By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
A 2024 TCU football season that was teetering on the edge of irrelevance was steadied and reinforced this past Saturday, September 28, in a part of the country where chants of “Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” echo through the Flint Hills.
The Horned Frogs leveraged several big plays and conjured up enough of a running game and an opportune defense to produce a 38-27 victory over the University of Kansas.
“I can’t say enough about our players and how proud I am of them,” said TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, who is 2-0 as a head coach versus the Jayhawks. “They never blinked, and with all the stuff that went down last week, I appreciate those guys having my back personally. I think this is a special team. It’s good to get a road win in the Big 12.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that’s a good Kansas football team. We were fortunate. Got some breaks. Seems like every time there was a review, it went our way. Last week (against SMU) that certainly didn’t happen. This week, it was good to be on the good side of that.”
The game was played in Arrowhead because Kansas’ on-campus facility, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, is being renovated.
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium is the fourth current NFL stadium the Horned Frogs have played in. During its 2022 College Football National Championship Playoff run, TCU took the field in its final three games at AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas), State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona) and SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles).
It was appropriate that the Horned Frogs played in Arrowhead Stadium. TCU has 27 players on NFL rosters and no team has more than the Kansas City Chiefs, who have three: tight end Jared Wiley; offensive lineman Lucas Niang; and running back Emani Bailey. Wiley was a 2024 fourth-round draft pick. Bailey and Niang are on the practice squad. Niang was on the active roster for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl titles the last two seasons.
This was not the first time TCU and Kansas had played each another in Kansas City. They played in Kansas City four consecutive years, from 1944-47, with TCU going 2-0-2 in those contests.
Since beginning Big 12 play in 2012, TCU is 11-1 against Kansas.
If TCU had lost to Kansas, the team pretty much would have hit "Rock-Chalk" bottom. Instead, the Frogs broke a two-game losing streak and earned their first Big 12 victory of the season.
The Frogs are 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the Big 12. TCU’s two other victories have come against Stanford and Long Island University. Its two losses have been to UCF and SMU.
In this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 6 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams, TCU is 44th, two spots better than the Frogs’ 46th ranking last week.
See this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 6 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams: here
The Horned Frogs’ next game is a Big 12 Conference game against cellar-dweller Houston, on Friday, October 4, in Amon G. Carter Stadium, in Fort Worth, Texas. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 pm (Central). The game will be televised by ESPN.
The loss to the Frogs dropped Kansas to a surprising 1-4 overall, 0-2 in the Big 12. The Jayhawks suffered their fourth loss in a row, following a season-opening 48-3 victory over Lindenwood, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team.
Kanas is ranked 83rd in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 6 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams.
KU plays Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday, October 5.
Arizona is ranked 43rd in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 6 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams
Here are results of the other Big 12 games played on Saturday, September 28:
- Oklahoma State 20 (3-2, 0-2) at #20 Kansas State 42 (4-1, 1-1)
- #17 BYU 34 (5-0, 2-0) at Baylor 28 (2-3, 0-2)
- Arizona 23 (3-1, 1-0) at #18 Utah 10 (4-1, 1-1)
- Cincinnati 41 (3-2, 1-1) at Texas Tech 44 (4-1, 2-0)
- #16 Iowa State 20 (4-0, 1-0) at Houston 0 (1-4, 0-2)
- Colorado 48 (4-1, 2-0) at UCF 21 (3-1, 1-1)
- Arizona State (bye) (3-1, 0-1)
- West Virginia (bye) (2-2, 1-0)
The 11-point victory over the Jayhawks ended the Frogs’ two-game losing streak and broke a stretch of disheartening news for TCU.
In TCU’s prior game, a 66-42 loss to SMU, Dykes embarrassed the football program and TCU community when he received two unsportsmanlike penalties and was ejected from the game.
Days before the TCU-Kansas game, TCU learned that its 14-year streak of ranking among U.S. News & World Report’s top 100 national universities had come to an end.
TCU in recent years consistently has placed among the 100 highest ranked national universities, tying for 98th in last year’s iteration.
In the latest rankings, TCU ranked as the 105th best national university, tying with Auburn University, the Illinois Institute of Technology and Saint Louis University.
Texas schools in the top 100 included: Rice University (No. 18); The University of Texas at Austin (No. 30); Texas A&M University (No. 51); Baylor University (No. 91); and SMU (No. 91).
