yards while averaging less than 2 yards per carry.
 
Patterson said Duggan's passing difficulties were a product of West Virginia's defensive front.
 
"It was defensive linemen in your face," Patterson said. "That would be one thing today that he was high on his outs. The offense got tackled and moved back a couple of times. I think (Duggan) is pressing too much, to be honest."
 
Linebacker Tony Fields II once again led the WVU defense with 14 tackles, one shy of his season high. Exree Loe, starting in place of injured Josh Chandler-Semedo, was credited with 12 stops.
 
Safety Tykee Smith, who Neal Brown calls the "best player at his position in the Big 12," had nine tackles, a tackle for loss and interception and a pass breakup.
 
"Tykee Smith is not getting talked about enough," Brown said.
 
Freshman defensive end Akheem Mesidor got West Virginia's only sack of the game for his team-leading 6½ for the season.
 
Brown's 156 yards this afternoon boost his season total to 897. He's looking to become West Virginia's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2017 when the Mountaineers played a 13-game schedule. Brown was questionable heading into today's game after getting injured on the first play of last Saturday's loss at Texas.
 
Doege, whose streak of four consecutive 300-yard passing games ended today, now shows 2,219 yards passing and 13 touchdowns in eight games.
 
Today's victory assures West Virginia of at least a .500 record for the regular season.
 
West Virginia will have an open week next Saturday and then have games left against 18^th-ranked Oklahoma at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 28, and at No. 17 Iowa State on Saturday, Dec. 5.
 
"We're heading into this bye week, and I think everybody is ready for a break," Brown said.
 
TCU (3-4) wraps up the regular season with games at Kansas on Nov. 28 and at home against Oklahoma State on Dec. 5.