TCU Corrals Longhorns; Cowboys Await in Stillwater

The eyes of Texas, and the Big 12, have been upon Max Duggan. 

And much to the chagrin of native Texans, and Texas Longhorns fans, the true TCU freshman quarterback blossomed into a purple rose in Cowtown on Saturday, October 26.

That’s when the young gunslinger from Iowa led the Horned Frogs to a 37-27 Homecoming upset of 15th-ranked Texas in rockin' Amon G. Carter Stadium. 

Tom C. "Midnite" Burke

Although Duggan almost single-handedly destroyed what was left of the Longhorns’ season, he had help from a multitude of offensive and defensive Frogs, all of whom were for the first time clad in their Halloween-themed Nike Fierce Red uniforms.

The anthracite jersey and pants and fierce purple helmet with a red Horned Frog caused quite a stir, particularly among TCU loyalists.  Just as all Texas roses should be yellow, TCU’s colors should be purple and white, with, perhaps, a touch of black here and here. 

Prior to last Saturday, not many Horned Frogs fans knew how to spell or pronounce “anthracite,” much less knew that the color was defined as chalky and earthy, being near-black or very dark gray.

But, hey, all’s forgiven, since the Frogs won the “War of the Horns” in front of a crowd of 47,660, consisting of many returning TCU alums, who are being asked to generously support a $1-billion capital campaign, the largest in the history of TCU. 

And as we all know, there’s nothing like an exciting football victory, especially over the University of Texas, that makes TCU alums open their wallets and share their riches. 

The Horned Frogs have defeated the Longhorns in five of the last six seasons and are 6-2 against Texas since beginning Big 12 play in 2012.

TCU’s usually stoic head coach, Gary Patterson, let loose at the end of the tense game with a mild celebration on the sideline before heading to midfield to console a somber Texas head coach, Tom Herman, amid a sea of joyous TCU students and fans.

Patterson is 6-3 against Texas. Since 1996, he ranks No. 1 in the nation among all head coaches past and present (minimum five games) in career winning percentage (.667, 6-3) against Texas.

Patterson’s elation with the win led to him writing a song after the game. Listen: here 

With the win, Patterson’s Frogs improved to 4-3, 2-2 in the Big 12.

In the midst of another disappointing season, Herman also expressed his feelings through a song he wrote after the game. Listen: here

With the loss, Herman’s ‘Horns dropped to 5-3, 3-2 Big 12, and fell out of the Top 25. 

Despite throwing the first interception of his career, on his second attempt of the game, ending a streak of 143 passes without an interception, Duggan had the best day of his collegiate career against the Longhorns.

He led a strong aerial attack. He had career-best totals of 19 completions and 273 yards passing. Two of his completions went for touchdowns. Duggan ran the football 13 times for 72 yards and one touchdown. 

Max led TCU in rushing for the second straight game. He is the first TCU quarterback to lead the team in rushing in two consecutive games since Kenny Hill in 2017.

Also, Duggan became the first TCU quarterback to throw for at least 250 yards and multiple scores and rush for at least 70 yards and a touchdown in the same game since Trevone Boykin on October 29, 2015, versus West Virginia. 

Duggan has thrown for 1,147 yards, the first true freshman to top 1,000 yards in a season in the Gary Patterson head coaching era and the first since 1999 (Casey Printers, 1,213). He has 11 touchdown passes and just one interception in 169 attempts.

Duggan’s performance earned him multiple awards, including:

• Big 12 Newcomer of the Week 
• Davey O'Brien National Quarterback of the Week 
• Davey O'Brien Award Great Eight of Week 9 
• Manning Award Stars of the Week

Duggan was the best quarterback on the field that particular Saturday, as he outplayed Texas junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger. 

Ehlinger completed only 22 of 48 passes. He threw two touchdown passes, but the Frogs intercepted him four times and turned those turnovers into 13 points. Coming into the game, Ehlinger had only thrown three interceptions for the season. And, he had not thrown more than three interceptions in a game in his career.

Ehlinger ran for only 43 yards on nine carries against the Frogs’ defense. He was sacked once. 

Duggan alone did not slay the Longhorns. For the first time this season, his play was complemented by outstanding performances from several members of the Frogs’ receiving corps.

TCU wide receiver Taye Barber, who has returned to full-time status from injury, had five receptions for 94 yards and one touchdown. He had a long reception of 51 yards. 

