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| BW&R -- Jack Bech (#18), Savion Williams (#3) and JP Richardson (#7) |
By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
This past Saturday, November 23, was Senior Day at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.
Among the honorees presented to TCU fans by TCU head football coach Sonny Dykes and his wife, Kate, were the Horned Frogs’ trio of premier senior receivers – Jack Bech, Savion Williams and JP Richardson.
Mere minutes after the emotional Senior Day ceremony ended, the visiting Arizona Wildcats of the Big 12 Conference were introduced up close and personal to the three, who are among the best receivers in the country.
Bech, Williams and Richardson (BW&R) helped the Horned Frogs leap to a quick 14-0 lead in their Big 12 contest with the University of Arizona and coast to a 49-28 victory, in front of an announced crowd of 42,977 (see Midnite Madness photos from the game: here).
Bech became the fifth player in TCU history with a 1,000-yard receiving season. He has 1,007 receiving yards in 2024.
Bech is tied for 11th nationally in touchdown catches and is 12th in receiving yards.
Bech is a semifinalist for the 2024 Biletnikoff Award. The Biletnikoff Award is presented to college football’s best receiver.
Bech also is a semifinalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. The Earl
Campbell Tyler Rose Award is presented to a player who was either born in
Texas, graduated from a state high school or plays at a Texas-based University.
In addition, Bech has accepted an invitation to play in the Reese's Senior
Bowl.
Richardson had six catches for 107 yards and a touchdown against Arizona, his second straight 100-yard receiving game, third of the season and fourth of his career. His 38-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter was his first receiving score of the season.
Richardson has a catch in 38 consecutive games, tying for the seventh-longest streak in the nation.
The versatile Williams caught three passes and rushed for a career-high 80 yards on nine carries against the Wildcats, the fourth time in the last five games he’s led TCU in rushing.
With four more receiving yards by Williams, TCU will have its first season in history with four 600-yard receivers.
Bech (59), Williams (57) and Richardson (50) give TCU three players with at least 50 catches in the same season for the first time.
The 20.1 receptions per game by TCU wide receivers lead the nation for Power Four Conference programs and rank second in the FBS (North Texas, 21.5).
“Those three guys (Bech, Williams, Richardson) are pretty special,” said Dykes. “Savion has been here his entire career. Really proud of the way he has developed and grown into being the guy. We rely on him and he makes big plays for us. He delivers.
“It was fun to see those three guys today (against Arizona), and to work with them day in and day out. They’re all pretty special guys. Jack and JP are two of the most competitive people you’ll ever be around, and that’s what makes those guys special. They love playing football and they love their teammates.
“What I really like about that group of three is that it’s never about them. It’s always about the team and doing what’s best. We’re really going to hate losing those three guys. We’re going to have to find some replacements and have some young guys step up.”
Evidently at least one young, elite wide receiver recruit soon will be joining the Horned Frogs, to follow in the footsteps of the graduating Bech, Williams and Richardson.
Not long after TCU’s win over Arizona, it was announced that TCU has added top-20 receiver Terry Shelton, of Carrollton Ranchview, to its 2025 recruiting class, which is ranked No. 22 in the country and No. 1 in the Big 12 by 247Sports.
Against TCU, Arizona partially was able to counter BR&W with an elite wider receiver of its own, junior Tetairoa McMillan, who is a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist. He caught nine passes for 115 yards, to become the University of Arizona's all-time receiving yards leader.
“McMillan is every bit as good as advertised,” Dykes said. “He’s just a really good football player and makes all the plays.”
With their convincing win over Arizona, the bowl-eligible Horned Frogs, who have won four of their last five games (the only blemish a 37-34 last-second loss at Baylor on November 2), improved to 7-4 overall, 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference. TCU’s final 2024 home record improved to 4-2.
TCU’s 2024 regular-season finale is this Saturday, November 30, against the University of Cincinnati (UC), in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 pm (Central). Since a major network did not choose to televise the game, it will be broadcast by ESPN+.
The lopsided loss to the Frogs eliminated Arizona from becoming bowl-eligible during head coach Brent Brennan’s initial year as the team’s head coach.
