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Fortner announced, to loud cheers, that K-State freshman defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah had set Kansas State and Big 12 Conference records and tied an NCAA record with six sacks of Horned Frogs quarterbacks.
The announcement, albeit, was a bit premature.
Two hours after the game, an official review of the game resulted in two of Anudike-Uzomah’s six sacks being taken away. The two would-be-sacks resulted in fumbles that crossed the line of scrimmage, and by rule, were reclassified as quarterback rushes.
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| Tom C. "Midnite" Burke |
Still, unbeknownst at the time, the 44,339 in attendance had indeed witnessed history by watching the Wildcats humiliate the Horned Frogs 31-12 (Midnite had predicted a 27-23 Kansas State win).
The game was Gary Patterson’s 79th and final loss as head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs.
On Sunday, October 31, Patterson essentially resigned after being informed by TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati and TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini that he would not be retained as TCU’s head football coach after the 2021 season.
Donati asked Patterson to serve out the season, be honored during TCU’s season-finale against Kansas and accept a reassignment within the TCU athletic department.
Instead, Patterson, who is 61 years old, signed through the 2024 season and reportedly is the country’s 10th-highest paid collegiate head football coach, at $6.1 million annually, chose to walk away, purportedly in the best interests of the team, and to explore other options.
“TCU Chancellor (Victor) Boschini and I met with Coach Patterson (Sunday, October 31) and mutually agreed that the time has come for a new voice and leadership in our football program," said Donati. "The story of Gary Patterson and the rise in the fortunes of the TCU football program over the last 20 years is clearly one of the most remarkable in the history of college football. We are grateful to Gary and (his wife) Kelsey Patterson and appreciate everything they have meant to TCU and the Fort Worth community. Under his leadership, TCU has become a nationally recognized brand name in football and in collegiate athletics.
"We asked Gary to continue on as our head coach for the remainder of the season, and take on a different role in 2022. One of the things we wanted to do with Gary for the month of November was to really celebrate and honor him. If you know Gary, that’s not what he wants. But I do believe there will be a time where we can do that appropriately and I look forward to that. But, it just wasn’t in the cards to do that right now. He believed it was in the team’s and TCU’s best interests to begin the transition immediately. Coach Patterson will assist TCU in the transition.”
Patterson showed up in the TCU football offices on Monday, November 1, to meet with some of the team's assistant coaches about the game plan he had put together for the Frogs' upcoming game against Baylor.
On Wednesday, November 3, he showed up at the Frogs' afternoon practice and posed for a photo with the team. TCU posted the photo to the football team’s Twitter account.
Patterson says that he remains all-in with the 2021 team, will help assistants game plan and is focused on sending his current group of players out on the best note possible.
Jerry Kill,
Patterson's best friend who has been an offensive analyst on the TCU staff for
the past two years, has been named interim head coach for the Frogs’
final four games of the season; versus Baylor this Saturday, November 6; at Oklahoma
State on November 13; versus Kansas on November 20; and at Iowa State on
November 26.
Meanwhile, Donati is conducting a national search for Patterson’s replacement. He said that TCU, considered one of the top head football coaching destinations in the country, is receiving numerous inquiries from coaches across the country.
Possible candidates include: Nevada head coach Jay Norvell; Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders; Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliot; Denver Broncos running backs coach Curtis Modkins (former TCU football student-athlete and assistant coach); SMU head coach Sonny Dykes; Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore; UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor; Louisiana head coach Billy Napier; Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell; and Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente (former TCU offensive coordinator).
Before arriving at TCU, Kill served in 2019 as special assistant to Justin Fuente, head coach at Virginia Tech, who was TCU’s running backs coach from 2007-2008 and the Frogs’ co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2009-2011.
Among his many coaching accolades, Kill was the consensus 2014 Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading Minnesota to the Citrus Bowl for its first New Year's Day game since 1962. He was head coach of the Golden Gophers from 2011-15.
Kill went 29-29 in his four-plus seasons at Minnesota. He stepped down in 2015 because of health reasons.
Kill also has served as the head coach at Saginaw Valley State University, Emporia State University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Northern Illinois University. The 60-year-old has an overall FBS head coaching record of 52-45.
Kill also has served as an athletic department administrator, including at Southern Illinois University as an assistant to the Chancellor and athletic director. He also briefly was associate athletic director at Kansas State.
Patterson is the first TCU football coach to resign during a season since Pat Sullivan, in late October of 1997.
Sullivan knew he was going to be fired, but he coached the rest of the season, which ended with an upset win over SMU in the season finale. TCU finished 1-10.
Sullivan’s departure led to the hiring of Dennis Franchione, who brought Patterson in with him as the Frogs' defensive coordinator.
Franchione resigned late in 2000, to become Alabama's head football coach.
