4 takeaways from TCU football’s victory over Abilene Christian
TCU’s home opener against Abilene Christian was uneventful in all the right ways as the Horned Frogs rolled 42-21 behind a master-class performance by quarterback Josh Hoover.
Last season the Wildcats came close to upsetting Texas Tech on the road in a 52-51 overtime loss, and TCU was determined to not get into a shootout with the Wildcats. TCU (2-0) was sharp and efficient, with touchdowns on its first four drives while holding Abilene Christian (1-2) scoreless in the first half to take a 28-0 lead into halftime.
“I thought we played a pretty clean first half. We had the ball four times, scored four touchdowns and didn’t give up a score,” head coach Sonny Dykes said. “I think we had only eight possessions in the game, scored six touchdowns, had an interception and punted at the end, I felt like those guys executed fairly well. I wish we would’ve ended the game a little cleaner than we did, but unfortunately, that’s kind of the way some of these games go.”
Despite a lackluster second-half showing on defense, TCU led by at least three scores the entirety of the second half. It was the exact type of performance the Horned Frogs needed as the starters were able to get out of the game early in the fourth quarter ahead of next week’s matchup with SMU.
Dykes also picked up his 100th career victory as a head coach.
“ I guess it’s a good thing. You know what’s funny is none of them are easy,” Dykes said. “That’s the one thing you learn. They’re all hard. They’re hard to come by. It’s hard to win in college football, hard to hang around long enough to get to 100, but that’s a credit to the players. They’re the ones that do this.”
Here are four takeaways from the win:
Dialed-in Josh Hoover
Hoover performed as expected against the Abilene Christian defense with a dominant first half. Hoover threw for 217 yards and three touchdowns in the first half while completing 83% of his passes.
“We just got a good group [of receivers],” Hoover said. “And there’s a lot of guys that have skill sets, and I think we’ve done a good job trying to figure out how to utilize all those guys. We got fast guys, we’ve got possession guys, we’ve got guys who can do everything.”
Hoover made sure to spread the ball around, with his 15 first-half completions going to eight receivers. Hoover’s accuracy in the pocket and on the run were elite, like when he fit a nice pass into a group of defenders to Chase Curtis for an 11-yard touchdown to put TCU ahead 7-0 in the first quarter.
Hoover also got preseason All-Big 12 receiver Eric McAlister more involved in the game early after North Carolina held him to just 20 yards in the season opener. McAlister had 46 yards in the first half, including a 33-yard reception that set up a Trent Battle touchdown.
Hoover only played two drives in the second half, allowing Ken Seals to lead the offense the rest of the way. Hoover finished with 337 yards and four touchdowns while completing 78% of his passes.
Ed Small’s big day
Freshman wide receiver Ed Small has been a standout in practice since he got to campus in January. After quickly shooting up the depth chart, Small had the best performance of his young career against the Wildcats.
Small had two touchdowns, five receptions and 44 yards in the first half as he ended up being Hoover’s favorite target. Working out of the slot, Small had a highlight catch on the second reception of his career when he made a diving, one-handed 8-yard grab in the end zone to put the Horned Frogs ahead 14-0.
“It just felt great to be out there,” Small said. “Didn’t get too many opportunities last game, but I knew going into this game I would get more. So just being the right place, the right time is the biggest thing. Hoover threw me two good balls.”
Small had another touchdown right before halftime as Hoover hit him over the middle for a 15-yard score to increase the lead to 28-0 with 1:24 remaining in the half. Small finished with six receptions for 45 yards in his first game at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Defensive assessment
The Horned Frogs’ defense did what it was supposed to most of the night against Abilene Christian, but the performance still left something to be desired.
TCU forced punts on the Wildcats’ first two drives, but Abilene Christian gained at least 51 yards on the next three. The main issue was the amount of long passes TCU gave up on the third down. The Wildcats converted three third downs with completions spanning more than 24 yards, including a third-and-22 in the second quarter and another one on third-and-11. The Horned Frogs were bailed out by two badly missed field goals, but that wouldn’t continue in the second half.
Spurred by a 42-yard completion by Stone Earle to Bryan Henry on third-and-7, Abilene Christian finally got on the board with a 1-yard touchdown by Rovaughn Banks Jr. to cut the lead to 28-6.
After TCU responded with a score, Abilene Christian marched right back down the field as Earle completed four straight passes to move the Wildcats into the red zone. Kylin Jackson stopped the drive with a sack on a safety blitz, and Abilene Christian settled for a 33-yard field goal.
“We didn’t play well. We didn’t get do a good job the entire night defensively of getting off the field on third down,” Dykes said. “ They were 12 of 17 on third down, and they converted way too many third downs. Can’t let that happen. So obviously, got to improve in that area.”
The play of the secondary contniued to be concerning, as Earle regularly had time to find his receivers and completed over 70% of his passes. The Horned Frogs’ secondary was also flagged three times for pass interference as the corners and safeties struggled to win their individual battles.
Kevorian Barnes exits with injury
TCU wasn’t able to get out of the game completely healthy, as starting running back Kevorian Barnes exited the game in the first half after getting hit on a 7-yard carry.
Barnes was unable to return to the game and finished with 43 yards on 10 carries. The decision to hold Barnes out was due to precautionary reasons ahead of next Saturday’s matchup with SMU.
The Horned Frogs went with a committee approach in the second half. For the game, Jeremy Payne had four carries for 29 yards, Nate Palmer had six for 27, and Battle and Jon Denman scored touchdowns.
This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 10:08 PM.
