There was much made this week heading into the TCU Horned Frogs hosting the Texas Longhorns about TCU winning seven of the past nine meetings with Texas, but on this day, the number that really mattered was 216. That was the career-best number of yards that Longhorns star running back Bijan Thompson gained on 35 carries against the beleaguered Horned Frogs rush defense that surrendered 352 yards on the ground in last week’s home loss to SMU.
The Longhorns improved to 4-1 and 2-0 in Big 12 play with the victory in their first road game since the announcement that Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners would be leaving for the SEC.
Texas signal caller Casey Thompson was 12-of-22 passing for 142 yards with a touchdown and improved to 3-0 as the starter.
TCU’s offense moved the ball seemingly at will, led by running back Zach Evans had 15 carries for 113 yards, topping the century mark for the third consecutive game. Quarterback Max Duggan completed 20-of-28 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown and added 33 yards on the ground.
TCU had a season-high three turnovers with two fumbles by Derius Davis and a Duggan fumble on a sack. The Horned Frogs were able to stay close as their defense stepped up to ensure that the turnovers were all converted into field goals by Texas kicker Cameron Dicker.
J.D. Spielman had a TCU career best 87-yard return on the game’s opening kickoff. It was the TCU’s longest kickoff return since KaVontae Turpin scored on a 99-yard effort against Oklahoma in 2018.
Dylan Horton recorded his first two sacks of the season, the first Horned Frog with multiple sacks in a game since Ochaun Mathis had two in last year’s season finale against Louisiana Tech. Horton totaled a TCU career best and team-high nine tackles, equaling his combined total of nine stops for the season entering the game.
Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, who made his debut at safety after starting the game at cornerback, had a career-high nine tackles and forced a fumble.
TCU dropped to 2-2 after losing its Big 12 opener and will travel to Lubbock next week for their first road contest of the season with a conference match up against Texas Tech.
Texas will return to DFW to take on No. 6 Oklahoma in the annual Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Saturday at 11 a.m.
