Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hill scores three ways as TCU wins
FORT WORTH— Kenny Hill avoided a defender in the backfield and lunged forward through two more for a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:53 left and No. 8 TCU remained the Big 12’s only undefeated team with a 31-24 victory over No. 23 West Virginia on Saturday.
“This team and the coaches trust me with the ball down there. That means a lot,” Hill said. “It gives you a lot of confidence.”
Hill also threw a 45-yard touchdown pass and was on the receiving end of a 48-yard score for the Frogs (5-0, 2-0). His winning TD run came only five plays after an apparent interception was reversed on a replay review.
“I would bet that every game’s going to be like this,” TCU Coach Gary Patterson said. “We want to win a championship. If you’re going to win a championship, as a general rule … you win about three or four of them that are ugly. You got to win the ugly ones sometimes.”
Will Grier threw for 366 yards and three TDs for West Virginia (3-2, 1-1), including two long catch-and-run scores in a span of about 2½ minutes late in the third quarter. It was tied at 24 after Grier hooked up with David Sills V on a 64-yard scoring play and then Ka’Raun White for a 76-yarder.
TCU led 7-3 at halftime in the only game Saturday matching Top 25 teams, and after third-ranked and twotime defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1) was upset at home by Iowa State.
“It was a close game. Everything that happened in the first half, throw it away,” West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen said, when asked about his halftime message to his team. “If we outplay them in the second half, we’re probably going to win the game — and we didn’t.”
After those two long West Virginia TDs, the Frogs used a little trickery to go ahead again. KaVontae Turpin took a handoff and swept to the right before stopping and throwing back to Hill, who ran down the left sideline for the score.
West Virginia got even at 31-31 on Sills’ 4-yard TD catch with 9:50 left, a nice reaching grab in the back of the end zone. He had seven catches for 116 yards and now has nine TD catches this season.