‘Love the way he plays’: Devean Deal helps power TCU football to win over Baylor
Following a loss to Kansas State, TCU football was looking to rebound at home, and senior edge rusher Devean Deal had a big game to help earn a 42-36 victory Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Head coach Sonny Dykes talked about Deal’s impact on the game, including on Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who came in as the nation’s leading passer.
“Love the way he plays,” Dykes said. “Just a tough guy, does anything he can to help our football team. Drops in coverage sometimes and does a nice job of doing that. But I thought he really did a good job affecting the quarterback today, and that was a big thing coming in, we had to affect the quarterback.
“This was obviously one of the best passing teams in college football, I mean, we couldn’t just let him stand back there and have a clean pocket, not try to move him and affect him, and I thought most of the night we did a good job doing that.”
Deal stuffed the stat sheet with two tackles, a pass breakup, four quarterback hits and a half-sack, and made plays at critical moments for the Horned Frogs.
With the game tied at 7 in the second quarter and Baylor backed up near its end zone, Deal forced a fumble that led to a Kevorian Barnes 5-yard touchdown run that gave TCU’s its first lead of the game, and one it would not relinquish.
Defensive lineman Paul Oyewale, who had two tackles, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble, said Deal’s performance was representative of the type of player he is.
“Devean is a playmaker at the end of the day, so when he does stuff like that, I expect that from him, but it’s also part of the game plan,” Oyewale said. “So whenever we go out there and execute, somebody is going to make a play, and today it was him and he did a good job.”
On the next Baylor possession, Deal drew a holding call on first down that pushed the Bears out of the red zone and helped TCU hold them to a field goal.
His game-changing plays continued into the second half. After the game resumed following the initial lightning delay, Deal combined with Zach Chapman for a critical third-down sack that forced Baylor to punt.
Baylor made a late surge that reduced TCU’s double-digit lead to only six. The Bears then recovered an onside kick but were stymied by Robertson’s third interception of the game, this one to Namdi Obiazor, which sealed the Horned Frogs’ win.
“I thought our defense was outstanding most of the game,” Dykes said. “Again, the ending wasn’t great, but I thought, you know, we played really, really good defense. We played smart, we had a couple penalties that hurt us.
“At the end of the game they made a play. We needed somebody to step up and make a play. I’ve seen enough football games in my life to know, again, when the avalanche starts, sometimes that you can’t stop it and ... we got it stopped on defense, and I’m really proud of those guys.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 6:50 PM.
