TCU offense takes its high-flying act back on the road

No one at TCU has made a secret of it — the season rides on the offense.

It’s healthier than the defense.

It’s more experienced than the defense.

It has Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson, who last week became the career leaders at TCU for touchdown passes and touchdown catches, respectively. Through five games, they have helped the No. 2-ranked Horned Frogs become second in the country in yards and points.

“We’ve said exactly what we had to do, win with offense early,” coach Gary Patterson said.

So far, so good. But for the next two weeks, Boykin, Doctson and the rest of the offense have to perform on the road.

They will face hostile environments in prime time for the next two games, first at Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, then at Iowa State the following Saturday night.

Last year, the two lowest point totals for TCU came on the road, a 31-30 win at West Virginia and a 34-30 win at Kansas. This season, the lowest-point total has also come on the road, a 23-17 win at Minnesota.

“It’s tougher on the road,” Patterson said. “Everybody plays better at home.”

Boykin is coming off a career game on the road. His 485 yards passing at Texas Tech two weeks ago were a career high.

He threw four touchdown passes, including one off a tip to win the game.

He looked more like the quarterback he has historically been on the road, shaking off a hit-and-miss opener at Minnesota in which he was off the mark on two potential touchdown throws.

Since becoming the full-time starter two years ago, Boykin has completed 58.1 percent of his passes, thrown 14 touchdowns to four interceptions and has a 6-1 record on the road.

And he’s led two come-from-behind victories, at West Virginia last year and Texas Tech two weeks ago.

“A lot of confidence off that game,” receiver Desmon White said of the win in Lubbock. “We know what we’re capable of doing, having to drive down in the last couple of minutes to score a touchdown and win. So we know we’re capable of doing it. It gave us a lot of confidence. It’s going to help us a lot.”

TCU is one of the country’s best road teams. Since 2009, the Horned Frogs are 27-7 away from home. They have won four straight on the road in the Big 12 and are 9-6 on the road in conference since joining the league.

This year, they have played before the second-largest crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium (61,283) in Lubbock and the largest crowd ever at TCF Bank Stadium (54,147) in Minneapolis.

“There was some adversity, but we overcame it at both stadiums,” running back Kyle Hicks said. “All it really comes down to is making routine plays. The stadium, none of that stuff really matters. What matters is making the routine plays and playing as hard as we can. I’m proud of the offense. Just glad we came out with a win at both of those stadiums.”

Boykin said he enjoys the atmosphere of road games. He knows what it takes to win them. His teammates are picking up on it.

“Just have to execute,” White said. “It’s a lot louder. You have to focus in on the calls. You just have to execute the calls. That’s really what it is.”

That’s no secret, either.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 2:58 PM with the headline "TCU offense takes its high-flying act back on the road."