TCU Can't Break One-Score Curse in Narrow Defeat to West Virginia

TCU returned home to Fort Worth with momentum on its side following its first win in Big 12 play, which happened to come over its bitter rival Baylor in Waco.

Awaiting the Horned Frogs back home was West Virginia, which was off a thrilling 45-42 win over Cincinnati to notch its lone victory in the Big 12.

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In the Homecoming bout at Amon G. Carter Stadium, it was the Mountaineers that emerged victorious in a somewhat surprising shootout by a final score of 24-20.

The loss marked a handful of rarities for TCU, such as the second defeat in Fort Worth and the second time a team has scored 20 or more on the Horned Frogs' defense.

However, one specific category has been all too familiar for this season's bunch of Horned Frogs.

Saturday's one-score loss to West Virginia was the fourth for the team, which happens to all of the losses the Horned Frogs have suffered.

To add insult to injury, TCU has held the lead or been tied in all and has had the ball with the chance to win, take the lead or tie things up late in all four, as well.

Those four pivotal drives ended in a turnover on downs against North Carolina in Dublin, an interception to UCF in Orlando, a missed field goal turned game-sealing touchdown by BYU and a fumble in the red zone on Saturday in the latest loss to West Virginia.

Many of those mistakes seemed to be a thing of the past after the impressive performance displayed at McLane Stadium against the Bears one week ago.

In that win over Baylor, TCU limited itself to one turnover, an interception from quarterback Jaden Craig that was immediately followed by a fumble by the Bears.

The Horned Frogs also broke the threshold of two touchdowns for the first time against a Power 4 opponent and were able to avoid total stagnation to allow Baylor to climb back in.

Although offense was not a concern this time again, actually finishing with its highest total since Arkansas State, the defense had a tough time keeping the Mountaineers at bay, albeit that has been a task that few have been able to accomplish.

But the most critical problem that crept back for the Horned Frogs was the turnovers, as the late fumble might have sealed their fate, but TCU committed two others beforehand that led to the eventual demise.

In an unfortunate twist, all of these errors were the fault of Craig, who is now up to six interceptions in seven games and has accounted for nine turnovers total.

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West Virginia would not score any points off of these turnovers, but they all occurred inside Mountaineer territory and prevented TCU from taking the significant edge in the tight contest.

TCU has shown glimpses of a solid team and one that is more than capable of beating the top teams within the Big 12. But if the Horned Frogs cannot get out of their own way, they will stuck on the losing end of winnable games many more times this year.