No. 4 TCU finds new way to win, stopping No. 18 Texas with defense

By Michael Cohen
Published

Fifty-six minutes of purple-tinted joy were halted with a disastrous blunder in the costliest of moments. Texas Christian quarterback Max Duggan — this year’s hero and a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate in a dreamlike season — watched in horror as his fumble was scooped by defensive back Jahdae Barron and returned for a 48-yard score, injecting life into a burnt-orange crowd that had meandered toward the stadium’s exits.

The fumble recovery trimmed No. 4 TCU’s lead to seven in the closing moments as an undefeated season briefly teetered. But the plucky Horned Frogs, led by head coach Sonny Dykes, calmly, coolly and courageously ran out the clock with a drive that erased the final 4:25 for their 10th consecutive win. Cinderella was a seven-point underdog but stays unbeaten for another week — and clinches a spot in the Big 12 title game in the process.

Here are some takeaways from TCU’s 17-10 win over No. 18 Texas.

Tilting the field

After so many white-knuckle Saturdays threatened by scoreboard deficits were salvaged with Duggan’s second-half sorcery, the Horned Frogs were presented with a handful of wondrous opportunities to floor Texas early — to snuff the opposition before any rabbits needed pulling from TCU's hats — and promptly misfired on all of them.

The combination of airtight coverage and timely pressure on Longhorns’ quarterback Quinn Ewers, who opened with six consecutive incompletions and threw a pass to the opponent before connecting with anyone on his own team, warped the field position in TCU’s favor. An offense that entered Saturday’s game tied for third in scoring at 43.1 point per game began four consecutive drive on Texas’ half of the field spanning the first and second quarters, and all Duggan & Co. had to show for it was a missed field goal and three punts from the UT 40-yard line, the UT 36-yard line and the UT 42-yard line.

The Horned Frogs’ offensive line withered against a hyper-athletic Texas front that utilized sophomore edge rusher Barryn Sorrell like a chess piece, with defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski shifting him from traditional wide positions to the interior and back again. Sorrell tallied two solo tackles for loss and two assisted tackles for loss — including 1½ sacks for minus-18 yards — to spearhead an attack that lived in TCU’s backfield. Nine different players recorded at least one tackle for loss and six were credited with at least ½ sack as Texas limited the Horned Frogs to nine or fewer yards on five of their first six drives.

It wasn’t until his final drive of the half that Duggan strung together more than two first downs, and to do so he whistled completions through narrow windows for methodical gains. The Horned Frogs entered the break with a 3-0 lead courtesy of a 34-yard field goal by Griffin Kell with 1:30 remaining but should have led by more.

Running the show

One of the game’s more enticing storylines pitted star tailbacks Bijan Robinson of Texas (1,129 yards and 12 TDs) and Kendre Miller of TCU (1,009 yards and 12 TDs) against each other in college football’s first matchup between 1,000-yard rushers this season. Robinson entered the weekend with seven consecutive 100-yard games after an incredible 30-carry, 209-yard effort in the win over No. 13 Kansas State last Saturday, while Miller arrived in Austin having topped 100 yards in four consecutive games and six of his last seven overall.

Robinson was largely smothered by a Horned Frogs’ run defense that played far better than its No. 70 national ranking (146.6 YPG) this season. The 3-3-5 scheme employed by defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie swarmed Robinson near the line of scrimmage and held him to 2.4 yards per carry — less than half his average through the first nine games. TCU never allowed a run longer than nine yards.

Miller faced similar stoutness against a Longhorns’ run defense ranked 21st among Power 5 opponents at 123.6 yards per game and fresh off holding All-American tailback Deuce Vaughn to 73 yards on 19 carries in a 34-27 win over Kansas State last week. His longest carry in the first quarter was six yards and his longest in the second gained five. He reached the midway point of the third quarter with 15 carries for 51 yards.

But that’s when Miller summoned the kind of explosive, game-changing gain Robinson couldn’t with a 75-yard touchdown through the middle of the line of scrimmage and down the right sideline. He raced away from the Texas secondary to give the Horned Frogs a 10-0 lead. Miller finished with 21 carries for 143 yards to outshine his counterpart.

Finding ways to win

A glance at TCU’s schedule this season reveals part of what makes the wildly unpredictable Big 12 so much fun. The Horned Frogs needed 42 to points to beat SMU in their toughest nonconference matchup. They needed 38 points to topple then-No. 19 Kansas in a come-from-behind win that made people wonder if Dykes’ team is for real. They needed 40 points to topple Oklahoma State after trailing by two touchdowns in a thriller. And they needed 38 points to upend Kansas State and erase an 18-point deficit.

Points, points and more points.

There’s an argument to be made that Saturday’s defensive-minded win over Texas proved to the selection committee that the Horned Frogs are much more than a one-trick pony, that they can still win even when their vaunted offense is mostly contained. Gillespie’s group silenced Ewers, Robinson and the rest of head coach Steve Sarkisian’s offense after the Longhorns had averaged 36.3 points per game over their last seven. Nobody — not even Alabama — managed to hold Texas to fewer than 19 points until TCU cut that number in half Saturday night. 

And the numbers get even better: The Horned Frogs allowed just a single third-down conversion on 13 attempts and stopped the Longhorns three times on fourth down. They surrendered fewer than 200 yards of total offense and kept Texas out of the end zone. They forced seven punts in the span of eight possessions with an interception in between.

If the selection committee wanted TCU to make a statement, this one was loud and clear.

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Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.