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| TCU running back Cam Cook's (#4) three rushing touchdowns led TCU to a 45-0 victory over Long Island University in the Frogs' 2024 season home-opener on Saturday, September 7. |
By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
When you’re a Power 4 Conference team playing a lowly Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team, the mantra of the day is “TCB – take care of business.”
Taking care of business is what TCU did this past Saturday, September 7. The Horned Frogs’ won their 2024 season home-opener against Long Island University, 45-0, in a game that was not as close as the score may have indicated.
TCU, which has won 21 of its last 23 home-openers, improved to 2-0. Long Island fell to 0-2.
The Horned Frogs started the season on August 30 in Palo Alto, California, with a 34-27 win over Stanford of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
TCU is 2-0 for the first time since the 2022 season, when it went undefeated during the regular season and reached the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
The Frogs have started a season 2-0 for the third time in the last four years, the sixth time in the last eight years, the eighth time in the last 11 years, the 12th time in the last 17 years and the 15th time in the last 22 years.
“It was good to get a win, I thought our guys really played clean and well in the first half,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said. “I told our team it’s really difficult to get a shutout in college football. It doesn’t happen many times today, so it was a heck of a job by us defensively.”
"TCU is a really good football team. They are top tier," said Long Island University head coach Ron Cooper. "It was a great environment. It's always good to bring your team into this kind of environment. It's good for our players to experience this."
TCU will put its modest two-game winning streak on the line in its 2024 Big
12 Conference-opener against undefeated UCF (Central Florida) on Saturday,
September 14, in Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Kickoff against the Knights (2-0) is scheduled for 6:30 pm (Central). The game will be televised by FOX.
UCF is a 2.5-point favorite. The over/under for total points in the game is 62.
This past Saturday’s contest was the first meeting on the gridiron between the Horned Frogs and the Sharks. It also was the first time that TCU faced a team from New York since a 31-17 win over Army at West Point in 2006.
Long Island University is in the Northeast Conference. The only other Northeast Conference team that TCU has faced is Duquesne, which TCU defeated 45-3 in 2021.
The Frogs are 8-2 all-time against teams from New York: 6-0 vs Army; 1-0- vs Syracuse; 1-0 vs Long Island University; and 0-2 vs Fordham.
One of TCU’s more memorable victories in its history was its win over Syracuse. The Frogs defeated legendary running back Jim Brown and Syracuse, 28-27, in the 1957 Cotton Bowl. The win was keyed by TCU’s Chico Mendoza blocking a Syracuse extra-point attempt.
The game against Long Island was the first home game since Dykes and his wife Kate donated $1 million to TCU Athletics.
The Dykes’ gift will be split between honoring former TCU offensive lineman Jamal Powell with his name on the weight room in the new Mike and Brenda Harrison Football Performance Center, and recognizing Shirley Enis, late wife of TCU Trustee Hunter Enis, with an endowment in her name to support women’s athletics at TCU.
Powell was a three-year letterman (2000-02) for the Horned Frogs, earning First-Team All-Conference USA honors his senior year. He began a collegiate coaching career when Dykes hired Powell as his offensive line coach at SMU in 2018. They worked together for three years, until Powell’s passing in April 2021 at the age of 39.
Construction began in January 2024 on the Mike and Brenda Harrison Football Performance Center and the other three facilities in the Athletics Human Performance Center Renovation and Expansion projects. Completion is set for July 2025.
Here are results of other week two games involving Big 12 teams:
- Arizona State 30, Mississippi State 23
- Arizona 22, Northern Arizona 10
- Washington State 37, Texas Tech 16
- Oklahoma 16, Houston 12
- Illinois 23, Kansas 17
- Iowa State 20, Iowa 19
- Utah 23, Baylor 12 (non-conference game)
- Kansas State 34, Tulane 27
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Oklahoma State, 39, Arkansas 31 (2OT)
- UCF 45, Sam Houston 14
- Pittsburgh 28, Cincinnati 27
- BYU 18, SMU 15
- West Virginia 49, UAlbany 14
- Nebraska 28, Colorado 10
Against Long Island, TCU scored for the 396th consecutive game, the second-longest streak in NCAA history. No. 1 is Florida, at 450 games (1988-present). The Horned Frogs haven't been blanked since November 16, 1991, at Texas (32-0).
The Horned Frogs scored early and throughout its game against the Sharks, which was played before an announced Amon G. Carter Stadium crowd of 44,063, including a student attendance of 6,153, which was the fourth largest in school history and nearly 50 percent of the school’s total enrollment.
TCU scored its first points with less than four minutes gone in the game on a career-long 48-yard field goal by true freshman kicker Kyle Lemmermann.
The Frogs added a touchdown in the first quarter, three touchdowns in the second quarter, and a touchdown in each of the third and fourth quarters.
TCU’s offense against Long Island capitalized on six-of-six scoring opportunities in the red zone, converted four-of-11 third-down opportunities and two-of-two fourth-down chances.
Sophomore quarterback Josh Hoover led TCU’s offensive attack against the Sharks. Hoover was 20-of-25 for 267 yards. He threw two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was not sacked.
