TCU football is off to a promising start, running past FCS opponent Duquesne
TCU football couldn’t have asked for a better season opener.
The Horned Frogs rolled to a 45-3 victory over Duquesne on Saturday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Quarterback Max Duggan led touchdowns on five of six drives in the opening half. Duggan got the scoring started with an 8-yard TD run on the opening drive then Emari Demercado, Zach Evans and Kendre Miller followed with their own TD runs on the next three drives.
“It was good for us to get started fast and stay on them,” Duggan said. “We didn’t want to play sloppy and make errors. Offensive line and receivers were playing well. Obviously my mistake of the interception, I’ve got to get that fixed. Other than that it was a good half and I was happy with it.”
As Duggan pointed out, the only blemish in the first half came when he tried to force a throw into double coverage and had it intercepted by Duquesne’s Leandro Debrito early in the second quarter.
Duggan responded on the next drive, though, by leading the Frogs on a 52-yard TD drive capped with a 16-yard pass to JD Spielman for the score and a 35-0 lead by halftime. Spielman made several moves on his way to the end zone.
“It makes my job pretty easy when I can just throw it out there and he does all the hard work,” Duggan said. “He’s a super talented kid and you could see what he could do in a short time last year. Getting him back on the field for us just makes everyone’s job easier when you get the ball in his hands.”
Spielman, who last scored a TD when he was with Nebraska in 2019, said “It felt really good to score. Not only for stuff I’ve accomplished on and off the field, but just the team win in general. I don’t really care who’s scoring as long as we keep scoring. I’m glad that I was able to be part of the scoring process tonight.”
The Frogs’ defense posted a shutout in the opening half and didn’t allow the Dukes to complete a pass. The only pass that didn’t fall incomplete was an interception by TCU’s Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson.
Quite simply, Duquesne looked like an FCS school taking on a TCU team that has hopes of contending for a Big 12 championship this season.
In the opening half, TCU had 335 yards of total offense compared to Duquesne’s 20 yards. The Frogs had 20 first downs compared to the Dukes’ two. And the list goes on.
Duggan played just the first half, completing 14 of 19 passing for 207 yards with one TD and one interception. He also had 9 yards rushing on two carries, including the 8-yard TD run.
Asked about Duggan’s performance, Patterson quipped: “We won.”
Patterson went on to say, “He only played a half. We came out healthy, that was the biggest thing. We didn’t want to lose anybody.”
TCU backup quarterbacks Matthew Downing, Chandler Morris and Sam Jackson all saw action in the second half. The Frogs’ lone touchdown of the second half was a 20-yard pass from Morris to Blake Nowell in the fourth quarter.
The second half featured 12-minute quarters as both schools agreed to a shortened game at halftime.
“We’re really, really thin in our depth,” Duquesne coach Jerry Schmitt said. “I was personally concerned because at our level, we don’t, our backup guys are walk-on Division III-type players. To put some of them in to protect, some of the skill guys. I appreciate Gary doing that.”
Under Patterson, the Frogs are now 16-5 in season openers and 19-2 in home openers.
TCU returns to action against Cal next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 10:12 PM.
