4 takeaways from No. 24 TCU football’s bitter loss at Arizona State
Despite leading by 17 at one point, No. 24 TCU couldn’t finish, and defending Big 12 champion Arizona State came back to pull off a 27-24 win Friday night.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said. “We had some penalties and things in the first half that got us behind the chains. Our inability to run the football hurt us all night; we had to abandon it. When you do that, teams can really come after you, and I think we put our quarterback in hard spots.”
The short-handed Horned Frogs (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) were without leading rusher Kevorian Barnes and also played most of the game without leading receiver Eric McAlister, who was hobbled with a lower-body injury.
Leading 24-17, the Horned Frogs got a stop after forcing an incompletion on fourth-and-11 with 3:17 remaining, but Channing Canada was flagged for a defensive pass interference to keep the Sun Devils’ drive alive.
Facing a fourth-and-goal, Sam Leavitt hit Jordyn Tyson for the tying 4-yard touchdown with 1:50 remaining. The Horned Frogs had a chance to win the game, but quarterback Josh Hoover was sacked and fumbled at TCU’s 15-yard line with 1:42 remaining.
TCU’s defense held Arizona State (4-1, 2-0) to a 23-yard field goal as the Horned Frogs trailed for the first time at 27-24 with 1:14 remaining. Hoover was picked off with 44 seconds left to end the game.
“It seems like we were behind the sticks all day,” Hoover said. “We just have to find ways to be better, putting me at the top of the list. I got to do better on first down, get us in better plays and get the ball to guys that need to get the ball.”
Here are four takeaways from the defeat:
Leavitt outduels Hoover
Hoover found himself in another quarterback duel against Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt. Similar to Kevin Jennings from SMU, Leavitt did most of his damage from outside the pocket, while Hoover was surgical with his accuracy inside of it. Despite not having his top target, Hoover threw for 109 yards in the first half, including a 39-yard completion to DJ Rogers to convert a second-and-28, and completed nine of his 14 passes.
Leavitt got off to a much slower start but came alive near the end of the half and finished with 151 yards passing and 43 more on the ground.
Hoover started the second half with an interception that wasn’t his fault as the ball bounced off of Jordan Dwyer’s hands into the hands of Adrian Wilson near the goal line. Leavitt and the Sun Devils tied the game at 17 on the next drive, putting even more pressure on Hoover and the Horned Frogs.
How did he respond? With his best drive of the night, as he completed six of his seven passes, including 20-yard gains to Joseph Manjack and Chase Curtis, to get TCU back in the red zone. Hoover got into the end zone on a 1-yard sneak with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter to put TCU back in front 24-17.
But as the game wore on, TCU’s offensive line was unable to protect Hoover, while Leavitt continued to use his legs to buy time against the Horned Frogs’ pass rush.
For the game, Hoover completed 20 of 32 passes for 242 yards with two interceptions and was sacked six times. Leavitt completed 26 of 38 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. He was sacked four times.
Life without McAlister
Friday night was supposed to be a showdown between two of the best receivers in the country with McAlister going up against fellow preseason All-Big 12 receiver Jordyn Tyson. Instead it became a test of TCU’s depth as the Horned Frogs were forced to play without their star, while Tyson showed the country why many believe he’s the best receiver in the conference.
“[McAlister] was injured. He pulled something in a run-through on Friday,” Dykes said. “He thought he would be able to play through it, and he just couldn’t do it. Obviously that hurt us.”
Tyson was unguardable in the first half with four receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown. He ran past defenders and made diving catches as he put on a show while TCU was forced to rely on redshirt freshman Dozie Ezukanma in place of McAlister.
With McAlister hobbled, Manjack was the one who stepped up for TCU. He served as TCU’s top option on third down and its best deep threat with multiple catches of at least 20 yards. He finished with six grabs for 83 yards.
While TCU got solid contributions from Manjack, Rogers and Dwyer, the absence of McAlister proved to be too much, as Tyson took the game over down the stretch.
Run game struggles
TCU didn’t miss Barnes against SMU, but his absence was much more notable against Arizona State as TCU had no consistent ground game to lean on. Entering the fourth quarter TCU had just 33 yards on 19 carries, only averaging 1.7 yards per carry.
Neither Jeremy Payne nor Trent Battle could get into a rhythm as the Sun Devils clogged running lanes, making each of the running backs less decisive when hitting a hole. Meanwhile, Arizona State got back into the game with a steady dose of Leavitt and Raleek Brown. Brown, a former five-star recruit, had 22 carries for 147 yards.
TCU managed just 10 rushing yards in the game, and the lack of a run game played a critical part in Arizona State’s comeback. Battle had nine carries for 30 yards, Payne had six carries for 20 yards, and Hoover had nine carries for minus-38 yards, damaged by the sacks.
“So we’ve got to be able to run the football much better than we did,” Dykes said. “That was probably the biggest takeaway was the inability to run the ball and those guys were able to tee off. We couldn’t block them.”
Hectic half
The Horned Frogs appeared to be on the verge of blitzing the Sun Devils in the first half despite not having McAlister for most of it. TCU jumped out to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter and had the crowd at Mountain America Stadium mostly silent.
However, the Horned Frogs let Arizona State back in the game on the next drive as Leavitt hit Tyson for a 57-yard touchdown to cut it to 17-7 with 4:51 remaining before halftime. It was one of the few times TCU didn’t have multiple defenders focusing on the star receiver, and Arizona State made the Horned Frogs pay for it.
After failing to pick up a first down on their next drive, the Horned Frogs’ defense gave up another score as Leavitt used his legs to weave through the defense for an 8-yard touchdown with 1:56 remaining before halftime.
TCU’s offense failed to move the ball again, giving Leavitt and the Sun Devils another chance to tie or take the lead, but the defense answered with the biggest play of the half as Devean Deal forced a fumble to get the Sun Devils off the field.
After the late surge by Arizona State, TCU still led 17-14 at the half despite not having Barnes or McAlister.
The Horned Frogs next host Colorado at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 11:53 PM.