The Wildcats, who have dropped six of their last seven games, are 4-7 overall, 2-6 in the Big 12 Conference. They came into the 2024 season with high expectations, as they won 10 games in their final season (2023) as a Pac-12 team and advanced to the Alamo Bowl, under head coach Jedd Fisch, who now is at the University of Washington, which left the Pac-12 for the Big 10.
Here are the results of the other Big 12 games played on Saturday, November 23:
- UCF 21 (4-7, 2-6) at West Virginia 31 (6-5, 5-3)
- Texas Tech 56 (7-4, 5-3) at Oklahoma State 48 (3-8, 0-8)
- BYU 23 (9-2, 6-2) at Arizona State 28 (9-2, 6-2)
- Colorado 21 (8-3, 6-2) at Kansas 37 (4-6, 3-4)
- Baylor 20 (7-4, 5-3) at Houston 10 (4-7, 3-5)
- Iowa State 31 (9-2, 6-2) at Utah 28 (4-7, 1-7)
- Cincinnati 15 (5-6, 3-5) at Kansas State 41 (8-3, 5-3)
Heading into the final games of the regular season, there is a logjam at the top of the Big 12 standings:
- BYU 6-2
Colorado 6-2
Arizona State 6-2
Iowa State 6-2 -
Kansas State 5-3
TCU 5-3
Baylor 5-3
Texas Tech 5-3
West Virginia 5-3 - Kansas 4-4
-
Cincinnati 3-5
Houston 3-5 -
Ariz 2-6
UCF 2-6 - Utah 1-7
- OK St 0-8
The fourth ranking for the 12-team College Football Playoff was revealed Tuesday (November 26) night. The top 12 teams are:
- Oregon (11-0)
- Ohio State (10-1)
- Texas (10-1)
- Penn State (10-1)
- Notre Dame (10-1)
- Miami (10-1)
- Georgia (9-2)
- Tennessee (9-2)
- SMU (10-1)
- Indiana (10-1)
- Boise State (10-1)
- Clemson (9-2)
See the entire rankings: here
In this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 14 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams, TCU is 43rd, four spots better than its previous week’s ranking of 47th.
See this week’s USA TODAY Sports Week 14 Ranking of 134 Division 1 football teams: here
There were two interesting sidebars to TCU’s game against Arizona:
- Dykes was Arizona’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for three seasons (2007- 09). Dykes helped the Wildcats to the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl and 2009 Holiday Bowl. Arizona had previously gone 10 seasons without a bowl appearance.During his time in Tucson, Dykes coached Nick Foles, who as a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles was Super Bowl LII Most Valuable Player. Dykes also recruited to Arizona Rob Gronkowski, who as a tight end went on to win multiple Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots.
- TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati was an athletics marketing and development associate at Arizona from 2000-02.
The November 23 contest was the first-ever game between the Horned Frogs and Wildcats as members of the Big 12 Conference.
This is Arizona’s inaugural season in the Big 12.
The Wildcats were founding members of the Border Conference in 1931 and the Western Athletic Conference in 1962. Arizona joined the Pac-10 in 1978. The Pac-10 became the Pac-12 in 2011, with the addition of Colorado and Utah.
Arizona joined the Big 12 on August 2, 2024, alongside Arizona State University, the University of Colorado and the University of Utah, to bring the total number of teams in the conference to 16.
TCU played Utah earlier this season, winning 13-7.
The Frogs played Colorado in 2022 and 2023, prior to the Buffaloes joining the Big 12.
TCU does not play Colorado or Arizona State this season.
TCU and Arizona had played each other twice before, with each team winning a game.
The last time the two teams met was on September 27, 2003, in Tucson, Arizona. Nineteenth-ranked TCU won, 13-10, in overtime, when Nick Browne kicked a 33-yard field goal.
The first time the Frogs and Cats met was on September 5, 1999, in Fort Worth. Arizona won, 35-31, when the Wildcats scored the winning touchdown with 2:10 remaining in the game, to complete an 18-point comeback.
This time around, there was no comeback by Arizona.
TCU led throughout the game: 14-0; 21-13 at the half; and 35-13 going into the fourth quarter.
The 48 points scored by the Horned Frogs were the most they have scored this season, and the fourth straight game in which they have scored 30 or more points. Their previous high scoring game was a 45-0 victory over Long Island University, in the second game of the season.
Seven teams have scored 30 or more points against Arizona. The Wildcats are 1-6 in those games.
