3:06pm: Hotline with Dave Weekley

Gibson: Defenders played ‘like they’ve never been taught to tackle’

TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin (2) scrambles from the pressure by West Virginia linebacker Jared Barber (42) during Thursday’s game in Fort Worth.

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Explaining all the Heisman highlights that radiated from Thursday night’s mega-effort, Trevone Boykin credited his elusiveness by emulating Jackie Chan in “Rush Hour.”

West Virginia’s Tony Gibson didn’t like his defense being cast as the nameless villains.

“There’s still no excuse for one guy to be able do what he did to us. He toyed with us basically,” said Gibson after a 40-10 loss. “The way that he made us miss him was ridiculous. Guys diving on the ground, looked like they’ve never been coached. Looked like they’ve never been taught to tackle. It’s embarrassing.”

Boykin’s 84 rushing yards were rich with stop-and-go bursts, and he culminated a 2-yard touchdown by vaulting over cornerback Daryl Worley at the pylon. Boykin connected on 32-of-47 passes for 388 yards and three touchdowns, making several completions after eluding defenders at point-blank proximity.

“You’ve got to sit back and just realize this dude is doing some crazy stuff,” said top receiver Josh Doctson. “Some real crazy stuff.”

While Doctson caught two scores among his 11 catches for 183 yards, he electrified the sellout crowd with another 65-yard touchdown that was nixed by an offensive lineman’s facemask penalty.

“We double-covered him, triple-covered him. We tried to play him in man and pressure Boykin to throw it faster,” Gibson said. “Nothing worked, though, because he’s like 6-5 and athletic and he finds the holes.

“TCU did whatever they wanted to offensively. I mean, what can I say?”

Flag football: In what has evolved into a weekly occurrence, West Virginia reached triple digits in penalty yards. Four first-half pass-interference calls factored into 17 TCU points and the visitors finished with 119 yards on nine flags total.

“Penalties killed us, but I can’t say anything about the refs,” safety K.J. Dillon said. “You know, there were some questionable calls, some PIs that shouldn’t have been PIs, but you’ve just got to play the next play.”

Dillon’s third-down pass breakup against Doctson at the goal line drew a flag and a bit of protest from the senior defensive back.

“I talk to the ref before every game  and say ‘OK, what’s your guidelines on pass interference?’ I talked to the ref right before they flagged me for the PI and he said, ‘As long as you don’t stop his momentum, you’re fine.’ Then he threw the flag on me and I’m like, ‘What’s up, man? I just talked to you the play before that and asked you what were your guidelines.’ But he just waved me off.”

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