FORT WORTH, Texas — Trevone Boykin leaped over defenders and threw from the hip for touchdowns. The TCU quarterback even slapped hands with West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen after going out of bounds on one of his nifty scrambles.
“It’s probably the most respect that you can give someone in that time and moment,” Boykin said after the fifth-ranked Horned Frogs won 40-10 on Thursday night for their 16th consecutive victory.
In their last game before the first weekly College Football Playoff rankings this season, TCU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) made quite an impression. As did Boykin (472 total yards, four touchdowns) and Josh Doctson (11 catches, 183 yards and two touchdowns) on Heisman Trophy voters tuning into the midweek game.
“I keep telling you just appreciate Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson,” coach Gary Patterson said. “They’re pretty special people.”
Boykin was 32 of 47 for 388 yards and three touchdowns and ran 11 times for 84 yards, with a 2-yard keeper for a score when he hurdled a defender at the goal line.
He broke TCU’s record for total offense at 12,041 yards, breaking the previous record 11,925 held by Andy Dalton, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback who led TCU to an undefeated season and Rose Bowl victory during the 2010 season.
When Boykin avoided a sack late in the third quarter, making a move that had linebacker Jared Barber flailing to the ground, he gained 11 yards before running out of bounds on the West Virginia sideline and having his moment with Holgorsen.
“I can’t get No. 2 out of my mind making everybody on the field miss,” Holgorsen said.
In their previous game Oct. 17, the Mountaineers (3-4, 0-4) lost 62-38 at No. 2 Baylor when Corey Coleman caught 10 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns. After the game, Holgorsen called the Bears receiver “the best player in college football. … You can put me on the record for that.”
Holgorsen opened his postgame comments Thursday night saying, “With all due respect to Corey Coleman, Trevone Boykin is the best player in college football.”
TCU and West Virginia entered the Big 12 together in 2012, and their previous three meetings had been decided by a combined five points. There were two overtime games before Jaden Oberkrom kicked a 37-yard field goal on the final play of regulation last year for a TCU victory.
Oberkrom kicked four field goals Thursday night, including a 57-yarder to end the first half and put TCU up 23-10.
The Frogs, whose winning streak is second only to top-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State’s 21 in a row, went ahead to stay after scoring on each of their three drives in the first quarter for a 17-0 lead.
Boykin threw a 17-yard pass to Doctson for the first touchdown, and had his hurdling keeper to make it 14-0. Both drives were kept alive when the Mountaineers were penalized for pass interference on third-and-long plays — twice on the opening drive.
TCU also scored on its first two drives after halftime, going ahead 37-10 when Boykin had a defender charging at him and threw a side-arm sling to Doctson for a 9-yard TD. Boykin was knocked down by the hard shot, but popped right back up to join the celebration for the touchdown.
“He’s just playing like a Heisman quarterback,” Doctson said. “Man, it’s crazy. I’m running around trying to see what he’s trying to do. Playing with him for three years, I kind of know which direction he’s going to go. Sometimes I go against the rules and just watch him and watch his eyes.”
Wendell Smallwood ran for 113 yards for West Virginia. Skyler Howard, who went to high school about 15 miles from the TCU campus, was 16 of 39 for 160 yards with a touchdown and an interception, there were also several dropped bases on deep balls that could have been scores.
Attending the game was one of Boykin’s biggest fans, a 7-year-old Iowa State fan photographed wearing a Cyclones jersey in her wheelchair with the quarterback kneeling to speak to her in a touching image that went viral after the Frogs’ 45-21 win there in their last game Oct. 17.
A TCU donor provided a private jet for Abby Faber and her family to travel to Thursday’s game, and they got to meet with Boykin after the game. The young girl was wearing a No. 2 Boykin jersey when shown on the large video screens at the end of the first quarter, and got a huge ovation.
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