Against Arizona, TCU rolled up 450 total yards; 303 passing yards and 147 rushing yards.
TCU scored for the 405th consecutive game, the second-longest streak in NCAA history. No. 1 is Florida at 459 games (1988-present). The Horned Frogs haven't been blanked since November 16, 1991, at Texas (32-0).
Triggering TCU’s offense against Arizona was sophomore quarterback Josh Hoover.
Hoover completed 19-of-26 passes for 252 yards. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception.
Hoover ranks sixth nationally in passing yards (3,485) and is tied for 13th in touchdown passes (23). He tops the Big 12 and is tied for fourth in the FBS with 52 completions of 20-plus yards. Hoover’s 68.1 completion percentage is on pace to set a TCU season record, along with his passing yards.
Junior wide receiver Eric McAlister, a transfer from Boise State, had three catches for 87 yards, all for first downs. He leads the nation with 92.9 percent of his receptions being for first downs. McAlister is third in the nation in yards per catch (22.8), which ranks first in TCU history for a player with at least 20 receptions.
The Frogs scored six rushing touchdowns against Arizona. The six rushing touchdowns tied for the most in a game by a Big 12 team this season.
Williams scored two running touchdowns, one on a one-yard plunge late in the first quarter and another on a 20-yard run, on a fourth-and-one play with 13 seconds remaining in the first half.
Williams has four rushing touchdowns in the Horned Frogs' last five games, representing all of his career scoring runs. He had no rushing touchdowns in the first 46 games of his career.
Junior running back Trent Battle also had two rushing touchdowns, on a four-yard run less than three minutes into the game and on a one-yard run early in the third quarter. The touchdowns were the first of Battle’s career.
Sophomore running back Cam Cook and true freshman running back Jeremy Payne scored TCU’s two other rushing touchdowns.
Cook scored a touchdown on a six-yard sprint in the fourth quarter. Cook has a team-best nine rushing touchdowns on the season, including three in the last two games.
Payne scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard gallop. The touchdown was his third of the season and his career.
TCU’s six rushing touchdowns were its most since December 12, 2020, when the Frogs blew out Louisiana Tech 52-10. Combined with TCU’s November 9 win (38-13) against Oklahoma State in Fort Worth, the Frogs’ offense has scored 10 rushing touchdowns over its past two games.
TCU's defense limited Arizona to 325 total yards of offense. The Wildcats managed only 38 net rushing yards and completed only 30-of-47 passes. TCU forced one turnover, an interception by senior safety Bud Clark.
TCU senior linebacker Johnny Hodges led TCU's defense with seven tackles. For the season, Hodges leads the Frogs with 78 tackles, including 4.5 tackles-for-loss and one sack.
TCU senior linebacker Namdi Obiazor had six tackles. For the season, Obiazor is second on the team with 71 tackles. He has 6.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks.
Clark's interception came on the game’s opening snap by the Wildcats and set up the Frogs’ first score of the game, five plays later.
Clark’s three interceptions this season are tied for fifth-most in the Big 12. His 11 career picks are the most among current Horned Frogs.
TCU senior safety Cam Smith, a transfer from the University of Memphis, had six tackles, his most in a game as a Horned Frog.
Senior defensive lineman NaNa Osafo-Mensah (#54), a transfer from Notre Dame, had six tackles, including two tackles-for-loss, and a sack of Arizona redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita, who last season was the Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year and the Football Writers Association of America’s Offensive Freshman of the Year.
Senior linebacker Cooper McDonald (#44), a transfer from San Diego State, and true freshman defensive lineman Travis Jackson (#96) combined on a sack of Fifita. Jackson has had his first two collegiate sacks in the Frogs’ last two games.
Arizona has allowed 26 sacks this season, which ranks near the bottom of the league
Frogs in Cincinnati for Finale
The November 30 game between the Horned Frogs and Bearcats is the regular-season-finale for both teams and could have huge implications for both teams.
TCU has slim hopes for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Horned Frogs need a victory over the Bearcats and losses by at least three of the four teams (Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State) who are 6-2 to remain in contention for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Cincinnati needs a win to reach bowl eligibility for the 13th time in the last 17 seasons.
Cincinnati is promoting the game to its fans as Senior Day and as a “blackout.” It will be the first home, night game for the Bearcats this season.
