TCU football’s Zach Evans sidelined due to injury, not celebration penalty, coach says
TCU coach Gary Patterson shot down any speculation as to why star running back Zach Evans didn’t play in the second half of a 52-31 victory at Texas Tech on Saturday night.
No, it wasn’t because Evans drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for celebrating a touchdown just before halftime with teammate Geor’Quarius Spivey. Instead, Patterson said, it simply came down to Evans nursing a minor foot injury.
With TCU leading 35-10 at halftime and Texas Tech never posing a threat in the second half, there wasn’t a need to run Evans in the second half.
“He would have come back, but we wanted to be very careful about it, the injury,” Patterson said. “He would come back and play if we had to, but we didn’t have to.”
Asked specifically if it had anything to do with the TD celebration, Patterson said: “No. We held him out because he couldn’t go. That turf is not a turf, it’s not a good turf for foot injuries.”
Patterson went on to say his team sustained three concussions during the game due to the artificial turf at Jones AT&T Stadium.
At the end of the day, TCU had its best rushing performance in five years. The Frogs finished with 394 yards rushing on 47 carries, the most since they had 431 yards rushing at Baylor in 2016.
Evans had 143 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries in the opening half. Fellow sophomore Kendre Miller finished with a game-high 185 yards rushing and three TDs.
Outside of Evans’ injury, the Frogs had several other players go down. Safeties Bud Clark and Nook Bradford were both injured during the game.
Patterson opened his postgame news conference by saying it was a “game of attrition” for TCU.
“The way this has been going this year, we’re glad we’re ahead in the win column,” Patterson said. “The goal is to get to six (wins).”
TCU (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) faces No. 4 Oklahoma next Saturday in Norman. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on ABC.
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 11:02 PM.
