Here’s what TCU coach Gary Patterson said following the Frogs’ 59-23 victory at Kansas
TCU football returned to the .500-mark on Saturday night.
The Horned Frogs scored in every phase, turning in a dominant showing in a 59-23 victory at Kansas. Here’s what coach Gary Patterson said afterward:
On the win: “After being off two weeks, you never know how you’re going to act on the road. 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.”
On QB Max Duggan’s odd stat line (three completions for three TDs): “Our whole thing was to run the football. That was what they were going to allow us to do. When we did throw, we threw. As you just said, the whole theme was kind of how do you get the game over with as quick as you can. We’re going to get home late tonight. We’ve got a game next week, so the faster you can get off the field, the less chance of people getting hurt. All of the above.”
On RB Zach Evans earning his first career start: “I don’t know. Depending on the plays they’re going to call and their progression, that’s how they decide who is going to start. All of them, Zach had 101 yards, Barlow had 83 yards, Duggan had [61 yards], then Kendre Miller and Emari Demercado also had yardage. All four of the running backs carried the ball.”
On the O-line: “That [337 yards rushing] probably tells you the most. We didn’t want to get into a drop back game just for the simple reason we were down to only had five [O-linemen] that have played. We were missing some defensive linemen also, so you’ve got to go find a way to win. It was one of those games where you’re down probably 40 guys counting everything, so to get here and get a win ... It doesn’t matter who you play, it’s important.”
On C.J. Ceasar’s night: “All of those guys are young. Keontae Jenkins came in and played, so did Donavann [Collins]. Tre Tomlinson played hurt, so it’s one of those deals where we made it to another week. We get to the last ball game. We’ve now won four games in conference, we’re 4-4. From 1-3, we fought back to 4-4, so for us we’re feeling a lot better about ourselves. You’ve got a really good Oklahoma State team coming down the pike, so hopefully we’ll get some of those guys back that we had out and get ready to go. It’s not going to get any easier, but at least we’re playing at home.”
On the defense having 12 tackles for loss: “I haven’t really looked at it. Obviously we did good on third down. They were 4 of 18. I thought our guys, as a general rule, played some things. There were two drives I wasn’t really happy about. Ar’Darius [Washington] went down, his hamstring got tight, so we took him out. He didn’t pull it but we didn’t him to. La’Kendrick Van Zandt went down, so you had some young guys in the game. Tomlinson tightened up also. At the end of game, probably the whole fourth quarter, we were playing with a lot of young guys. You have to like what we wanted to get done. We felt like if they allowed us to, we could rush the passer. We’ve been getting better at it, so we’ve got to keep playing better coverage. We’ve got a good football team coming down the pike this next week.”
On preparing for three quarterbacks: “We just really didn’t. Their top two tailbacks didn’t play tonight so they had the same problems we did. You guys also noticed we were down to two scholarship outside wide receivers, we didn’t have Quentin [Johnston] or Savion [Williams]. We left a lot of guys at home. It’s one of those things if you find a way to win, you find a way to win. It will be no different next week. If you’re going to win that ballgame, you’re going to find a way to win.”
On keeping the foot on the gas with a big lead: “What you want to do — it’s 10 to 11 (10:50 p.m.) — you don’t care about scoring points, but you want to get off the field and get home. We still have a 40-minute bus ride and an hour plane flight. There’s a lot of things that come in to how you want to win a ball game. We didn’t act the way we needed to when we got up. You’ve got to stay in the ball game, but we settled down and handled our business. When you have all three phases that contribute, you feel better about what’s going on.”
On Evans starting: “I don’t know. We like them all. Really, I don’t know why they started Zach Evans to be honest with you. I’ll ask them the question, but I think it came down to the plays they wanted to call and that was his plays. I don’t know why he did, but I was happy with all the running backs.”