Weather could be a major story-line, with Saturday evening’s temperature projected to be below freezing.
TCU and Cincinnati will be playing for the first time since 2004, the fourth time overall and the first time as Big 12 Conference foes. The previous three meetings (2002-04) between the two teams took place when both were members of Conference USA.
Cincinnati holds a 2-1 series lead over TCU. The Bearcats won the last game, 21-10, in Cincinnati, in 2004. Cincinnati took a 36-29 overtime decision in 2002 in the first meeting in Cincinnati.
TCU's lone victory in the series was a 43-10 win in Fort Worth in 2003, when the Horned Frogs were No 6 in the BCS rankings – at the time, the highest appearance ever by a team from a non-BCS conference. The win improved TCU to 10-0 for the first time since its national championship season of 1938 when they were led by Heisman Trophy winner Davey O’Brien.
This is Cincinnati’s second season in the Big 12. The Bearcats joined the conference on July 1, 2023, along with Houston, BYU and UCF. Cincinnati previously was a member of the Big East (2005-2013) and the American Athletic Conference (2013-2022).
TCU and Cincy did not play each other last season.
Saturday’s game will be played in Cincinnati’s on-campus stadium -- James Gamble Nippert Stadium.
The stadium, which seats 40,000, has been used by the University of
Cincinnati since 1901, making it the second-oldest playing site in the nation
for college football behind Penn’s Franklin Field (1895).
Among NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, Nippert is the third-oldest
stadium still in use, behind Bobby Dodd Stadium (Georgia Tech - 1913), Davis
Wade Stadium (Mississippi State - 1914) and ahead of Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway
Stadium (1915) and Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium (1917).
Cincinnati was in college football’s playoffs as a fourth seed following the 2021 season, when Luke Fickell was the team’s head coach.
Cincinnati became the first so-called “Group of Five” team to qualify for the College Football Playoff (debuting in the "final four" of that list on November 26). The Bearcats lost to #1 Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, 27-6. No. 3 Georgia, which had defeated No. 2 Michigan, 34-11, in the Orange Bowl, defeated Alabama, 33-18, in the championship game, played in Indianapolis.
Fickell now is head football coach at the University of Wisconsin. He left Cincinnati after the 2021 season.
Scott Satterfield is in his second season at the helm of the Bearcats. He was hired on December 5, 2022 as the school’s 43rd head football coach. Previously, he was head coach of the Louisville Cardinals and the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
Satterfield steered the Bearcats’ transition from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 in his first season at UC in 2023. On September 9, 2023, Satterfield and the Bearcats defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers, 27–21, in the first ever college football game aired on the TV channel known as “The CW,” which earlier this season broadcast the TCU-SMU game.
Cincinnati is 3-5 in the Big 12 and 5-6 overall, including a four-game losing streak, during which the Bearcats have faced three of the top teams in the conference on the road: at Colorado (October 26), at Iowa State (November 16), and at Kansas State (November 23).
The game against Kansas State was the latest loss, 41-15, for Cincinnati, whose four-game losing streak has included three losses by double digits.
Cincinnati’s wins:
- Townson, at home, 38-20
- Miami of Ohio, away, 27-16
- Houston, at home, 34-0
- UCF, away, 19-13
- Arizona State, at home, 24-14
Cincinnati’s losses:
- Pittsburgh, at home, 28-27
- Texas Tech away, 44-41
- Colorado, away, 34-23
- West Virginia, at home, 31-24
- Iowa State, away, 34-17
- Kansas State, away, 41-15.
The Bearcats’ offensive numbers:
- Total yards offense per game: 425 yards
- Passing yards average per game: 244 yards
- Rushing yards average per game: 181 yards
- Total passing touchdowns: 18
- Total rushing touchdowns: 17
- Interceptions thrown: 6
- Sacks allowed: 18
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Brendan Sorsby (#2), of Denton, Texas, who is a transfer from the University of Indiana, runs Cincinnati’s offense. He has completed 228-of-355 passes (64.2 percent). He has thrown 18 touchdown passes. He has a long completion of 80 yards. He has thrown six interceptions. Sorsby also has eight rushing touchdowns.