Upon Franchione's departure, Patterson was named TCU's head coach. He began his TCU head coaching career with a 28-21 loss in the 2000 GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl.
2001 was Patterson’s first season as TCU’s head coach. The Frogs went 6-6, 4-3 CUSA, with a 28-9 loss to
former Southwest Conference (SWC) rival Texas A&M in the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, which was played in the
decrepit Astrodome, in Houston, Texas. Casey Printers was the Frogs' quarterback.
Over his time as head coach, Patterson became TCU's winningest head football coach. He finished with a record of 181-79.
Patterson’s first victory as TCU’s head coach was a 19-5 win over the University of North Texas, in Fort Worth, on September 1, 2001.
Patterson’s last victory as TCU’s head coach was a 52-31 win over Texas Tech, in Lubbock, Texas, on October 9.
During his tenure, Patterson helped guide the TCU football program’s transition from Conference USA to the Mountain West and into the Big 12 in 2012.
Under Patterson, TCU won one C-USA title, four Mountain West titles, one share of the Big 12 title and one appearance in the Big 12 Conference Championship Game.
TCU's Big 12 Championship Game appearance was in 2017. The second-seeded Horned Frogs lost, 41-17, to top-seeded Oklahoma, on December 2, 2017, in AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
Patterson led the Horned Frogs to 17 bowl games, six top 10 finishes and 11 seasons with double-digit victories, most recently in 2017.
Patterson's two most successful seasons came in 2010 and 2014.
In 2010, the Horned Frogs went 13-0, finished No. 3 in the BCS rankings and beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
After the Rose Bowl victory, TCU was ranked second in the country, one spot short of college football's national championship that Patterson always wanted to deliver to TCU and Fort Worth.
In 2014, TCU went 12-1 and was the final team out from the first-ever College Football Playoff. The Horned Frogs routed Ole Miss, 42-3, in the Peach Bowl.
After the Peach Bowl victory, TCU finished ranked third in the country, again short of college football's national championship that Patterson so desperately wanted to deliver to TCU and Fort Worth.
TCU football under Patterson's leadership, however, has fallen since 2018. The Frogs have gone 21-22 overall and 13-19 in Big 12 play since 2018. Only Texas Tech and Kansas have worse records among Big 12 teams in that time span.
The Horned Frogs opened this season with expectations of challenging for a Big 12 championship. Instead, this team forever will have the distinction of being Patterson’s final TCU team.
TCU started this season 2-0, with victories over Duquesne and Cal, but the Frogs have lost five of their last six games.
The loss to Kansas State dropped the Frogs to 3-5, 1-4 in the Big 12. TCU could have its second losing season in the last three years (TCU went 5-7, 3-6 Big 12 in 2019, and 6-4, 5-4 Big 12 in 2020).
This is the second week in a row after a Kansas State win that the opposing coach and his school parted ways.
After Texas Tech lost, 25-24, to Kansas State the week prior, on October 23, Tech fired head football coach Matt Wells.
Over the years, ironically, other head football coaches have lost their jobs after losing to Kansas State, including Nebraska’s Frank Solich, Iowa State’s Paul Rhoades, Kansas’ Terry Allen, Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury and Missouri’s Larry Smith.
It is ironic, but perhaps fitting, that Patterson’s last game as TCU’s head football coach took place in Manhattan, Kansas, at Kansas State, in Bill Snyder Family Stadium, with his wife, Kelsey, in-laws, brother Greg, and other family members in attendance.
Patterson was born in Larned, Kansas.
Larned is about 166 miles southwest of Manhattan.
Patterson grew up in Rozel, Kansas.
Rozel is about 183 miles southwest of Manhattan.
Greg lives in Rozel, in the home he and Gary grew up in.
Patterson is a graduate of Kansas State. He was a strong safety and outside linebacker for the Wildcats football team.
Patterson was a graduate assistant on the Wildcats’ football staff in 1982.
Patterson coached linebackers at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1988.
Snyder, who is a mentor and friend of Patterson’s, was the longtime, highly successful head football coach at Kansas State over two terms: 1989-2005 and 2009-2018. He now is a special ambassador for the Kansas State athletics department.
A lopsided loss to an agricultural/veterinarian school that is located among wheat fields and to which there is no easy access obviously is not how Patterson would have scripted his final game as TCU’s head coach.
The Frogs lost their third consecutive game to Kansas State.
Patterson’s record against his Alma mater fell to 4-6.
Patterson's TCU career ended without him beating K-State head coach Chris Klieman, who owns a 3-0 record against the future College Football Hall of Famer.
After
the loss to Kansas State, Kelsey, who is affectionately known as “Mrs. P,” joined Gary in
walking off Wagner Field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. See photos: here
The Frogs hit rock-bottom in their loss to Kansas State.
Rock-bottom, however, is not Rock-Chock-Jayhawk bottom in the Big 12, thankfully.
