TCU Texas 2021 Game Photos

Photos by Tom C. "Midnite" Burke

On October 2, 2021, in Amon G. Carter Stadium, in Fort Worth, Texas, TCU and the University of Texas met on the gridiron for the 92nd time. Texas is TCU's fourth-most played series, trailing only series with Baylor (116), SMU (100) and Texas A&M (92). The Longhorns prevailed in this season's "War of the Horns," 32-27. With the loss, TCU dropped to 2-2, 0-1 Big 12. Texas improved to 4-1, 2-0 Big 12.

(photos above and below) ABC televised the TCU-Texas game nationally from Amon G. Carter Stadium, located on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.

(photos above and below) With the University of Texas destined to leave the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference, the October 2 game between TCU and Texas may have been the last time Texas cheerleaders and UT fans will be seen in Amon G. Carter Stadium. TCU is 7-3 against the Longhorns since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2012, including 4-2 in Fort Worth and 3-1 in Austin. All-time, Texas leads the series, 64-27-1. Against the Longhorns in Fort Worth, TCU is 12-29 all-time.

The Texas football team was not accompanied in Fort Worth by the Longhorn band. The university said, in part: “Out of an abundance of caution, the Longhorn Band and Longhorn Pep Band are pausing their practice sessions this week due to COVID-19 protocols and will not be able to perform at Texas Athletics events.”

(photos above and below) TCU fans, and particularly the students, were eager to tell the Longhorns goodbye.

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TCU gave away T-shirts to help "purple-out" The Carter and to fire up Horned Frogs fans.

(photos above and below) Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst was featured in the Riff-Ram video during the game against Texas. Kolkhorst is a 1988 TCU graduate who was a four-year letterwinner on the women's golf team. This summer, during a Texas Senate hearing on the announcement that the University of Texas would be leaving the Big 12 Conference, UT President Jay Hartzell revealed that the school’s athletic budget was well over $200 million, possibly in the $225 million range. Kolkhorst fired back, "And that’s without a winning football team of late." She later grilled the Longhorns about their record and said, "UT is 3-7 (sic; actually 2-7 at the time) against the Horned Frogs, so maybe your fan base would rather lose to Alabama than TCU." Watch Sentor Kolkhorst question Hartzell: here. Kolkhorst's husband, Jim Kolkhorst, played on the TCU football team. Their daughter, Lois Kate Kolkhorst, was a cheerleader and graduated from TCU last year. Their son, Jake Kolkhorst, is a first-year member of the Horned Frogs baseball team. 

Prior to the TCU-Texas game, TCU head coach Gary Patterson (left) and first-year Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian meet at midfield.

(photos above and below) Here come the Frogs!

(photos above and below) Here come the Longhorns!

TCU captains were Dee Winers (#13), Ochuan Mathis (#32), Taye Barber (#4) and Max Duggan (#15). the Block T honorary captain was former TCU player Buddy Iles (middle of TCU captains). Iles was involved in one of the more memorable wins in TCU football history, a 6-0 victory at No. 1 Texas on November 18, 1961. TCU scored in the second quarter by reaching into a bag of tricks. At midfeld, TCU quarterback Sonny Gibbs pitched the ball back to his tailback on a fake sweep, got it back, and then heaved a pass to end Buddy Iles, who was hit at the two-yard line and bounced into the end zone.  On its final two drives of the game, Texas began deep in its own territory and never threatened. TCU had a 6-0 upset win.

(photos above and below) Bijan Robinson (#5) was a one-man wrecking crew against TCU. The six-foot, 214-pound sophomore running back ran past, over and through the Frogs for 217 yards on 35 carries.  His performance earned him the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week Award.

(photos above and below) Texas running back Bijan Robinson's (#5) performance against TCU in the Longhorns' 32-27 win earned him the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Player of the Week Award.

Texas running back Bijan Robinson (#5) has entered the conversation for the 2021 Heisman Trophy Award. Through the Longhorns' first five games of the 2021 season, he has gained 652 yards on 105 carries, an average of 6.2 yards per rush. He averages 130 rushing yards per game.

(photos above and below) Texas running back Bijan Robinson (#5) scored two touchdowns in UT's win over the Horned Frogs. For the season, he has seven rushing touchdowns in five games.

