Frogs Kick Arkansas-Pine Bluff, In Preparation for Purdue

At a Frog Club luncheon the Thursday before his Horned Frogs opened the 2019 season against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff (APB) Golden Lions, long-time TCU head football coach Gary Patterson issued a warning to the large gathering of purple-blooded fans.

Tom "Midnite" Burke

"Don't expect us to win this game by 50 points," said Patterson, shaking his head. "Be careful if you're thinking about betting on us. You know me. I don't run up the score."

When making that statement, Patterson conveniently must have forgotten about when he led the Frogs to an astounding 82-27 victory over Kliff Kingsbury and his Texas Tech embarrassRed Raiders on October 25, 2014, in Fort Worth. 

Nonetheless, this past Saturday, August 31, in Amon G. carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Patterson didn't have to worry about holding back his Horned Frogs and protecting the dignity of the Football Championship Subdivision-level Golden Lions.

The main thing Patterson had to worry about during TCU's methodical 39-7 victory was wearing out his field goal kickers.

TCU field goal kickers Jonathan Song (#46) and Griffin Kell accounted for 21 of the Horned Frogs’ 39 points, as the Frogs only scored touchdowns on two-of-seven trips into the red zone. 

The kicking performances inspired Patterson to pen a song after the win. Listen: here  

Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach   also was affected by all of the footballs being kicked around Amon Carter Stadium. After his team’s gritty play and loss, he penned a song. Listen: here

This was the first win for TCU over the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)-based Golden Lions, as it was the first game played between the two teams. 

The Horned Frogs faced an opponent from the SWAC for the fourth time in their recent history.

TCU defeated Southern University, 55-7, in the 2018 season-opener. 

TCU beat Jackson State, 63-0, in the Frogs' 2017 season-opener.

The Frogs blanked Grambling State, 56-0, in their 2012 season-opener. The game against Grambling State marked the first game in the rebuilt Amon G. Carter Stadium, and was the110th career win for Gary Patterson, making him TCU’s all-time winningest coach. 

TCU now is 12-1 against FCS opponents under Patterson.

This win also marked the first time that Patterson and his Frogs have played, and won, a game when beer was sold throughout Amon G. Carter Stadium. 

Evidently, this new fan experience proved popular. Reportedly, concession stands sold out of Coors Light and Miller Lite.

Perhaps all of the field-goal kicking drove Horned Frog fans to drink. 

Song, a graduate student from Fort Worth, racked up 17 points in the win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. He kicked five field goals (24, 36, 19, 34 and 38 yards) and two extra points to earn the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week award.

Song’s five field goals tied for second-most in a game in TCU football history, trailing onlythe TCU and Big 12 record of six by Jaden Oberkrom. Oberkrom’s kicks came in a 56-53 triple-overtime loss by the Frogs to Texas Tech on October 20, 2012, in Fort Worth. 

In his career, Song has converted 22-of-25 field-goal attempts, including 21-of-22 inside 40 yards.

Kell (#39), a true freshman from Arlington, saw his first game action as a Horned Frog. He kicked a field goal of 35 yards and the extra point after the Frogs’ final touchdown of the game, which came with 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter. 

Max Duggan and Darwin Barlow are two other true freshmen who shined for the Frogs, who won their home opener for the 18th straight season and extended the Big 12's longest active winning streak to four games.

Duggan (#15), the highly recruited and 2018 Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, took over as the Frogs’ quarterback on the team’s third offensive series of the game. He scored his first career touchdown and TCU’s first touchdown of the season on a one-yard run with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter. The touchdown capped off an 11-play, 58-yard drive. 

With seven seconds left in the third quarter, Duggan connected with wide receiver Jalen Regaor on a 37-yard touchdown pass. This was the only touchdown the Frogs scored in the game from outside of the red zone. The score gave TCU a 29-7 lead. 

The Frogs’ third and final touchdown of the game was scored by Barlow (#24), a highly recruited four-star signee out of Newton, which won consecutive state championships in 2017 and 2018.  

Barlow, who rushed for 45 yards on eight carries, scored his first career on an eight-yard run with less than a minute remaining in the game.

Barlow dedicated the touchdown to his Newton High School coach, W.T. Johnston. Hired to be the head football coach at Newton High School in 2010, Johnston made the state championship game three times, winning the titles in 2017 and 2018. He did it while battling lung disease that was diagnosed in 2012 and dealing with a very rare case of Graft-versus-host disease since 2015. The 2018 title game, in which Barlow played, was Johnston's final game as a football coach. After retiring earlier in the spring, Johnston passed away in May.

Offensively, the Horned Frogs accumulated 484 yards (200 yards rushing and 284 yards passing) against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. This orHhmarked the 21st time TCU ran for at least 200 yards and passed for 250 in the same game since joining the Big 12 in 2012.

Duggan completed 16 of 23 passes for 165 yards.