Senior wide receiver Xavier Henderson (#8), who is a transfer from Florida, leads the Bearcats’ corps of receivers. He has caught 56 passes for 692 yards. He averages 12.4 yards per catch and 62.9 receiving yards per game. He has caught four touchdown passes and has a long catch of 42 yards.
Redshirt junior tight end Joe Royer (#11), who is a transfer from Ohio State, has 43 receptions for 489 yards. He averages 11.4 yards per catch and 44.5 receiving yards per game. He has caught three touchdown passes and has a long catch of 38 yards.
Redshirt junior wide receiver Tony Johnson (#0), who is a transfer from Florida Atlantic, has caught 43 passes for 428 yards. He averages 10 yards per catc and 38.9 receiving yards per game. He has caught six touchdown passes and has a long catch of 23 yards.
Senior wide receiver Jamoi Mayes (#10), who is a transfer from Chattanooga, has caught 26 passes for 319 yards. He averages 12.3 yards per catch and 29 receiving yards per catch. He has caught one touchdown pass and has a long catch of 52 yards.
On the ground, Cincinnati is led by senior running back Corey Kiner (#21), who is a transfer from LSU. In fact, Bech and Kiner were teammates at LSU as true freshmen in 2021.
Kiner has rushed 181 times for 1,043 yards. He averages 5.8 yards per rush and 94.8 rushing yards per game. He has three rushing touchdowns and a long run of 46 yards.
Redshirt junior running back Evan Pryor (#6), who is a transfer from Ohio State, has rushed for 407 yards. He averages 7.8 yards per rush. He has six rushing touchdowns and a long run of 65 yards.
Cincinnati’s defensive numbers:
- Total yards of offense allowed per game: 390 yards
- Passing yards allowed per game: 224 yards
- Rushing yards allowed per game: 166 yards
- Sacks: 21
- Interceptions: 6
- Fumble recoveries: 9
The most prominent name on Cincinnati’s defense is redshirt junior defensive tackle Dontay Corleone (#2).
The Bearcats pulled off a major achievement this past off-season when they were able to retain the services of Corleone. Nicknamed “The Godfather” around Cincinnati because of his last name, Corleone was an All-American in 2022 and an All-Big 12 selection last season. He could’ve earned significant money from name, image and likeness deals from bigger schools, but opted to remain with the Bearcats.
Corleone is on pace for another All-Big 12 year. He has a career-high 3.5 sacks and 26 tackles, including five tackles-for-loss. He is rated the best defensive tackle in the Big 12 by Pro Football Focus.
Redshirt senior linebacker Jared Bartlett (#7), who is a transfer from the University of West Virginia, has 59 tackles, including 11.5 tackles-for-loss. He has 7.5 sacks.
Redshirt linebacker Antwan Peek, Jr. (#46) has 56 tackles, including one tackle-for-loss.
Junior linebacker Jake Golday (#11), who is a transfer from Central Arkansas, has 54 tackles, including seven tackles-for-loss. He has 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Jonathan Thompson (#22) has 45 tackles, including five tackles-for-loss. He has two sacks.
Redshirt senior defensive end Eric Phillips (#97) has five tackles-for-loss and four sacks.
Redshirt senior safety Josh Minkins (#0), who is a transfer from Louisville, has two interceptions.
Redshirt senior safety Derrick Canteen (#10), who is a transfer from Virginia Tech, and redshirt senior safety Logan Wilson (#13), who is a transfer from the University of North Texas, each have intercepted a pass.
Punter:
Senior Mason Fletcher (#31) is Cincinnati’s punter. He has punted 37 times, for
an average of 43.4 yards per punt. He has a long punt of 62 yards this season.
He has not had a punt blocked this season.
Redshirt senior kicker Nathan Hawks (#96) has made 13-of-17 field goal attempts. He has a long field goal of 55 yards this season. He has not had a field goal attempted blocked this season.
Junior kicker Carter Brown (#33), who is a transfer from Arizona State, has made three-of-five field goal attempts. He has a long field goal of 49 yards this season. He has not had a field goal attempt blocked this season.
At press time, TCU was a 3.5-point favorite. The over-under number for total points scored in the game was 58.5.
- Dykes talks about TCU's game against Cincinnati: here and here
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TCU’s Josh Smith, NaNa Osafo-Mensah and Cam Smith talk about TCU's game with Cincinnati: here
- Satterfield talks about Cincinnati's game against TCU: here