Barber equaled a career-high with the team-best five receptions. The 94 receiving yards set a new personal best for him.

Duggan's 51-yard completion to Barber was a career-long for him, and Barber. It more than doubled Barber's previous career-long grab of 24 yards. 

The 51-yard reception by Barber came during a dramatic, nine-play, 75-yard drive that was climaxed by an 11-yard touchdown run by Duggan that put the Horns away late in the fourth quarter.

TCU wide receiver Jalen Reagor caught two passes for 55 yards, including a 44-yarder for a touchdown that was a one-play scoring drive, the first such drive of the season for the Frogs. 

Reagor’s touchdown reception was the 21st of his career, one behind Josh Boyce (22; 2010-12) for second on TCU's all-time list. Josh Doctson is TCU’s leader, with 29 (2013-15).

TCU tight end Pro Wells only caught one pass, but it was a 24-yarder for a touchdown. It was his fourth scoring grab on just eight catches this season. It was the longest reception of his career, nearly doubling his previous long of 13 yards. 

Wide receiver John Stephens Jr. had a career-best three receptions for 32 yards, tight end Artayvious Lynn had two receptions to tie a career-high and tight end Carter Ware had his first career reception.

The Frogs ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns against Texas, with Duggan’s 72 yards and one touchdown leading the way. Running back Sewo Olonilua had 48 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries. Running back Darius Anderson rushed for 27 yards on nine carries. Reagor had 15 yards on three carries. 

In somewhat of an oddity, TCU used five different players in the kicking game: Jonathan Song and Griffin Kell on field goals, Cole Bunce on kickoffs, and Jordy Sandy and Dillon Jones on punts. 

Song had field goals of 32 and 33 yards, which made him 13-of-14 on the season and 30-of-34 in his career. He is 29-of-30 on attempts inside 40 yards. 

Kell closed the first half with a career-best 52-yard field goal, the longest make by a Horned Frog since Jaden Oberkrom's 57-yard effort against West Virginia in 2015.

Kell missed badly on his first attempt at the 52-yarder, but the miss was nullified by a timeout that was called by Texas shortly before the football was snapped. 

Prior to his second attempt, Kell received some coaching from TCU kicker Jonathan Song, from the sideline. Song encouraged Kell to keep his head down and his eyes focused on the football. Kell's second attempt sailed through the middle of the uprights and narrowed Texas' lead to 17-13. 

Jones had a 58-yard punt on his first collegiate attempt. It was TCU's longest punt of the season and the longest by a TCU player since Adan Nunez's 58-yard punt at Iowa State on October 28, 2017. 

Defensively, TCU junior linebacker Garret Wallow again shined. He had his first career interception and a team-high nine tackles. Wallow has led TCU in tackles in all but one game this season.

Also intercepting passes were safeties Ar’Darius Washington, Trevon Moehrig and Innis Gaines. 

Washington’s interception was his team-best third of the season. His three picks are the most by a Horned Frog since Nick Orr had three in 2017. It's also the most by a freshman in the Patterson era. Washington has been named to the Midseason Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Freshman All-America Watch List.

Moehrig’s interception was his second of the season and third of his career. 

Gaines recorded his first interception of the season and third of his career. The interception ended the Longhorns' final series.

TCU's four interceptions were its most in a regular-season game since recording four in a 48-10 win at Texas in 2014. 

Prior to their takeaways in the game against Texas, the Frogs had not had a takeaway in their previous three games.

TCU defensive tackle Corey Bethley had his first sack of the season and seventh of his career, the most among current Horned Frogs. TCU now has at least one sack in 74 of its last 77 games. 

True freshman linebacker Wyatt Harris had a career-best seven tackles.

Senior cornerback Jeff Gladney set a season-high with eight tackles, to go along with three pass breakups, tying his season best. 

As stingy as the Horned Frogs were on defense, several ‘Horns had stellar offensive performances, as Texas racked up 447 total yards of offense.

UT senior wide receiver Devin Duvernay had eight catches for 173 yards and a touchdown (a 47-yarder), with a long reception of 63 yards. 

Texas senior wide receiver Collin Johnson caught seven passes for 101 yards, with a long reception of 26 yards.

Sophomore Longhorn running back Keaontay Ingram rushed for 71 yards on 16 carries and he had a 17-yard touchdown reception among three catches. 