(photos above and below) With Bijan Robinson carrying the load against TCU, Texas junior running back Roschon Johnson (#2) was limited to seven carries against TCU. He gained 22 yards.

(photos above and below) Against the Horned Frogs, Texas junior quarterback Casey Thompson (#11) completed 12-of-22 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted once and sacked twice.

Against TCU and cornerback Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, Texas sophomore wide receiver Jordan Whittington (#4) caught three passes for 79 yards, including the Longhorns' one touchdown pass, a 27-yarder in the fourth quarter that proved to be the winning points for Texas.

(photos above and below) Texas kicker Cameron Dicker (#17) scored 14 of UT’s 32 points in the Longhorns' victory over TCU. The senior went four-of-four on field goal attempts to establish a single-game career-high in makes, just one shy of the UT single-game record. He was also two-for-two on points-after-touchdowns and is now third all-time in career scoring by a kicker at Texas with 338 points, only one point behind Phil Dawson (1994-97) for second and just 20 shy of the all-time record of 358 held by Dusty Mangum (2001-04). In addition, against TCU Dicker punted twice for a 46.5-yard average, including a 52-yarder. His performance against the Horned Frogs earned Dicker the Big 12 Co-Special Teams Player of the Week Award.

(photos above and below) TCU head coach Gary Patterson (wearing visor) and his defensive staff faced a difficult test in putting together a scheme for the Horned Frogs' defense to stop the potent Texas offense. The TCU defense showed improvement from its lackluster performance the week before in the 42-34 loss to SMU, but the Longhorns in their 32-27 win over the Frogs still totaled 414 yards of offense, including 272 yards on the ground, with Texas running Back Bijan Robinson accounting for 217 yards of the total. TCU now has given up at least 30 points in three consecutive games. It gave up 30 or more three times all last season. Three running backs have run for more than 100 yards in the last two games against TCU.

(photos above and below) The TCU defense, including defensive tackle Earl Barquet (#97) and defensive end Dylan Horton (#98), provided consistent pressure against Texas quarterback Casey Thompson (#11), limiting him to completing 12-of-22 pass attempts. Horton sacked Thompson twice. They were his first two sacks of the season, giving him three in his TCU career. He is the first Horned Frog with multiple sacks in a game since defensive end Ochuan Mathis had two in last year's season finale against Louisiana Tech. Horton totaled a TCU career-best and team-high nine tackles, equaling his combined total of nine stops for the season entering the game. The nine stops surpass his season total of eight in 2020.

 

(photos above and below) TCU's defensive secondary had a solid game against the Longhorns. Junior safety Nook Bradford (#28) intercepted a pass and he and others, including junior linebacker Wyatt Harris (#25), limited Texas wide receiver Marcus Washington (#16) to one catch. Bradford made his first start of the season and second of his career. The interception was the first of his career. Against Texas, he had eight tackles, including one for loss.

(photos above and below) Early in the fourth quarter, TCU linebacker Jamoi Hodge (#6) and defensive tackler Terrell Cooper (#95) stopped Texas running back Bijan Robinson (#5) at the Frogs' one-yard line on third down and fourth down, keeping TCU within striking distance of the Longhorns, who were leading 32-20. The Frogs then drove 99 yards in 13 plays to cut the lead to 32-27 with just over four minutes left in the game.

(photos above and below) TCU junior quarterback Max Duggan (#15) and offensive coordinator Doug Meacham (right, above) and the Frogs' offensive staff couldn't dial up enough points in the 32-27 loss to the University of Texas. The Frogs totaled 351 yards of offense against the 'Horns.

(photos above and below) TCU quarterback Max Duggan (#15) completed 20-of-28 passes against Texas for 182 yards and one touchdown.

(photos above and below) TCU quarterback Max Duggan (#15) didn't have one of his better rushing days against Texas. He ran with the football 16 times for 33 yards.

(photos above and below) TCU running back Zach Evans (#6) again was the offensive star for the Horned Frogs The sophomore scored the game's first touchdown on a nifty 12-yard run only 52 seconds into the game. Evans has a rushing touchdown in five of the last six games.

Against the University of Texas, TCU running back Zach Evans (#6) carried the football 15 times for 133 yards, an average of 7.5 yards per carry. 

