MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — TCU coach Gary Patterson didn’t need help recalling the special-teams mishaps two years ago that haunted his team at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The Horned Frogs lost two fumbles on kickoffs that day in a 34-10 loss to West Virginia.
“Yeah, I could tell you exactly the person who did it the last time we were here – Deante Gray,” Patterson said following Saturday’s 47-10 loss.
Two years before that, in 2014, TCU failed to field a short kickoff that West Virginia recovered.
The same thing happened again Saturday when Emari Dmercado and Taye Barber stared at each other as a kickoff bounced away, allowing the Mountaineers coverage man Exree Loe to recover the ball.
Five plays later, Martell Pettaway scored to give the Mountaineers a 17-3 lead, which snowballed into 30 points in seven minutes to bury the Horned Frogs.
“After it was 3-3 with five minutes left in the second quarter, we got our butts kicked,” Patterson said. “We’re not good enough right now to make mistakes and they’re a good football team. You have to give West Virginia a lot of credit.”
The Horned Frogs (4-6, 2-5) are in desperation mode, needing to win their last two games against Baylor and Oklahoma State to reach a bowl. Patterson kept a positive attitude after the 37-point loss — the worst losing margin of his career. recalling a situation 17 years ago.
“I’m going to tell you a story,” he began. “There was a guy, a long time ago, that asked me a question after we lost to UAB. We went 4-5 and we had Southern Miss and Louisville left, and he said, ‘Do you think if you beat Southern Miss and Louisville,’ which were ranked in the top 20 at the time, ‘do you deserve to go to a bowl game?’
“I said yes and we did. That was my first year as a head coach in 2001. So you keep fighting.”
The last time TCU missed a bowl game was in 2013, following a 4-8 season. If the Horned Frogs want to keep their streak going, it’ll have to overcome an injury rash that would decimate almost any team.
Over 30 players missed at least four games and the total that are out for the season is approaching 20. Receiver Jalen Reagor, who scored TCU’s only touchdown in a 150-yard performance, wasn’t using that as an excuse.
“It’s not so much of a how are we going to pick ourselves up — we have to,” he said. “We have to bounce back with two games left if we want to make the most of this season.”
Take them home, county roads
During West Virginia’s postgame celebration, Patterson forced his players to stand in front of the TCU fans with his hand raised to keep his team quiet as “Take Me Home, Country Roads” played.
Once the song was over, the Frogs sang the TCU alma mater.
“They all came a long way to come to a ball game, so we want to show them we appreciated them. As for West Virginia, I’m very proud of what they do and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something when it doesn’t come to football. They people here really treated us well.”