Debacle in Dallas: How the Horned Frogs were blown out by SMU in Battle for the Iron Skillet
A collapse in the Carter against UCF was followed by a disaster in Dallas as TCU was blown out 66-42 by rival SMU in the Battle for the Iron Skillet.
The Mustangs didn't need to work hard for the victory as they capitalized on a constant stream of mistakes by TCU. The Horned Frogs had five turnovers and had a staggering 14 penalties for 135 yards during a disappointing showing.
"We're all little surprised, we had a really good week of practice, thought the team played well last week against Central Florida," head coach Sonny Dykes said. "I thought we would really play well this week and we just never got going. We got off to a bad start, have to give SMU a ton of credit. They were excited about the game, for some reason I think we came out a little flat early."
Dykes was ejected at the start of the third quarter after he was penalized twice for unsportsmanlike conduct after a holding call wiped off a kick return for a TCU touchdown. The Horned Frogs scored a touchdown a few plays later to cut SMU's lead to 41-28 and there was a brief thought that Dykes' antics would serve as motivation for a drastic comeback.
That belief was short lived as it took SMU less than two minutes to answer with a 24-yard touchdown from Brashard Smith on the next drive. Trailing 49-28, the Horned Frogs turned it over again deep in their own territory and the mistake led to another short touchdown from Smith that moved SMU ahead 56-28 with 8:34 remaining in the third quarter.
It was an embarrassing loss for the Horned Frogs in one of the final rivalry games with SMU as the series will be indefinitely paused after next season. The Mustangs played like a team that knew that fact while the Horned Frogs still looked like a team recovering from blowing a massive lead against UCF last week.
Hoover struggles
Through the first three games of the season, there weren't many college quarterbacks that were playing better than Josh Hoover. He was among the nation's leaders in passing yards and touchdowns, but the redshirt sophomore had a tough outing against the Mustangs.
Hoover turned it over five times with many of them leading directly to points for SMU. There was a fumble in the first quarter and a pick-six right before halftime. The struggles continued in the second half as Hoover desperately tried to lead a 21-point comeback. With the Horned Frogs down 49-28 midway through the third quarter, Hoover took a hard hit on a sack and fumbled with the ball being recovered at the 1-yard line. SMU scored one play later.
"The question is where didn't things go wrong?" Hoover said after the game. "There were some things that happened that I don't even know how to explain. I've got to play better to give our team a chance to win and I didn't do that tonight."
With the game already slipping away, Hoover made another mistake on the next drive as his pass to JP Richardson was too high and went straight into the hands of SMU defender Ahmaad Moses. It was a bad showing by Hoover, but blame shouldn't be solely placed on him. He had to carry the load again offensively as TCU's run game averaged less than two yards per carry most of the game.
Without a run game to ease the pressure on him, Hoover had to be close to perfect and he fell short of that standard for the first time this season.
"When you can't run it, it puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback, it makes him play perfect," Dykes said. "That's a hard thing for a quarterback to do, to throw the ball 60 times and make 60 good decisions. You're going to turn the ball over if you can't run it."
He finished 28 of 43 for 381 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Lack of discipline, physicality
A third of the way through the season and there seems to be a simple recipe to be productive against TCU's new defense: Hand the ball off and let your running back do the rest. After UCF leaned on the ground game to wipe out a 31-13 deficit, SMU had a similar game plan against the Horned Frogs.
The Mustangs didn't want to put a lot of pressure on Kevin Jennings, making his first start at quarterback in place of Preston Stone, so SMU kept the game plan simple and leaned into Jennings' strengths as a runner. SMU ran a ton of read options and run-pass options (RPO) plays to consistently pick up five to seven yards a carry.
When it wasn't that, it was just Jennings handing the ball off to Brashard Smith, who rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns while leading a stable of backs that had three more players that averaged five yards per carry or more. The times when TCU had Jennings facing a third down, he was able to do enough to keep the drives moving as SMU converted over 50% of their third downs when Jennings was in the game.
"We've got to get off blocks, we've got to play lower. We've got to do a better job of disrupting," Dykes said. "We've got to put our guys in better positions to be successful."
While TCU was getting pushed around up front, their frustrations boiled over on the field led by Dykes' ejection. There was an unsportsmanlike penalty on JaTravis Broughton and host of other silly penalties like a false start at the start of the two-minute drill that plagued TCU on Saturday. It's the second game this season where TCU has given up over 100 penalty yards as the Horned Frogs continue to look undisciplined.
Mini collapse in the second
Despite falling behind 17-0 in the first quarter, TCU had an opportunity late in the second quarter to seize control of the game. During a fourth down attempt, Josh Hoover found a wide open Eric McAlister for a walk-in 19-yard touchdown that made it 24-21 with five minutes remaining in the second quarter.
All TCU needed was a stop or to hold SMU to a field goal to have an opportunity to take the lead headed into the half. The Horned Frogs have multiple opportunities on SMU's possession including a 3rd-and-14 at the TCU 33-yard line. SMU was content to take the point and just handed it off, but Brashard Smith ripped through the TCU defense for a 21-yard gain. Two plays later TCU had SMU facing another third and long, but the defense allowed Kevin Jennings to roll out to his right and hit former Horned Frog Jordan Hudson for a 10-yard touchdown.
It was disappointing to fall behind 31-21, but the Horned Frogs had another shot to cut to a one possession game. Instead the Horned Frogs allowed SMU to pick up more points as Hoover's first interception of the year was returned for a 60-yard touchdown. Hoover tried to fit the ball into double coverage and the bad decision turned into another disaster for TCU.
And then finally SMU, added three more points after forcing a three-and-out against the Horned Frogs. SMU got the ball back with just 13 seconds remaining, but another Smith run for 29 yards set up a field goal for the Mustangs as the time expired. In a span of five minutes, TCU went from trailing by just three to 20.
Disastrous start
TCU's late game collapse against UCF bled into the start of the Horned Frogs' battle against SMU as TCU played one of its worst quarters football in the Sonny Dykes era. The Horned Frogs fell behind 17-0 despite SMU having just one possession in the quarter. The Mustangs got on the board first with a 51-yard field goal and on TCU's ensuing possession, the Horned Frogs gambled and went for it near midfield on fourth-and-short.
TCU with a triple option, a play the offense hardly runs, and it ended with disaster as Josh Hoover was stripped on the tackle and it was returned for a touchdown. It appeared Hoover may have been down, but there wasn't video evidence to overturn the call. To make matters worse, the Horned Frogs were forced to punt on their second drive.
That led to Roderick Daniels Jr. out-running the TCU punt team for a 69-yard touchdown. SMU delivered the first punch and then followed it with up an uppercut as the Horned Frogs were dazed in Dallas. SMU's run wasn't stopped until a short touchdown run by Hoover to start the second quarter.
This story was originally published September 21, 2024, 7:57 PM.