Hoover is one of seven FBS quarterbacks since 2012 to pass for at least 300 yards in six of his first seven career starts.
Hoover’s touchdown passes against Long Island were a five-yarder to senior wide receiver Jo Jo Earle, a transfer from Alabama last season, and an 18-yarder to senior tight end Chase Curtis. Earle had three catches for 24 yards. Curtis had two catches for 27 yards.
In the first half, Hoover threw 14 consecutive completions, which tied a TCU single-game record set by Jeff Ballard against San Diego State in 2006. The 14 straight completions also are tied for second overall, behind the 16 straight completions by Casey Pachall over the 2011-12 seasons.
Hoover was the first Big 12 quarterback to complete 14 straight passes since Quinn Ewers of Texas last season at Houston.
Twelve different Frogs caught passes against the Sharks.
For the second straight game, TCU’s leading receiver was senior wide receiver Savion Williams. He caught five passes for 69 yards, including a long reception of 26 yards. Williams, a former high school quarterback, also had a completion on his first collegiate pass – a 15-yarder to Earle, after taking a handoff from Hoover.
Senior wide receiver JP Richardson, a transfer before last season from Oklahoma State, had two receptions for 25 yards to give him at least one catch in 29 consecutive games. Entering the game, his streak was tied for seventh longest in the nation.
Senior wide receiver Blake Nowell had a career-long 46-yard reception.
Junior wide receiver Eric McAlister, a transfer before this season from Boise State, had his first receptions as a Horned Frog. He had two catches for 54 yards.
TCU’s four other touchdowns against the Sharks were by sophomore running back Cam Cook and junior running back Dominque Johnson, a transfer from Arkansas prior to this season.
Cook scored three rushing touchdowns, on runs of one yard, 12 yards and five yards. His three rushing touchdowns were the most by a Horned Frog since Trey Sanders ran for three in the 2023 season-opener against Colorado. Cook has a team-best four rushing scores on the season.
Johnson scored his touchdown on a two-yard run, for his first touchdown as a Horned Frog. He had eight rushing scores at Arkansas.
LIU had several bright spots on a defense that had five tackles for loss.
Freshman defensive back Kyon Conyers had three tackles, two of which were for losses. Senior outside linebacker DQ Watkins netted five tackles, with one for a loss. Junior cornerback Dylan Merrell, a transfer from Duke, made five solo tackles.
TCU’s defense under first-year defensive coordinator Andy Avalos, recorded the Frogs’ first shutout since a 43-0 win over Kansas in 2017, when Dykes was on the TCU staff as an offensive analyst.
The Horned Frogs held the Sharks to 53 total yards in the first half and 127 total offensive yards for the game. It was the fewest total yards allowed in a game by TCU since the Frogs limited Grambling State to 80 yards in the 2012 season-opener, which was the first game in the rebuilt Amon G. Carter Stadium and the Horned Frogs’ first contest as a member of the Big 12 Conference.
Long Island had 68 yards passing and 59 yards rushing.
The Sharks achieved only nine first downs and didn’t pick up a first down until the end of the first quarter. Long Island converted only five-of-17 third-down opportunities.
Sharks redshirt sophomore quarterback Luca Stanzani completed just eight-of-18 passes. He threw one interception and was sacked once. He was responsible for Long Island’s two longest plays from scrimmage, a 16-yard scramble and a 28-yard toss to sophomore wide receiver Aviyon Smith-Mack.
Long Island’s leading rusher was redshirt sophomore running back Ethan Greenwood, a transfer from The Citadel, who ran seven times for 24 yards.
TCUs defense limited LIU graduate student running back Ludovick Choquette, a transfer from Western Illinois, to 16 rushing yards on six carries.
After Long Island’s first game of the season, a 27-21 loss to UAlbany,
Choquette was named Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Week, for
games played the weekend of August 29-September 1.
Against the Great Danes, Choquette had a career-high 128 rushing yards on 15
carries, with four receptions for 22 yards and a touchdown.
TCU’s swarming, aggressive defense recorded six tackles for loss and two sacks.
At free safety, junior Richard Toney Jr., a transfer from Nevada, made his first TCU start and totaled a team-best tying seven tackles. He also had a pass breakup.
Redshirt junior linebacker Johnny Hodges, who transferred from Navy prior to the 2022 season, also had seven tackles. After being limited to four games last season due to injury, Hodges leads TCU with 16 tackles this season.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Max Carroll had a career-best six tackles.
Senior linebacker Namdi Obiazor had 1.5 tackles for loss, as part of five overall tackles. He also had his first career interception. Through two games, Obiazor has a team-best four tackles for loss.
Senior defensive lineman NaNa Osafo-Mensah, a transfer from Notre Dame, recorded his first sack as a Horned Frog. He had five tackles at Notre Dame.