Also, during the week before the game with Kansas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported it had recently learned that TCU junior wide receiver Eric McAlister, an Azle (Texas) High School graduate and a transfer from Boise State, had been arrested on March 15 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
McAlister, 21, had also been charged with a second count of terroristic threat causing fear of imminent serious bodily injury, which is a misdemeanor.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, McAlister’s indictment accused him of threatening a man with a gun.
McAlister pleaded guilty on August 28 to the second count, while the assault count was waived, according to Tarrant County court records. His plea bargain included two years of probation with deferred adjudication, with conditions including that he complete gun safety and anger management courses, stay away from Whataburger at 109 NE 28th St. in Fort Worth and have no contact with the victim.
The Star-Telegram further reported that McAlister was arrested a second time on August 19 for violating the conditions of his bond, according to court documents. Evidently, McAlister submitted a urine test that was positive for THC on July 31.
McAlister has been playing in TCU’s games since the season started on August 30. Against the Jayhawks, he was one of the Frogs whose big plays helped secure the much-needed victory.
Early in the fourth quarter, with TCU nursing a 28-27 lead, McAlister caught a short pass from TCU sophomore quarterback Josh Hoover and through some nifty running turned it into a 59-yard touchdown reception. After the extra point, TCU had a 35-27 lead.
McAlister has caught a touchdown pass in three consecutive games.
With McAlister, who had four catches for 100 yards, and senior wide receiver Jack Bech, who is a transfer from LSU and who had a career-best 10 receptions for 131 yards, TCU had two players reach 100 yards receiving for the third time in five games this season. Bech and McAlister have accomplished it together the last two games, and Bech has topped 100 yards receiving in four-of-five games this season.
Bech had two big scoring plays against KU. He caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Hoover in the first quarter and a seven-yard touchdown pass from Hoover in second quarter, as TCU took a 21-17 lead into halftime.
This was the second consecutive contest for Bech to have multiple receiving touchdowns. He has a team-best six touchdown catches on the season.
Over the last three games, Bech has 27 receptions for 497 yards and five touchdowns. His 647 receiving yards through five games is enough to have been the Frogs’ season leader in eight of last 10 years. Only Quentin Johnson in 2022 and Jalen Reagor in 2018 led TCU with more yards in an entire season than Bech’s 647 yards through game five.
For his performance against Kansas, Bech was named to the Week 5 Honor Roll of the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. Bech also has been added to the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, recognizing the top receiver in college football regardless of position.
Bech leads the Big 12 Conference in receiving yards and is the only player to rank in the top three nationally in receiving yards (second) and touchdown catches (tied for third, with six). He's also tied for seventh in receptions (35).
Bech is on pace to break Biletnikoff Award finalist Josh Doctson's TCU season records from 2015 for receptions, yards and touchdowns.
The Frogs’ fourth big play against Kansas came late in the third quarter, with Kansas leading, 24-21.
TCU receiver/returner JP Richardson, a transfer from Oklahoma State, got a key block by freshman safety Kaden McFadden and returned a Jayhawks’ punt 89 yards for a touchdown.
TCU took a 28-24 lead that it would not relinquish.
Richardson's punt return was one yard shy of the longest in the nation this
season and tied for fourth-longest in TCU history. It was TCU’s first punt
return for a touchdown since Derius Davis had two in 2022. Richardson is the
seventh Horned Frog with a punt return for a touchdown since 2012.
A senior from Missouri City, Texas, Richardson totaled 111 yards on three
punt returns in the game. He ranks second in the Big 12 and 11th nationally
with a 16.3-yard season average for punt returns.
Against the Jayhawks, Richardson also had four receptions for 42 yards. He
ranks third among TCU receivers with 20 catches on the season. He has at least
one catch in 32 consecutive games. The streak entered the game tied for
seventh-longest in the nation.
For his performance against Kansas, Richardson was named the Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
Keying TCU’s big-play offense was Hoover. He completed 28-of-37 passes for 356 yards and the three touchdown passes. He threw two interceptions and was sacked once.
Hoover had his ninth 300-yard passing game in 11 career starts. He had three touchdowns passes for the fifth time in his 11 starts.
Hoover threw for at least two touchdowns for the eighth straight game. He has at least one touchdown pass in 10 of 11 career starts.
Hoover is on pace to set TCU season records for completion percentage, yards and touchdown passes. He has thrown for at least two scores in eight consecutive games.