Texas sophomore kicker Cameron Dicker, who the week before had salvaged Texas a 50-48 win over Kansas with a 33-yard field goal as time expired, was good on two-of-three field goals against the Frogs. He made a 21-yarder and a 38-yarder. He missed a 26-yarder, only his third miss of the season.

There was a festive atmosphere in The Carter for the TCU-Texas game. There was a large crowd. It was Homecoming. And TCU played its first home game in nearly a month. 

After the victory, there was a party in The Carter. TCU students and fans stormed the field, gave high-fives, slapped one another on the back, mingled and sang the Alma Mater with TCU players and coaches.

It was a fun party, but a costly one. The Big 12 publicly reprimanded TCU and fined the university $25,000 for allowing the field to be stormed.

If the party is to continue, at whatever cost, in Horned Frogs Country, TCU must duplicate its strong offensive and defensive performances this Saturday, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in a 2:30 pm (Central) game against Oklahoma State. 

The Cowboys will enter the contest 5-3, 2-3 in the Big 12. While TCU was beating No. 15 Texas on Saturday, the 26th, Oklahoma State was beating No. 23 Iowa State, 34-27, in Ames, Iowa.

This season, OSU also has beaten Oregon State, 52-36, McNeese, 56-14, Tulsa, 40-21, and Kansas State, 26-13. The ‘Pokes have lost to Texas, 36-30, Texas Tech, 45-35, and Baylor, 45-27. 

Oklahoma State is second in the Big 12 in total offense, averaging 505.7 yards per game; 250.7 yards rushing and 255 yards passing. The Cowboys are fourth in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 36.7 points a game.

The Frogs will have to focus on a trio of offensive Cowboys. 

Orchestrating the offense is quarterback Spencer Sanders (#3), a 6-2, 195-pound redshirt freshman from Denton Ryan High School in Denton, Texas. He has completed 134 of 214 passes, for 1,739 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has run the ball 107 times for 500 yards and two touchdowns.

Against Iowa State, Sanders completed 16 of 24 passes for 249 yards. He threw two touchdown passes and one interception. He ran the ball eight times for 43 yards. 

The star of the offense is running back Chuba Hubbard (#30), a 6-1, 207-pound redshirt sophomore.

Hubbard, who is one of 20 Maxwell Award semifinalists for Collegiate Player of the Year, leads the nation in rushing, yards-after-contact, and all-purpose yards. He has accumulated 1,381 yards rushing, for an overage of 172.6 yards per game. He is second nationally with 16 rushing touchdowns. 

Against Iowa State, Hubbard carried the ball 22 times for 116 yards. He scored two touchdowns.

The Frogs held Hubbard to 42 yards rushing on 13 carries in a 31-24 victory in the 2018 regular-season finale, in Fort Worth, on November 24. 

This season, only one player has topped the 100-yard rushing mark against the Frogs and it wasn’t a running back. It was Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy, who had 102 yards rushing on 12 carries in a 49-24 victory over TCU on October 5 in Ames.

Oklahoma State junior wide receiver Tylan Wallace (#2), six-foot, 185 pounds, from Fort Worth South Hills, leads all Power Five conference players with 903 receiving yards this season. He is averaging nearly seven catches a game and 113 receiving yards a game. 

Since the beginning of the 2018 season, Wallace is the most productive receiver in the FBS. His 2,394 receiving yards since the beginning of last season leads the nation by 397 yards. No player in America has more 100-yard receiving games than Wallace over the past two seasons. He has 11 100-yard receiving games.

Against Iowa State, Wallace had eight receptions for 131 yards and one touchdown. He had a long reception of 71 yards. 

Against Iowa State, the Cowboys’ defense intercepted Cyclones quarterback Brock Purdy three times, but he completed 39 of 62 passes for 382 yards and one touchdown.

Stillwater is a rowdy, tough venue for visiting teams. 

TCU is 4-8 versus Oklahoma State in Stillwater, but the Frogs won there in 2017. Behind a career-high 160 yards rushing and three touchdowns by running back Darius Anderson, TCU posted a 44-31 win over the Cowboys, who at the time were the sixth-ranked team in the nation. 

So, the Frogs have a two-game winning streak against Oklahoma State. The last time TCU won three straight over OSU was from 1990-92.

Party on, Max!