MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Strength versus strength will be on display tonight in Fort Worth, Texas, when West Virginia faces 3-3 TCU at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
 
TCU has college football's 15th-ranked rushing offense, averaging 227.5 yards per game. In all six games so far this year, the Horned Frogs have run for at least 169 yards, including a season-high 394 two weeks ago in a 52-31 win at Texas Tech – the same Texas Tech team that defeated West Virginia 23-20 in Morgantown earlier this month.
 
"Offensively, they've done a great job of mixing it up, but you can tell they've made it a point to improve running the football, and they have," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier this week. "They've run it extremely well versus everybody they've played this year.
 
"They want to run the football – that's their No. 1 goal – and for us we've got to put them in must-pass situations," Brown added. "I think first down is going to be huge in this game."
 
WVU's run defense is the 19th stingiest in college football this week, allowing just 89.3 yards per game. Baylor was the most successful team running the ball against the 2-4 Mountaineers, generating 171 yards in a 45-20 victory in Waco.
 
Prior to that, third-ranked Oklahoma managed just 57 yards on 28 attempts and Texas Tech produced just 80 on 30 rushes.
 
Meanwhile, TCU has the 120th-ranked run defense in college football, giving up 210 yards per game, while West Virginia's rushing attack is ranked 114th generating just 99.8 yards per game on the ground.
 
"They're giving up more rushing yards than they have in the past, and I think a lot of that is due to injuries," Brown explained.
 
Which team has the greater success in this area will also likely determine the outcome of tonight's game.
 
TCU has two running backs averaging better than 7 yards per carry in Zach Evans (7.9) and Kendre Miller (7.3), and a quarterback in Max Duggan, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game four times for his career.
 
Duggan, despite playing with a broken bone in his foot, is also coming off a career-high 346 yards passing and four touchdowns in last Saturday's 52-31 loss at Oklahoma.
 
"He's throwing the ball better than he has in his career," Brown said.
 
West Virginia has been using two quarterbacks of late. Jarret Doege, who ranks second in the Big 12 this week with 1,444 passing yards and is completing 65.2% of his 181 pass attempts with eight touchdowns and five interceptions, has been starting, but freshman Garrett Greene is also getting more snaps behind center and is now the team's second-leading rusher with 239 yards and four touchdowns.
 
"He's coming off one of his better games versus Baylor, but Garrett has got to continue to grow," Brown said. "The deal with Garrett is our receivers have been the most productive piece of our offense and Garrett has got to continue to improve his ability to get them the ball."
 
Senior Leddie Brown, a 1,000-yard rusher last season, shows 422 yards and six touchdowns, but a good portion of his rushing yardage has come in just one game this year against Virginia Tech.
 
Brown has rushed for 56, 57 and 44 yards in West Virginia's three Big 12 games so far this year.
 
TCU's top receiver is 6-foot-4, 201-pound sophomore Quentin Johnston who is coming off a seven-catch, 185-yard, three-touchdown performance last Saturday at Oklahoma. Johnston now shows 19 catches for 355 yards and five touchdowns.
 
West Virginia's leading receiver is Winston Wright Jr. with 32 catches for 364 yards. Junior Sam James leads the team with three touchdown catches and is second with 22 receptions for 302 yards.
 
Defensively, the two guys to watch for TCU are defensive ends Ochaun Mathis and Dylan Horton, who have combined for eight tackles for loss and five sacks so far this season. Brown considers them among the best pair of defensive ends in the Big 12 this year.
 
"If you look at them compared to the rest of the league, I think that's where they have a real advantage," Brown said. "They are a tough match for you one-on-one in pass protection."
 
West Virginia's defense is led by senior mike linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo with a team-best 49 tackles. Eight different players have been in on the Mountaineers' 16 sacks so far this year, led by Dante Stills and Taijh Alston with four each.
 
TCU has a 28-year-old Australian punter in Jordy Sandy, who is averaging 45.7 yards per boot and an always explosive return game that has victimized West Virginia in the past.
 
On the flip side, Casey Legg is 10-of-10 in field goal attempts this year, including hitting a pair from 40 yards or longer.
 
West Virginia will be making its fifth appearance at Amon G. Carter Stadium where it owns a 2-2 record. Both victories in 2013 and 2019 were by three-point margins.
 
Here is tonight's Countdown to Kickoff:
 
10 – Fifteen Mountaineer players have started at least TEN career games, including safety Sean Mahone's team-best 28 career starts heading into tonight's game.
 
9 – WVU's defense has had NINE 10-plus tacklers in its last seven games dating back to last year's Liberty Bowl win over Army.
 
8 – West Virginia has been successful on EIGHT of its 11 fourth-down attempts this year for a 72.7% conversion rate.
 
7 – SEVEN Mountaineer defenders have produced at least one TFL in two games this season, including four (Alonzo Addae, Taijh Alston, Jackie Matthews and Dante Stills) who have at least one tackle for loss in three games this year.
 
6 – Sam James ranks SIXTH in the Big 12 this week with three touchdown receptions.
 
5 – West Virginia has completed at least 20 pass attempts in FIVE of its six games so far this season.
 
4 – Leddie Brown ranks FOURTH in the Big 12 this week with seven total touchdowns, six of those coming on the ground.
 
3 – West Virginia's victories at Amon G. Carter Stadium in 2013 and 2019 were each by a margin of THREE points.
 
2 – The Mountaineers have generated at least 400 yards of total offense TWO times so far this season against Long Island (542) and Texas Tech (424).
 
1 – West Virginia's defense ranks FIRST in the Big 12 this week in tackles for loss averaging 7.8 per game.
 
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (ET) and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU (Brian Custer, Kelly Stouffer and Lauren Sisler).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning begins with the Mountaineer Tailgate Show starting at 4 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
 
"We need to play better and win some games," Brown said. "We've got one game this week and they we'll move through the schedule and play really good people from here on out. And we need to play better than we did against Baylor."
 
WVU has won three in a row against the Horned Frogs and four of the last five and owns a 6-4 overall record in series play, including a Bluebonnet Bowl victory in 1984.