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FORT WORTH, Texas -- For the second time this season No. 23 West Virginia (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) played well enough to win, but suffered its second loss - and first in Big 12 play - of the season at No. 8 TCU (5-0, 2-0 Big 12), 34-21.
"If you are going to play for championships you are going to have to come up with big plays and we did that," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "We knew coming in that they (West Virginia) were a good team and that we would have to play well to win.
"To our kids credit we made big plays on both sides of the football and our special teams were solid."
The victory puts the Horned Frogs in control of their own destiny when it comes to securing one of the league's two spots in its championship game the first Saturday in December while WVU finds itself in a near 'must win' situation when it plays host to Texas Tech next Saturday during Homecoming at Milan Puskar Stadium.
"Same exact thing that happened against (Virginia) Tech," Mountaineers' coach Dana Holgorsen said. "When you are playing the No. 8 team on the road your defense has to find a way to get off of the field and we didn't and your offense has to find a way to make a big play when you need it.
"We did that at times, but not enough. We lost to Virginia Tech because we didn't score enough. We only had 24 points (Saturday) and, obviously, that wasn't enough."
Once again special teams proved to be an area where the Mountaineers failed miserably. Sophomore Marcus Simms muff on TCU's third punt of the first quarter allowed the hosts to finally get on the scoreboard.
The play was set up when sophomore JoVanni Stewart blocked a TCU defender into the Mountaineer returner, causing the ball to bounce off of his hands and recovered by the Horned Frogs.
Seven plays later TCU made its guests pay for that miscue when sophomore Sewo Olonilua dove over from two yards out.
Poor field position continued to plague West Virginia as TCU's Adam Nunez pinned them inside their own five yard line four times in the first half.
"It's the same thing as Tech - field position and turnovers," Holgorsen said, who dropped to 6-18 overall when facing teams ranked in the Top 10. "Give their kid credit. If you don't want to be beat by special teams then you've got to punt the ball inside the five and not miss field goals."
West Virginia appeared to poised to retake the lead on its next series, but Will Grier's pass to favorite target David Sills V sailed over the receiver's head on third-and-3 at the TCU 12 and Mike Molina's 29 yard field goal went wide right moments later.
Grier, who connected on 24-of-45 attempts for 366 yards and three touchdowns, began to find Sills, who had seven catches for 116 yards and senior Ka'Raun White at the intermission as the University of Florida transfer found Sills for a 64-yard touchdown in the third quarter to bring the visitors to within seven, 17-10.
WVU knotted the game at 17 on a 76-yard hook up with White, who finished with 138 yards on six catches.
However, every time the Mountaineers appeared to wrest the momentum away from their hosts the Horned Frogs' Kenny Hill would find a way to bring the purple and white back.
"I had a lot to prove after last year," Hill said. "As a team we remembered what they did to us at their place and were determined not to let that happen here."
Hill, who was originally recruited out of high school by WVU offensive coordinator Jake Spavital when he was an assistant coach at Texas A&M, became the first quarterback in TCU history to run for a touchdown, pass for a touchdown and catch a pass for a touchdown.
Senior Justin Crawford made it five-for-five when the Mountaineer running back amassed 111 yards on 19 carries, but was held out of the end zone.