4 takeaways from TCU football’s wild, weather-delayed win over Baylor
TCU football overcame the elements and avoided a stunning late collapse to defeat Baylor 42-36 on a rainy afternoon Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
The Horned Frogs (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) have won five of the past six matchups against the Bears (4-3, 2-2) and avenged last season’s 37-34 defeat in Waco.
“We’re 11-3 in our last 14 ballgames, so this football team knows how to win,” head coach Sonny Dykes said. “I’m proud of them for doing that. Obviously a lot of things that have to get corrected, but I’m proud of this group, and if they hadn’t won many games, then we probably would’ve found a way to lose that one.”
The rivalry matchup between the two Big 12 schools was delayed three times in the fourth quarter by lightning delays after a downpour of rain in the first half. The Horned Frogs were the more comfortable team in the elements, as TCU leaned on a balanced offensive approach to outlast one of the Big 12’s best offenses.
Leading 28-21 in the fourth quarter after a Baylor field goal, TCU responded with a 65-yard rushing touchdown by Trent Battle that added cushion to the lead. The game went into its first lightning delay after the ensuing kickoff.
When action resumed, Baylor had multiple opportunities to cut into TCU’s 35-21 lead, but the Horned Frogs’ defense stepped up with a three-and-out and a fourth-down stop with 8:14 remaining in the game.
Taking over at the Baylor 33, TCU was in the midst of putting the game away when the game went into another lightning delay with 6:42 remaining. About halfway through the delay another strike occurred, pushing the game back even more.
TCU and Baylor didn’t resume the fourth quarter until 4:17 p.m., and the Horned Frogs delivered what seemed to be the final blow on the first snap when Kevorian Barnes took a direct snap for a 14-yard touchdown and a 42-21 lead with 6:04 remaining.
Midseason Associated Press second-team All-American Jamel Johnson made sure to not allow any hope to build for Baylor as he intercepted Sawyer Robertson on Baylor’s first offensive snap after the touchdown.
However, Baylor managed to make TCU sweat. The Bears scored two touchdowns in the final 3:08, the first on a 24-yard Keaton Thomas fumble return and the second on a 35-yard touchdown pass to Kole Wilson with 30 seconds left, to draw within 42-36.
Baylor then recovered the onside kick to have a chance at a miraculous win, but TCU linebacker Namdi Obiazor intercepted Robertson on the sideline with 13 seconds remaining to avoid disaster.
“We are the winningest team in the Big 12 the last three-and-a-half years, just so everybody knows that,” Dykes said of the near-collapse. “Our players know how to win. They’ve done this before. It wasn’t pretty. I don’t really care. We won the football game. That was our objective.”
Here are four takeaways from the Horned Frogs’ victory:
Home Hoover delivers
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover continued the trend of playing his best football at home, as he outplayed the nation’s leading passer Saturday. While Robertson struggled with his ball placement and drops by his receivers, Hoover rose to the occasion in the elements to rebound from his multi-turnover performance against Kansas State.
Hoover completed 15 of 22 passes in the first half for 151 yards and two touchdowns, while Robertson only completed 39% of his passes, had no touchdown passes and delivered a passer rating below 78. Robertson was much more efficient in the second half as he completed 7 of his first 10 passes to lead two scoring drives to cut a 28-10 deficit to just 28-21.
But whatever rhythm Robertson built in the third quarter fizzled away in the fourth as Robertson continued to miss open targets after a lightning delay at the start of the fourth quarter. Hoover wasn’t asked to do much in the second half, but still led three scoring drives while Robertson was struggling.
Hoover completed 71% of his passes and threw for 231 yards and three touchdowns. Robertson completed just 48% of his passes for 318 yards and threw three interceptions.
“I think their quarterback is really good and operates well when he has a clear view of what’s going on,” Dykes said. “I thought we showed different looks. We tried to mix coverage and do different things to not keep him from getting settled in. I thought our defense was outstanding most of the game.”
Is TCU’s run game fixed?
For the second week in the row TCU’s run game flourished against Big 12 competition, as the Horned Frogs piled up 197 rushing yards behind Barnes and Trent Battle.
Barnes was a bell cow in the first half with 80 yards. Most of them only went four to five yards per touch, but Barnes was able to wear down the Baylor defense.
The success of the run game led to more production with the play action pass, including Ka’Morreun Pimpton’s first touchdown as a Horned Frog in the third quarter as Baylor bit hard on a play fake, allowing Pimpton to slip past his matchup in the end zone for a 3-yard score to lift TCU to a 28-10 lead.
After Baylor cut the deficit to 28-21 on the first play of the fourth quarter, TCU went back to the ground game with back-to-back carries by Battle. His second touch went for a 65-yard touchdown that put TCU back in front 35-21 with 13:46 remaining. The Horned Frogs averaged 5.3 yards per carry.
“We said coming into the game that whichever team ran the ball the best was gonna win the game,” Dykes said. “We ran it great. Kevorian had over 100 yards, Trent had 75. I think we did a really good job up front.”
Devean Deal, Kaleb Elarms-Orr dominate
Senior edge rusher Devean Deal had arguably his best game as a Horned Frog with a performance that was even more impressive than the box score indicated.
Deal was a disruptive force in the first half, as he generated three quarterback hurries on Robertson and also forced a game-changing fumble on Baylor running back Bryson Washington that led to TCU taking a 14-7 lead.
Deal was also a factor when asked to drop in coverage, as he defended multiple passes including a long attempt to Michael Trigg, Baylor’s midseason AP All-American tight end. Led by Deal, TCU’s defense held Baylor to just four yards per play in the first half and 3-of-10 on third down.
“That’s just the kind of guy Devean is,” defensive end Paul Oyewale said. “Devean’s a playmaker at the end of the day. When he does stuff like that, I expect it from him. If we go out and execute, somebody is going to make a play, and today he did a good job.”
While Deal stole the show, the second half was all about Kaleb Elarms-Orr, who had double-digit tackles after halftime and finished with 16 overall. The instinctive senior linebacker was a big reason TCU held Washington to just 23 yards and Baylor averaged 3.3 yards per carry as a team.
Considering the opposition, this may have been the defense’s best performance since the opener against North Carolina.
Strong response
The Horned Frogs surged to a 21-10 lead in the first half with a physical approach on both sides of the ball. After falling behind 7-0, TCU ended the half on a 21-3 run as Hoover and Barnes took their turns leaning on the Baylor defense in the rainy conditions.
Barnes helped set up the first touchdown as TCU gave him five straight carries in the first drive of the second quarter, and he moved the Horned Frogs to the Baylor 30-yard line. A few plays later Hoover used a nice play action fake to find a wide open DJ Rogers in the end zone. Midway through the second quarter the defense forced a fumble from Washington to set up another touchdown.
This time it was Barnes’ turn to score with a 5-yard touchdown. Aided by a taunting call on Johnson, Baylor responded with a field goal right before the two-minute timeout, but the Bears left too much time on the clock for TCU.
Hoover completed five of his final six passes, including a 41-yard strike to Dwyer, and capped the drive off by going back to Dwyer for a 6-yard touchdown with 11 seconds remaining.
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM.