Although the Kansas Jayhawks probably are licking their beaks in anticipation of feasting on the Horned Frogs on November 20 in Fort Worth.
The game between Kansas and TCU could be the Big 12’s Basement Bowl.
TCU is in ninth place in the Big 12 with a 1-4 conference record.
Kansas is in the basement, in 10th place, with an 0-5 conference record.
Against the Wildcats, TCU’s defense allowed an opponent to score at least 30 points for the sixth time in eight games this season.
K-State had 388 total yards; 242 passing yards and 146 rushing yards.
It was the first time since the season-opener against Duquesne that the TCU defense has allowed less than 400 yards to an opposing offense.
Against the Frog’s defense, Kansas State excelled on third-down plays, converting six-of-12 opportunities to keep drives alive.
And the Wildcats converted their
only fourth-down attempt.In a big way.
On a fourth-and-one play in the second quarter, K-State running back Deuce Vaughn went 42 yards for a touchdown against a bewildered TCU defense.
Vaughn, a sophomore who is 5-feet, 6-inches tall, rushed for 109 yards on 20 carries. He also scored a touchdown on a one-yard run, with 56 seconds left in the first half, to cap a six-play, 88-yard drive. The touchdown gave the Wildcats a 21-5 lead at halftime.
On Kansas State’s first possession of the game, Wildcats senior quarterback Skylar Thompson scored K-State’s first touchdown on a four-yard run less than nine minutes into the game.
Thompson ran for only 18 yards against the Frogs, but he netted 242 yards and a touchdown on 13 pass completions.
Defensively, the Frogs were led by
junior defensive end Ochaun Mathis. He recorded his team-best fourth sack of
the season. His 15.5 career sacks are the most among current Horned
Frogs. He also had two tackles for loss in the game.
Senior safety T.J. Carter had his first interception as a Horned Frog and
eighth of his career. He had seven picks for Memphis (2017-20).
Sophomore linebacker Jamoi Hodge recorded his first career sack and tied his career high with a team-best eight tackles.
Junior linebacker Dee Winters had five tackles in the game. His tackles included bringing down Vaughn in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter. It was TCU's first safety since 2018 at Kansas.
The two points for the safety pulled TCU within nine points of the Wildcats at 14-5. That was as close as the Frogs would get.
TCU’s offense, despite missing sophomore running back Zach Evans, who was on the sideline because of a leg injury, nearly kept pace with K-State’s total yardage output. The Frogs accumulated 340 total yards; 184 passing yards and 156 rushing yards.
This is the fifth game this season
that the Frogs have gained at least 150 yards on the ground and 150 yards
through the air. That is tied for the most times in the Big 12.
The Horned Frogs’ offense entered the game No. 1 in the nation in red-zone
offensive efficiency at 100 percent (25-of-25). However, TCU had two
possessions inside the K-State 5-yard line that did not produce points.
On two other opportunities within the red-zone, TCU scored on a 24-yard field goal by Griffin Kell early in the second quarter and on a three-yard touchdown run by senior running back Emari Demercado, with 15 seconds left in the game.
Kell’s field goal made him 9-of-11on the season and 24-of-32 in his career. He has made his last eight field-goal attempts.
Demercado’s touchdown, his second rushing touchdown of the season and in his career, broke a streak of five quarters, over two games, without a touchdown by the TCU offense, and made the final score 31-12.
The 12 points are a season-low for TCU. The Frogs came into the game averaging over 34 points per game.
If the Frogs had failed to score a touchdown in the closing seconds of the game, the five points scored previously would have been the Frogs’ fewest in a game since 1993.
Sophomore running back Kendre Miller had a team-high 102 yards rushing, marking his second 100-yard game of the season and third of his career. Miller also tied a career high with four receptions for 28 yards.
Senior wide receiver Derius Davis set a season-high with 95 yards receiving on a team-best five catches. He had a long catch of 30 yards. He also returned two punts for 19 yards and two kickoffs for 52 yards. Davis, who lost a yard on his only rushing attempt in the game, led the Frogs with 165 all-purpose yards.
Quarterback play was a negative for the Frogs against Kansas State.
Junior starting quarterback Max Duggan, who is playing with a broken bone in a foot, played only through the first series of the third quarter before being replaced by redshirt freshman Chandler Morris, who transferred from the University of Oklahoma to TCU prior to this season.
Duggan completed nine-of-13 passes for 73 yards. He did not throw an interception. He rushed nine times for 12 yards, but he lost 20 yards on the four times he was sacked by Anudike-Uzomah.
Coming into the Kansas State game, TCU’s offensive line had only allowed eight sacks through the first seven games of the season.