In addition to his 15 rushes in the Texas game, TCU running back Zach Evans caught three passes for 17 yards, and from time to time he even offered a lending hand to Longhorns players.

(photos above and below) Against Texas, TCU running back Zach Evans (#6) topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the third consecutive game and fifth time in the last seven contests. He is the first Horned Frog with three straight 100-yard games since Darius Anderson in 2019.

(photos above and below) Through the first four games of TCU's 2021 season, Horned Frogs running back Zach Evans (#6) has rushed 57 times for 443 yards, an average of 7.8 yards per carry. He's tied with running back Kendre Miller for the team lead with three rushing touchdowns. Evans only has been tackled for lost yardage once this season, resulting in a one-yard loss.

(photos above and below) Against Texas, TCU running back Kendre Miller (#33) carried the football five times for 18 yards. Late in the fourth quarter, he scored a touchdown on a two-yard run that provided the Frogs' final points in their 32-27 loss to the Longhorns. The touchdown gave Miller a rushing score in three of the Frogs' four games this season. He's tied with running back Zach Evans for the team lead with three rushing touchdowns.

(photos above and below) TCU receiver JD Spielman (#10) scored a touchdown on an 11-yard pass play with quarterback Max Duggan. Spielman's touchdown gave TCU a 14-13 lead in the first quarter. Spielman caught one other pass against the Longhorns. The two receptions extended Spielman's streak to 40 consecutive games with a reception, second-longest in the nation. It also represents every game in his collegiate career.

(photos above and below) Against Texas, TCU senior running back Emari Demercado (#3) rushed four times for four yards.

TCU senior wide receiver Taye Barber (#4) caught three passes for 37 yards against the Longhorns, pushing him over 100 catches in his career.

Against Texas, TCU receiver Derius Davis (#11) caught six passes for 35 yards. The six receptions tied his career-high, equaling his total in last season's win over Oklahoma State.

TCU kicker Griffin Kell (#38) kicked two field goals against Texas. His 25-yarder in the second quarter gave TCU a 17-16 lead. His 36-yarder in the third quarter decreased Texas' lead to 26-20. Kell is 5-of-7 on the season and 20-of-28 in his career.

(photos above and below) Texas defenders, including junior linebacker Luke Brockermeyer (#47), of All-Saints Episcopal High School in Fort Worth, defensive back Anthony Cook (#11), edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo (#18) and defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat (#93) limited the rushing success of TCU quarterback Max Duggan (#15). The Frogs' junior quarterback only carved out a net 33 yards on 16 carries.

(photos above and below) Due to a strong pass rush and a swarming defensive secondary, TCU quarterback Max Duggan (#15) only accumulated 182 passing yards on 20 pass completions, none of which were caught by sophomore wide receiver Savion Williams (#18)

Turnovers were costly for TCU against Texas. The Frogs had three of them, including two by Derius Davis (#11), one on a run (photo above), which was recovered by Texas defensive back D'Shawn Jamison (#5), and one a muffed catch of a punt (photo below), which was recovered by Texas linebacker DeMarvion Overshown.

Texas defensive back Anthony Cook (#11) prepares to recover the football after it was lost by TCU quarterback Max Duggan on a strip sack in the third quarter. Duggan's lost fumble and the two turnovers by Derius Davis were turned into nine points by the Longhorns in their five-point victory.

(photos above and below) For the second consecutive week, the Horned Frogs and their fans had to watch an opposing team end the game in the victory formation and parade with their flag on the sacred grounds of The Carter.

Texas players and their fans celebrate their 32-27 victory over TCU on October 2 in Amon G. Carter Stadium. It may be the last appearance for years by the Longhorns and their fans since the University of Texas has announced it is leaving the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

The TCU band, Showgirls, cheerleaders and fans sing the TCU Alma Mater after the Frogs' disappointing 32-27 loss to the Texas Longhorns.

TCU's next home game is an October 23 Homecoming contest against the West Virginia Mountaineers. After opening the 2021 season with four consecutive home games, during which the Frogs went 2-2, TCU plays its next two games on the road: October 9 in Lubbock against Texas Tech; and October 16 in Norman, Oklahoma, against the University of Oklahoma, which, along with Texas, also is leaving the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference.