Duggan leads TCU in 59-17 rout of Tarleton
On a Saturday that featured plenty of drama across the nation, TCU’s home opener against Tarleton had very little as the Horned Frogs cruised to a 59-17 win at home.
“It’s good to get a win. They’re hard to come by. I think you look around college football and see some of the upsets that happened, the margin of victory is pretty small sometimes,” head coach Sonny Dykes said. “It was good for us to come out and play well.”
Outside of the mystery surrounding starting kicker Griffin Kell’s absence, things went as expected as the Horned Frogs (2-0) jumped out to 21-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Horned Frogs generated more than 600 yards of total offense for the first time since 2019 and didn’t have to punt until the final two minutes of the game. Max Duggan set a career-high with five touchdown passes to four different receivers.
As the Horned Frogs head into the bye week here’s what we learned from the second straight blowout win:
A much faster start
TCU wanted things to change after the offense was held scoreless last week in the first half against Colorado. The Horned Frogs accomplished their mission with a brilliant first half of football. The first drive saw Quentin Johnston match his production against the Buffaloes as he was targeted three times and caught two passes for 22 yards.
Max Duggan then found a wide open Derius Davis for the first touchdown of the game. It was Davis’ third this year. Overall five different Horned Frogs scored touchdowns in the first half as TCU piled up more than 350 yards en route to a commanding 38-7 lead that was never challenged.
“I thought our guys executed better than we did last week and got off to a good start. I thought they did what they were supposed to do and I’m proud of the win. It’s not something we take for granted,” Dykes said.
Passing game thrives
After having just 138 yards through the air against the Buffaloes, the Horned Frogs needed to get their passing game on the same page against Texans. Duggan was dialed in early finding a number of different receivers. His best throw of the day was arguably on a 31-yard fade route to Jordan Hudson. In his 30th career start Duggan also set a career-high in yards with 390.
“That dude is like Superman,” receiver Jordan Hudson said of Duggan’s performance. “He’s got a big future ahead of him and I don’t think he’s stopping anytime soon.”
Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley also made life easy as TCU had receivers running wide open most of the game. The second touchdown of the game by Jared Wiley was another example.
“It was a lot of fun being out there. Coach Riley did a great job scheming up and getting us in successful positions. The o-line played phenomenal and our receivers made great plays on the ball making my job easier,” Duggan said of his record-breaking performance.
There was no drop off when Sam Jackson entered the game as the redshirt freshman completed a strike over the middle to Gunnar Henderson that nearly resulted in a touchdown.
Jackson finished the job on that drive with a one-yard touchdown that made it 35-7 just before halftime. Competition aside, it was a positive performance to build off of as 15 different receivers caught passes on Saturday.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that can play. Just seeing all the guys and the work that they did during camp; them getting the ball and letting their playmaking ability takeover was fun to see,” Duggan said.
Newton’s big play
Defensively, TCU kept Tarleton (1-1) quarterback Beau Allen under duress most of the game. Early pressure forced Allen to throw an ill-advised pass that was picked off by Josh Newton. Newton, one of the standouts from fall camp, earned the starting spot at corner opposite Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson and hasn’t disappointed yet after transferring over from Louisiana Monroe. Newton returned the pick to the 11-yard line to set up Wiley’s touchdown.
“Throughout the week Coach Gillespie said we had to stop the verticals as much as we can. So he released outside and I jammed him out of bounds. I looked back and the ball was in the air,” Newton said of his interception.
The Horned Frogs failed to generate a sack in the first half, but still supplied ample pressure with Dylan Horton and Dee Winters recording quarterback hurries.
Allen’s lone touchdown pass came with TCU’s reserve corners in the game as he connected with Darius Cooper for a 21-yard strike that made it 28-7. After building the big lead the defense took its foot off the gas in the second half as Tarleton used two big plays to score a touchdown on the opening drive of the half.
Newton said the defense wasn’t satisfied with their performance and learned from the temporary lull to start the second half.
“Just because we’re up, don’t get happy. Play until the end of the game,” Newton said.
Kicking controversy?
TCU started off sluggish in special teams as the Horned Frogs missed their first extra point and field goal of the game. Starting kicker Griffin Kell didn’t play in the game as freshman Luke Laminack took over his duties. Laminack settled down after the rough start and did hit a 36-yarder to make it 38-7 before halftime.
It’s unclear what Kell’s status is. He was on the sidelines dressed out, but never took the field. The kicking game was already a bit of a question mark and Kell’s absence only it makes things more difficult. Dykes shed light on why they held Kell out postgame.
“He had a little bit of an injury that kept him from kicking. I don’t think it’s going to be anything significant. The thought was let’s try to rest him this week. We have an open week and hopefully he’ll be back full speed,” Dykes said.
The youth movement shines
The best things about blowouts for coaching staffs is the ability to get younger players live game reps and TCU had a few that stood out against the Texans. True freshman receiver Jordan Hudson showed why those around the program are so high on him as he had five receptions, 76 yards and a touchdown. His first career touchdown came on a 29-yard strike from Duggan that made it 52-17 in the third quarter.
“It was good to see. We saw in camp what he was capable of and his potential. It was good to see him get in the game and make some big time plays,” Duggan said.
Blake Nowell also had a strong game with three catches for 60 yards. Running back Emani Bailey isn’t a young player, but the junior running back also flashed his big play ability with a 39-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt freshman corner Jaionte McMillan had an interception in the fourth quarter and defensive lineman Caleb Fox also had some good moments.
This story was originally published September 10, 2022 at 10:19 PM.