Hoover leads the Big 12 Conference in passing yards and passing touchdowns.
TCU’s other touchdown against Kansas came on a three-yard run by sophomore running back Cam Cook in the second quarter. It was his team-best sixth rushing touchdown on the year.
Cook teamed with true freshman running back Jeremy Payne to rejuvenate a stagnant TCU running game, which also was helped by some different offensive schemes and some offensive line changes, including sophomore Ben Taylor-Whitfield starting at right tackle. It was his first start of the season and second of his career.
In the Frogs’ previous two games, which were loses to UCF and SMU, the Frogs were held to under 100 rushing yards; 58 yards against the Knights and 65 against the Mustangs.
Against Kansas, TCU had 151 rushing yards on 35 carries for an average of 4.3 yards per rush.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Jayhawks had allowed just 120 yards per game on the ground, which ranked fourth in the Big 12.
Against Kansas, Payne led the Horned Frogs with a career-best 65 rushing yards on eight carries. He had a 32-yard run for TCU’s longest carry of the season.
Cook added 61 yards on 15 carries. Cook also lost a fumble, which occurred on TCU’s first possession of the game and led to KU’s first touchdown, less than five minutes into the game.
Senior receiver Jo Jo Earle, an Aledo (Texas) High School graduate and a transfer from Alabama, had 21 rushing yards on two carries.
After being punished by UCF and SMU in TCU’s two previous losses, the Frogs’ defense gave up two touchdown drives to Kansas in the first quarter on Saturday, but held the Jayhawks to a touchdown and two field goals the remaining three quarters of the game.
KU entered the contest averaging 238 yards on the ground, but was limited to 167 by the TCU defense. That result was much improved, compared to the 289 and 238 rushing yards TCU allowed UCF and SMU, respectively.
Junior linebacker Johnny Hodges, a transfer from Navy, tied for TCU team-best honors with eight tackles, all solo, and a quarterback hurry.
Sophomore safety Jamel Johnson also had eight tackles.
Senior linebacker Cooper McDonald, a transfer from San Diego State, recorded a sack for a 12-yard loss, giving him 1.5 on the season and a tie for the team lead with linebackers Marcel Brooks and Namdi Obiazor.
Redshirt freshman nose tackle Markis Deal made his first career start.
Late in the fourth quarter, senior TCU cornerback LaMareon "Scud" James, a transfer from Old Dominion, ended any thought of a Kansas comeback and sealed TCU's victory by intercepting a long pass from KU quarterback Jalon Daniels at the TCU 14-yard line.
- TCU-Kansas box score: here
- TCU-Kansas game highlights: here
- TCU head coach Sonny Dykes talks about the win over Kansas: here
- TCU players talk about the win over Kansas: here
- Kansas head coach Lance Leipold talks about Kansas’ loss to TCU: here
TCU’s Friday night opponent, the Houston Cougars, are ranked 107th in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 6 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams.
The Horned Frogs and Cougars are in the same conference for the third time. They previously were together in the Southwest Conference (1976-95) and Conference USA (2001-04).
TCU has won the last nine meetings with Houston, to even the all-time series at 13-13. TCU is 6-6 at home against the Cougars, 6-7 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites.
The first game in the series was a 49-21 Cougars win in Houston in 1976, their first year in the Southwest Conference.
Prior to last season's 36-13 Horned Frogs victory at Houston, the most recent previous game between the two teams was a 20-13 TCU win in the 2007 Texas Bowl.
The Cougars' last victory in the series was a 49-46 win in Houston in 1992.
Four members of the TCU coaching staff have ties to Houston:
- Associate head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles is a 2005 graduate of Houston, where he was a receiver for the Cougars. In two seasons (2004-05) with Houston, he totaled 70 receptions for 680 yards and a touchdown. He returned to his alma mater in 2018 as associate head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
- Also on the Houston staff in 2018 as an offensive analyst was current TCU assistant head coach/outside receivers coach Malcolm Kelly. He was a graduate assistant for the Cougars in 2017.
- TCU co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach A.J. Ricker was an offensive analyst in 2016.
- TCU inside receivers coach Doug Meacham was Houston's offensive coordinator in 2013.
Former Houston head football coach Dana Holgorsen is on Dykes’ TCU staff as a consultant. Dykes and Holgorsen worked together for seven seasons (2000-06) as assistant coaches under Mike Leach at Texas Tech.