Anudike-Uzomah’s performance against the Frogs earned him Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors, and Walter Camp, Bronko Nagurski, and Bednarik Award National Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Duggan only led the Frogs’ offense to a field goal, early in the second quarter. Thus, he has not led TCU to a touchdown since the second quarter of the 29-17 home loss to West Virginia on October 23.
Morris, making his first appearance for the Frogs since late in the season-opener against Duquesne, completed nine-of-14 passes for 111 yards. He rushed eight times for 38 yards. He also lost two fumbles, both of which were caused by hits applied by Anudike-Uzomah.
Morris’ first fumble came during his first offensive series, halfway through the third quarter, on a fourth-and-goal play from the Kansas State four-yard line. Morris fumbled as he was about to score a touchdown. The football rolled into the end zone and was recovered by K-State linebacker Daniel Green for a touchback.
Morris’ second fumble came midway through the fourth quarter, killing a TCU drive at the Kansas State 26-yard line.
For a majority of the game, TCU players lacked the focus and fight necessary to compete against Big 12 opponents, particularly in road games. That is, until midway through the third quarter when TCU freshmen safeties Da’Veawn Armstead and D’Arco Perkins-McAllister were ejected for throwing punches during a scuffle.
The scuffle started after TCU safety Josh Foster was flagged for a late hit on Thompson on the TCU sidelines.
K-State wide receiver Tyrone Howell also was ejected for throwing a punch.
See the scuffle: here
If TCU players had shown more fight and executed more precisely and consistently this season, Saturday’s game in Manhattan may not have been Patterson’s finale as TCU head coach.
Whether there is any fight or interest left in the 2021 edition of the Horned Frogs will begin to be determined this Saturday, November 6, when TCU faces 12th-ranked Baylor (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) in Amon G. Carter Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 pm Central. Fox is televising the game.
At least at the onset of the game between these two longtime, bitter rivals, all eyes, perhaps many of them filled with tears, will be focused on the TCU sideline of Moncrief Field, which will not be patrolled by Patterson for the first time in over 2o years.
With 116 games played, TCU has faced Baylor more than any opponent in its history.
TCU leads the series, 56-53-7.
The Horned Frogs have won five of the last six meetings with the Bears. The lone loss in that stretch was in triple overtime in 2019.
TCU is 27-29-4 in home games against the Bears.
TCU is 9-4 against Baylor since the Southwest Conference dissolved after the 1995 season.
The Horned Frogs are 6-3 versus Baylor in the Big 12 era.
Patterson was 9-4 versus Baylor. He was 1-0 against Baylor head coach Daven Aranda.
On the Saturday TCU lost to Kansas State, Baylor beat Texas, 31-24, in Waco.
Baylor comes into the game with TCU tied with Oklahoma State for second place in the Big 12, behind Oklahoma, which has a 6-0 conference record.
The Bears’ only loss of the season was to Oklahoma State, 24-14, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on October 2.
Baylor is ranked 12th in the first College Football Playoff ranking, which was revealed on Tuesday, November 2. The Bears are ranked 14th in the latest Associated Press Poll and 13th in the latest Coaches Poll.
BU is scoring an average of 37.4 points per game. That ranks third in the Big 12, behind Oklahoma and Texas.
The Bears’ opponents are scoring an average of 19.4 points per game. That ranks the Bears second in scoring defense in the Big 12, behind Oklahoma State.
Baylor is second in the Big 12 in total offense, averaging 465.5 yards per game, second only to Oklahoma’s 477 yards per game.
Baylor is third in the Big 12 in total offense defense, allowing opponents to average 339.4 yards per game.
The Bears lead the Big 12 in rushing offense, averaging 237.4 yards per game. TCU ranks third in the Big 12, averaging 208.8 rushing yards per game.
Baylor’s passing offense ranks sixth in the Big 12, averaging 228.1 yards per game, just above TCU’s 227.9 passing yards per game.
BU running back Abran Smith is third in rushing in the Big 12, averaging 116.3 yards per game. TCU running back Zach Evans is fourth in rushing in the Big 12, averaging 108 rushing years per game.
The Bears’ Trestan Ebner ranks ninth in the Big 12 in rushing, averaging 70.3 rushing yards per game. TCU running back Kendre Miller is 10th in the Big 12 in rushing, averaging 64.1 rushing yards per game.
Baylor quarterback Gerry Bohanon ranks third in the Big 12 in passing, averaging 219.1 passing yards per game. He has completed 131-of-203 pass attempts. He has thrown 12 touchdowns and three interceptions.
The Bears have the fourth-ranked receiver in the Big 12. Tyquan Thornton averages 75.1 receiving yards per game. He has caught 37 passes for 601 yards. He has five touchdown receptions and a long catch of 75 yards.
The Frogs' game against nationally ranked Baylor stacks up as a tough first game for TCU interim head coach Jerry Kill.
But as Gary Patterson probably would tell his best friend, don't back down and win by a point.
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