TCU football gets back to .500 with dominant performance at Kansas
TCU quarterback Max Duggan has never completed every pass for a touchdown in his career. Not during his stellar high school career at Lewis Central in Council Bluffs, Iowa, or even in his youth-league days. Heck, not even playing backyard football.
That changed Saturday night.
Duggan completed just three passes, but all of them went for touchdowns in TCU’s 59-23 rout of the Kansas Jayhawks at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.
“It’s a little odd,” Duggan said of his stat line. “But I want to give a shoutout — my O-line played phenomenal tonight. I think all the success was behind them for everything tonight.”
Yes, credit goes to TCU’s O-line, which was without several key players but still paved the way for 337 yards rushing on 41 carries. Credit also goes to the special teams, which contributed a touchdown on a 37-yard punt return by Derius Davis, and the defense, which scored twice in the fourth quarter.
The Frogs (4-4) reached the .500-mark, while the Jayhawks (0-8) remained winless. The 59 points were the most scored by TCU since its 63-0 victory over Jackson State to open the 2017 season.
“After being off two weeks, you never know how you’re going to act on the road,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “We didn’t play really well last time on the road two weeks ago [at West Virginia]. We started fast, but I wasn’t happy that we gave up 20 points. It is what it is. We had some guys who did some good things.”
The game was never in doubt for TCU. The Frogs controlled it from the start by establishing their rushing attack and playing sound defense. KU punted 10 times on the night, including eight times on three-and-outs.
TCU jumped out to a 24-0 lead in less than 12 minutes. The Frogs opened with a field-goal drive followed by three straight touchdowns.
Duggan connected with an open Pro Wells for a 46-yard TD and then hit an open Carter Ware for a 26-yard TD. Davis followed by returning a punt for a TD with 3:49 left in the first quarter.
KU got on the board before the end of the quarter on a 48-yard TD pass from Jalon Daniels to Kwamie Lassiter II, who got by TCU defensive back C.J. Ceasar.
But that was about the only bright spot for the Jayhawks early on. They had 6 yards of total offense by the end of the first quarter, including the 48-yard TD and minus-47 yards rushing (courtesy of two high snaps).
TCU extended its lead with two more TDs in the second quarter. Duggan and Wells hooked up for another TD on a 24-yard pass, and Duggan then had a 58-yard rushing touchdown.
Duggan should have had four completions and four touchdowns, too, but Davis dropped a TD pass that hit his hands. Duggan finished 3 for 11 passing for 96 yards. He also had 61 yards rushing on three carries.
“It starts up front,” Duggan said. “When you’re able to run the ball, it helps a lot with everything else you want to do.”
TCU’s rushing attack was led by true freshman Zach Evans, who made his first career start and finished with 100 yards on 12 carries. Redshirt freshman Darwin Barlow added 83 yards on eight carries with one TD.
TCU had a 38-12 lead by halftime and stayed comfortably in front the rest of the way.
The defense got into the scoring mix with two TDs in the fourth quarter. Ceasar had a 30-yard interception return for a score, and linebacker Dee Winters scored on a 2-yard fumble recovery after defensive end Ochaun Mathis knocked the ball loose on a sack.
“This win was very big for us as a team,” said senior linebacker Garret Wallow, who had a team-leading 10 tackles. “We came out knowing we need this win and whatever it takes we were going to get it done. Defense played really well. Offense ran the ball really well, played really well as well. Derius Davis of course did his thing on special teams. All around it was a good team win and something we needed to get us back going and back flowing in the right direction.”
TCU is scheduled to close out its regular-season against Oklahoma State next Saturday in Fort Worth. The Frogs are actively searching for a 10th game, too, which would be played Dec. 12 or Dec. 16-18.
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 10:40 PM.