Graduate transfer Alex Delton (#16), who played for Kansas State last year, made his first career start at quarterback for the Frogs. He completed 10 of 22 passes for 119 yards.

Delton was the Frogs’ leading rusher. He ran the ball seven times for a net 67 yards, including a long run of 54 yards.

TCU running back Sewo Olonilua (#33) saw action in the second half of the game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Patterson suspended Olonilua for the first half of the game because Olonilua, who has graduated, is facing a felony drug charge from a traffic stop in May. 

Against the Golden Lions, Olonilua carried the ball seven times for 50 yards. He was the leading rusher among the running backs.

The Frogs’ leading receiver was TreVonate Hights (#87), who had eight receptions for 108 yards.

Reagor, a preseason All-Big12 selection, was limited to five receptions for 71 yards and the one touchdown. He dropped at least three passes and muffed two punts, one of which was recovered by the Golden Lions and led to their only score, a one-yard TD run in the third quarter.

Reagor’s touchdown catch was his 18th career scoring reception, putting him in sole possession of third place on TCU's career list. He trails only Josh Doctson (29, 2013-15) and Josh Boyce (22, 2010-12).

Reagor, who has 20 career touchdowns (18 receiving, two rushing), has a touchdown catch in eight of his last nine games.

In addition to Delton, other Frogs who made their first career starts on offense against the Golden Lions were senior offensive guard David Bolisomi (#62) and sophomore offensive tackle Quazzel White (#51).

As expected, the Frogs were strong defensively.

TCU held the Golden Lions to 215 total yards (114 passing and 101 rushing) and one touchdown.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff quarterbacks combined to complete only 13 of 28 passes.

No Golden Lions running back was able to achieve 50 yards rushing.

The Frogs intercepted two passes, recorded three sacks and allowed Pine Bluff to only convert four-of-17 third-down opportunities.

In addition, a fourth-down attempt by the Golden Lions was thwarted by the Frogs.

Garret Wallow (#30) recorded team-best and career-high totals of 13 tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss, including a sack. It was the fourth career double-digit game in stops for the junior linebacker.

Junior defensive tackle Ross Blacklock (#90) had a sack in his first game since 2017. He was sidelined by injury last season.

The Horned Frogs now have at least one sack in 68 of their last 71 games

Redshirt freshman defensive end Ochaun Mathis (#32) had 2.5 tackles for loss in his first career start.

True freshman safety Nook Bradford (#28) added two tackles for loss.

Sophomore safety Trevon Moehrig (#7) registered his first interception of the season and the second of his career.

Redshirt freshman safety Ar’Darius Washington had his first career interception, on Arkansas Pine Bluff's opening drive. This marked the first time since at least 1996 that TCU recorded a takeaway on its opening series of a season.

The two interceptions give TCU 108 picks over the last eight seasons. Since beginning Big 12 play in 2012, TCU leads the conference in interceptions.

True freshman cornerback Kee’yon Stewart (#2) had two pass breakups, as did sophomore linebacker La’Kendrick VanZandt (#20). Stewart and VanZandt made their first career starts at TCU.

Also making their first career starts on defense for TCU against Arkansas-Pine Bluff were defensive end Shameik Blackshear (#91), a graduate transfer from South Carolina, and Mathis.

The TCU defense forced 11 punts, tied for the most in a single game dating back to 1996. It is the 12th time in program history the defense has forced 11 punts in a game.

The Golden Lions forced the Horned Frogs to punt only four times. In his first game action as a Horned Frog, true freshman punter Jordy Sandy (#31) punted for an average of 35.5 yards. He had a long punt of 45 yards.

Sandy is from Taralgon, Australia. He was ranked as the number one punter in Australia and rated by 247Sports as the No. 5 punter in the Class of 2019.

The Frogs’ victory over the Golden Lions won’t rank as one of TCU’s top victories, but a win is a win, especially in week one of college football, and especially when your fate is resting with so many young, inexperienced players.

The Horned Frogs have a bye week the second week of the season, so they have s few extra days to mature and learn before they travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, where they will take on the Big 10’s Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday, September 14, at 6:30 pm (Central).

This will be the third meeting between Purdue and TCU. The Frogs lost the previous two matchups, in 1969 (42-35, in Fort Worth) and 1970 (15-0, in West Lafayette). Hopefully, the third time will be a charm for TCU.

Purdue lost its season-opener, 34-31, to the University of Nevada, in Reno. The Boilermakers will play Vanderbilt in West Lafayette on Saturday, September 7.

The Purdue-Nevada game was tied until the final play of the game, when Nevada walk-on freshman placekicker Brandon Talton kicked a 56-yard field goal. The field goal climaxed a 17-point fourth quarter by the Wolfpack, and it earned a scholarship for Talton.

Field goals. 

After last Saturday, the Horned Frogs know a thing or two (or three, or four, or five) about field goals!