TCU football sinks to new low as Kansas State rolls to a dominant 31-12 victory
TCU football might’ve reached its lowest point of the season on Saturday.
The Horned Frogs failed to score on three offensive drives inside the 5. They let a Kansas State defensive end tie a school record with four sacks. They didn’t make the defensive plays when needed against a K-State offense that ranked ninth in the 10-team Big 12. They couldn’t keep their emotions in check on the sidelines with two players being ejected for throwing punches during a third-quarter scuffle.
Heck, not even a quarterback change provided much of an answer.
TCU continued its downward spiral with a 31-12 loss to K-State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Frogs (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) have now lost five of their last six, and dreams of reaching a bowl game appear all but gone.
“You’re inside the 5 three times — you’ve got to score,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “Defensively, it came down to five plays. The defense played well besides that. You can’t give up the big plays. We held them scoreless in the third quarter. It got us back in the ball game blitzing. The kids fought.”
Asked if there were any concerns about the team’s effort, Patterson said: “Oh no. I think our kids fought hard today.”
Center Steve Avila echoed those thoughts afterward, saying: “Yeah, it is a tough loss, but at the end of the day, we come back in here and tell ourselves we can’t hang our heads. We’ve got to get through it and look at the next day as an opportunity to get better.”
Losing to a K-State team in this fashion has to provide some level of concern as to where the program is headed. The Wildcats (5-3, 2-3) aren’t exactly the conference’s benchmark, entering the game with the ninth-ranked offense and fourth-ranked defense in the Big 12.
The Frogs made them look better in both departments as Wildcats coach Chris Klieman improved to 3-0 against TCU and Patterson.
K-State running back Deuce Vaughn had his first 100-yard rushing game in conference play, finishing with 109 yards and two TDs on 20 carries. Quarterback Skylar Thompson had his second best passing night this season with 242 yards. And defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah had four sacks, tying a K-State single-game record. TCU had allowed just eight sacks all season going into it.
“I feel like a lot of what helped him today was just playing hard,” Avila said of Anudike-Uzomah. “We held the pocket for maybe three, four, five seconds long, he fights through it.”
K-State dominated from the start, leading wire-to-wire. The Wildcats scored a touchdown on their opening offensive drive, a 4-yard run by Thompson, and never looked back.
TCU pulled to within 7-3 early in the second quarter, but settling for a field goal was a disappointment. Facing a third-and-goal from the 3, a quick shovel pass from quarterback Max Duggan to Quentin Johnston on an end around resulted in a negative play.
K-State extended its lead to 14-3 on the next drive with a 42-yard TD run by Vaughn. That run came on a fourth-and-1.
TCU, though, had a chance to answer.
Running back Kendre Miller, who started with Zach Evans sidelined with turf toe, put the Frogs in great position with a 61-yard run down to the K-State 2. But the Frogs failed on four straight attempts. Duggan kept it himself twice, Miller ran it for no gain on third down and then Duggan missed Marcel Brooks in the back of the end zone on fourth down.
At least the Frogs’ defense delivered a safety after that play. But that was about the only positive on the day.
K-State scored another touchdown to take a 21-5 lead into the locker rooms, and then it shutout TCU until the final minute of the game.
The Frogs had another chance inside the 5 in the third quarter, but didn’t score. On third-and-goal from the 4, they ran a trick play with wide receiver Taye Barber passing but his throw to tight end Dominic DiNunzio fell incomplete. Backup quarterback Chandler Morris then fumbled it away on fourth down with Anudike-Uzomah being credited with the strip.
Morris replaced Duggan in the second half to give TCU a quarterback with more mobility.
“Max hasn’t been able to do a lot of stuff in practice,” Patterson said. “Running-wise, we needed a guy that could get out and get going. That’s why we made the change. We talked about it at halftime and we knew if we didn’t do something the first series we knew we were going to do something.”
TCU faces Baylor next Saturday in Fort Worth.
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 5:51 PM.