Holgorsen was Houston’s head football coach from 2019 to 2023, after he was head football coach at West Virginia from 2011 to 2018.
Former Tulane head coach Willie Fritz is in his first season as Houston’s head football coach. After Holgorsen left Houston, Fritz was hired after a national search process by Houston that reportedly included former TCU head football coach Gary Patterson as a finalist.
UH is 1-4 overall, 0-2 in the Big 12.
Houston has lost to UNLV (27-7), Oklahoma (16-12), Cincinnati (34-0) and Iowa State (20-0).
The Cougars’ lone win was against Houston neighbor Rice University, 33-7.
Houston has lost two straight games, in which they were shutout by Big 12 foes Cincinnati and Iowa State.
Scoring has been a problem for the Cougars. They have scored 52 points, for an average of 10.4 points per game. Their scoring offense ranks last in the country.
Houston’s offense is averaging 155 passing yards per game.
Donovan Smith (#1), a senior has been Houston’s starting quarterback for most of the season. The former Texas Tech quarterback is averaging 136.2 passing yards per game. He has completed 70-of-107 passes. He has thrown two touchdown passes and five interceptions.
Smith is backed up by sophomore Louisiana transfer Zeon Chriss (#2). He’s completed three-of-nine passes and thrown an interception. Chriss threw for 1,222 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions last season with Louisiana.
Houston’s leading receivers are junior wide receiver Stephon Johnson Jr. (#5), an Oklahoma State transfer, and Joseph Manjack, IV (#0), a transfer from USC.
Johnson has caught 15 passes for 174 yards, for an average of 34.8 receiving yards per game. He has one touchdown catch and a long reception of 44 yards.
Manjack has caught 10 passes for 146 yards, for an average of 36.5 receiving yards per game. He has caught two touchdown passes and has a long reception of 52 yards.
The Cougars have 650 rushing yards. They average 3.9 yards per rush and 130 rushing yards per game.
Junior running back Stacy Sneed (#21) has 217 rushing yards and a touchdown on 36 carries. He averages six yards per rush and 43.4 rushing yards per game.
Redshirt freshman running back Re’Shaun Sanford II (#26) has rushed for 170 yards on 34 carries. He is averaging five yards per rush and 34 rushing yards per game.
Houston’s defense is allowing 20.8 points per game this season.
The Cougars held Oklahoma to 16 points in Norman and Iowa State to three points in the first half.
Against Houston, teams are averaging 147.4 passing yards per game and 146.8 rushing yards per game. The Cougars have intercepted three passes.
UH’s top playmaker on defense is senior linebacker Michael Batton (#44), a transfer from Louisiana Monroe (ULM). He has a team-high 36 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss. He has two sacks and a fumble recovery.
Senior defensive lineman Keith Cooper Jr. (#5), a transfer from Tulane, has 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.
Junior defensive lineman Carlos Allen (#92), sophomore defensive lineman Anthony Holmes, Jr. (#18) and junior defensive lineman Xavier Stillman (93) each have one sack.
Senior defensive back Hershey McLaurin (#15), a transfer from west Virginia,
has four tackles for loss.
Junior defensive back A.J. Haulcy (#2), a transfer from New Mexico, junior
linebacker Jalen Garner (#36) and junior defensive back Jeremiah Wilson (#20),
a transfer from Syracuse, each have one interception.
Freshman punter Liam Dougherty (#91) is average 41.4 yards per punt. He has a
long punt of 53 yards. He has not had a punt blocked this season.
Redshirt freshman kicker Joseph Kim (#43) has converted two-of-four field goal attempts. He has a long field goal of 44 yards. He has not had a field goal attempt blocked this season.
TCU is an early 16.5-point favorite over Houston. The over/under for total points scored in the game is 51.
- Dykes talks about Houston: here
- TCU offensive tackle Ben Taylor-Whitfield, nose tackle Markis Deal and safety Abe Camara meet with the media: here
- Fritz talks about TCU: here
After the game against Houston, TCU will enjoy a bye on October 12.
The Horned Frogs will play the University of Utah in Salt Lake, City, on Saturday, October 19. Game time and TV coverage are to be announced.
TCU will return home to host Texas Tech in a Homecoming game on Saturday, October 26. Game time and TV coverage are to be announced.
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