TCU Horned Frogs score late, beat Kansas Jayhawks to remain unbeaten
It’s a shame that No. 17 TCU’s showdown with No. 19 Kansas was broadcast on FS1.
The battle between the undefeated Big 12 squads lived up to the billing. There was drama, big plays by both squads and an electric atmosphere.
Quentin Johnston, and a timely stop by the defense, put the Horned Frogs over the top at the end. Johnston caught his first touchdown of the season with just over 90 seconds to give TCU a 38-31 win.
Johnston had 14 catches and 206 yards to go along with the game-winning score.
“We work on that play every day in practice. He was draped all over me, at the end of the day we’re playing football and I am a receiver. I had to go out and make those plays. It was all confidence,” Johnston.
The fact TCU found itself in a battle was a bit surprising. Kansas star quarterback Jalon Daniels left the game late in the first half, but Jayhawks backup quarterback Jason Bean was excellent in relief with four touchdown passes and 262 yards.
The Horned Frogs looked poised to take control of the game after Kansas missed a field goal with just over eight minutes remaining. However, the offense stalled to give the Jayhawks the ball back with plenty of time.
Bean threw his fourth touchdown on the day with a 29-yard strike to Quentin Skinner. It appeared Skinner’s knee was out of bounds, but the call on the field stood.
Kansas had one more chance to tie after Johnston’s touchdown, but the Horned Frogs got a stop on fourth-and-9 with less than 50 seconds remaining to survive in Lawrence and move to 5-0 for the first time since 2017.
“Today was different. Playing on the road in this kind of environment, this was a great college football environment. Their fans were loud and energized the football team,” head coach Sonny Dykes said. “We were on our heels defensively. We had to match them on offense and fortunately we were able to make enough plays. It was a helluva ball game.”
A wild third quarter
TCU and Kansas both average 40-plus points per game, but the two combined for just 13 points in the first half. That changed drastically in the third quarter that featured plenty of fireworks. Without Jalon Daniels, the Kansas offense improved behind backup quarterback Jason Bean.
Bean threw three touchdowns passes, including a 38-yard score to Quentin Skinner with less than two minutes left in the quarter. TCU’s offense also came to life with three touchdowns of its own. None were bigger than Derius Davis’ 51-yard score. The Horned Frogs trailed 17-10 and the momentum was shifting to the Jayhawks. Davis took a simple screen pass, shed a tackler and tip toed down the sideline to tie the game up.
“At that point of the game if you can’t keep up with people, they can pull away from you,” Dykes said. “It was important for us to have some drives that kept their offense off the field. Those guys were rolling. You have to give Jason Bean a ton of credit. I thought he really played well. He came in for Jalon Daniels and I thought his performance was impressive.”
Max Duggan added a short touchdown off a scramble and then connected with Taye Barber for a 25-yard with just 23 seconds left in the third. The catch by Barber was one of the best you’ll see as Barber rose over the defender to control the ball and was able to get two feet in bounds. At the end of the wild quarter, TCU maintained a 31-24 lead.
“I think both teams just made adjustments. That’s a good football team over there, it was a tough battle. We were kind of struggling on offense but our defense kept bailing us out,” Duggan said. “It was an all around team effort and was fun to watch.”
TCU makes the most of KU blunders
It wasn’t the cleanest game from TCU. The Horned Frogs had two turnovers, struggled to run the ball consistently and gave up chunk play after chunk play. But one thing they did well was capitalize off any blunders the Jayhawks made, especially after Daniels fumbled near the endzone.
TCU retook a 24-17 lead thanks to an interception by Jamoi Hodge. Jason Bean threw a terrible ball and Hodge was in the right place to pick off the wobbly pass. TCU took over at the Kansas 26 and Duggan scrambled in for a touchdown a few plays later.
“The D-line did what they were supposed to do. Everybody else was covered because of our safeties. If it wasn’t for them, then I I wouldn’t have been able to make the interception,” Hodge said.
Barber’s touchdown was set up by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Quentin Skinner’s touchdown catch that tied it at 24. Kansas made it worse by booting the ensuing kickoff out of bounds. TCU started the drive at the Kansas 45 and scored a few plays later.
TCU’s offense was stuck in neutral for long stretches, but Kansas’ mistakes were the fuel the unit needed.
“It came down to turnovers really. Kansas turned it over at the one yard line and we had a 99-yard scoring drive. We got the pick and scored. That was probably the most telling thing, the turnovers. Really proud of our guys, it was a heck of a win,” Dykes said.
Johnston’s breakout game
We had to been waiting to see when Quentin Johnston would have his moment in Sonny Dykes’ offense? It finally came on Saturday. The talented receiver exceeded his season-high for catches and receiving yards in the first quarter with five catches for 56 yards.
He followed that up with 83 of TCU’s 99 yards on the Horned Frogs’ lone touchdown drive of the first half. You knew this type of performance was coming eventually, but for it to come in a Top 25 showdown with his offensive teammates clearly in a funk, it made the moment more impactful.
“Quentin, I know was excited to get back on track. He had a great week of practice, we felt like coming into the game he was going to perform at a really high level,” Dykes said.
“I didn’t see the numbers I wanted in the first few games, but I was being double covered. That opened up things for everybody else, so I couldn’t be too mad,” Johnston said. “After a certain point everybody else was scoring you have to put eyes on everybody else. That opened it back up for me, so I was pretty excited about that. I saw my opportunity, took it and ran with it.”
TCU’s defensive holes exploited
You would think once a a player that was considered a Heisman goes out of the game that his team’s offense would go in the tank. That wasn’t the case as the Jayhawks offense looked completely different with Bean under center. TCU struggled to make life uncomfortable for him.
His second touchdown strike to Skinner came with little pressure. He had all day to find his target and put the right amount of touch on it. When the pass rush wasn’t getting there, Kansas was taking advantage of TCU’s aggressiveness in its pursuit of the ball.
With window dressing like motions and fake handoffs, there were too many instances of Kansas having wide open players running all over the field. The Horned Frogs made enough plays including forcing two turnovers, but the unit has to be better going forward.
Kansas has more than 500 yards of offense and averaged 7.5 yards per play. Bean completed 16 of 24 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns. It wasn’t the ideal performance, but TCU feels like it knows what it needs to address.
“We’ve got to be more consistent. When we have a chance to make plays, we have to make plays. Wrap up and tackle, we’ll get it cleaned up in practice,” Hodge said.
Game-changing sequence
It was a defensive struggle in the first half as TCU was clinging to a 3-0 lead midway through the second quarter. After Kansas gained 79 yards in two plays, the Jayhawks were poised to take the lead. Yet when Jalon Daniels tried to break a tackle to get into the end zone, the quarterback fumbled and TCU recovered at the 1-yard line.
On the next two plays, Duggan connected with Johnston for 53- and 29-yard pass plays. Kendre Miller capped the drive off with a short touchdown run as TCU took a 10-point lead. The 14-point swing was huge as it sucked the momentum out of Memorial Stadium and helped the Frogs offense get back in its usual rhythm.
“It’s not too fun, you don’t want to live in that area too much,” Duggan said of his pass at the 1. “But when you have guys like ours up front, in the back field and on the outside it makes your job a bit easier (in those situations).”
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 2:34 PM.