- Box score of TCU’s win over Long Island: here
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Watch highlights of the TCU-Long Island game: here
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Watch TCU head coach Sonny Dykes
talk about TCU’s win over Long Island: here
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Watch TCU’s Jo Jo Earle, Cam
Cook, Richard Toney, Jr, and Namdi Obiazor talk about TCU’s win over Long
Island: here
This Saturday’s matchup between TCU and UCF will be the first on the gridiron between the two schools.
TCU will be beginning is 13th season in the Big 12. UCF will be beginning its second Big 12 season.
The Horned Frogs are facing a team from Florida for the first time since a 45-10 loss at Miami in 1992.
TCU is 5-7 all-time against teams from the Sunshine State. The Frogs are 2-1 against Florida State and 3-6 versus the University of Miami.
UCF (Central Florida) is a public university in Orlando, Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida. It has an enrollment of about 60,000 students.
The school’s nickname is Knights. Its colors are black and bright gold.
UCF joined the Big 12 in 2023, from the American Athletic Conference. In doing so, the Knights became the first NCAA football program to play at every sanctioned level: Division III, Division II, Division 1-AA, Division 1-A (Independent), Group of Five, Power Five. The Knights have been Division 1-A since 1996.
Prior to the American Athletic Conference, UCF was in Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference.
UCF’s head coach is Gus Malzan, who is in his fourth season, after coaching from 2013-2020 at Auburn.
In 2023, Malzan led the Knights to a 6-7 overall record, including a 30-17 loss to Georgia Tech in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. UCF went 3-6 in Big 12 Conference play.
The Knights, which are a team built on experienced, transfer players, were picked in the preseason to finish eighth in the Big 12. They have started the 2024 season 2-0, with home wins over New Hampshire (57-3) and Sam Houston State (45-14).
UCF features two preseason All-Big 12 players: fifth-year wide receiver Kobe Hudson (#2), who is 6-1, 200 pounds, and a transfer from Auburn, and redshirt junior defensive lineman Lee Hunter (#2), who is 6-4, 320 pounds, and also a transfer from Auburn.
Offensively, the Knights are averaging nearly 600 yards game: 419 yards per game rushing and 177.5 yards per game passing. They have scored 11 touchdowns on the ground and two touchdowns through the air.
Leading UCF’s offense is fifth-year quarterback KJ Jefferson (#1), 6-3, 247 pounds, who is a transfer from Arkansas. He has completed 19-of-29 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns, with a long completion of 53 yards. He has thrown one interception. He has rushed 20 times for 89 yards.
Jefferson was coached for three seasons (2020-2022) at Arkansas by now TCU offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles. Jefferson started nearly 40 games for the Razorbacks during his time in Fayetteville.
The Knights feature three strong runners.
Fifth-year running back RJ Harvey (#7), 5-9, 208 pounds, who is a transfer from Virginia, has carried the football 30 times for 268 yards, for a per-carry average of 8.9 yards. He has scored six rushing touchdowns and has a long run of 60 yards.
Last season, Harvey rushed for 1,416 yards and 16 touchdowns. He averaged 6.3 yards per carry.
Redshirt running back Peny Boone (#13), 6-1, 232 pounds, who is a transfer from Toledo, has rushed 17 times for 135 yards, for a per-carry average of 7.9 yards. He has scored two touchdowns and has a long run of 59 yards.
Redshirt running back Myles Montgomery (#22), 5-11, 205 pounds, who is a transfer from Cincinnati, has rushed 17 times for 128 yards. He has two rushing touchdowns and a long run of 25 yards.
Hudson is UCF’s leading receiver. He has caught seven passes for 165 yards, with a long reception of 53 yards. He has not caught a pass for a touchdown.
Last season, Hudson, who is an electric play-maker, caught 44 passes for 900 yards.
Seven other Knights have caught passes. Montgomery and fifth-year running back Johnny Richardson (#0), have caught UCF’s two touchdown passes.
Defensively, UCF is allowing nearly 225 yards of total offense per game; 67 yards rushing per game and 157 yards receiving per game. They have allowed no rushing touchdowns and only two touchdowns through the air. They have intercepted four passes.
The Knights’ leading tackler is fifth-year defensive back Quadric Bullard (#10). He has nine total tackles.
Sophomore linebacker Xe’ree Alexander (#24), who is 6-2, 223 pounds and a transfer from Idaho, has eight tackles, including one for loss. He also has been credited with two quarterback-hurries.
Hunter has four tackles, including one tackle for loss.
Defensive end Nyjalik Kelly (#11), 6-5, 250 pounds, who is a transfer from the University of Miami (Florida), has the Knights’ only sack.
UCF’s four interceptions have been made by: fifth-year linebacker DeShawn Pace (#3), who is a transfer from Cincinnati; sophomore defensive back Antione Jackson (#7), who is a transfer from East Carolina; fifth-year defensive back Sheldon Arnold II (#9), who is a transfer from East Tennessee State; and redshirt senior defensive back Mac McWilliams (#20), who is a transfer from UAB.
Central Florida’s field goal kicker is the aptly named Colton Boomer (#35), a junior, who has converted three-of-three field goal attempts. He has a long field goal of 50 yards. He has not had a kick blocked.
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