FORT WORTH — With No. 3 Oklahoma’s upset loss to unranked Iowa State in Norman, the stage was set for another nationally ranked Big 12 team to make a jump into the ranks of the five best.
A sudden shootout during Saturday’s 31-24 win against West Virginia at Amon G. Carter Stadium, however, nearly cost Texas Christian University its undefeated ESPN College GameDay win streak, No. 8 Associated Press rating, and a shot at the top five.
“They had two weeks to prepare for us. The quarterback’s a good player and they have good wideouts,” Head Coach Gary Patterson said. “We’re resilient. It’s hard to be 5-0 and we found a way to be 5-0. Even when they tied it up 24-24, I didn’t see anybody panic.”
For little more than two quarters, the high-powered Horned Frog offense sputtered and stalled on their first three drives and produced 131 yards of total offense during that time frame. It wasn’t until Kyle Hick’s 27-yard run at the 11:27 mark of the third quarter and John Diarse’s 20-yard circus catch two plays later that TCU found life.
TCU gained 197 in the third quarter.
REAGOR FINDS THE END ZONE — AGAIN
Sherry Milliken/Texas HS Football
A one-play drive capped by a Hill touchdown strike to Waxahachie native Jalen Reagor with 6:06 remaining in the third quarter, too, roused the sleeping Horned Frogs.
“We came out and wanted to give him a chance because we knew he could run by him,” Hill, Jr. said.
The throw to Reagor, which required him to “blow by” his defender on a designed corner route, gave TCU a 17-3 lead with 6:06 left in the third quarter. Not only was it the Ellis County product’s second career touchdown, it was the second consecutive at Carter Stadium.
The first was a halftime Hail Mary for against Southern Methodist University on Sept. 16.
“I dropped back, trusted him, and just let it go,” Hill, Jr. continued. “He made a play for us. It was big time.”
Hill, Jr., who “hit for the cycle” against the Mountaineers, threw for 188 yards, had 15 completions on 28 attempts. He scored a touchdown each rushing, passing, and receiving — courtesy of a 48-yard flea flicker from KaVonte Turpin and rushed for 28 of the Horned Frogs’ 170 yards on the ground.
HATS OFF TO DEFENSE
West Virginia, led by starting quarterback Will Grier (25-45, 368 yards, 3 TD, INT), rallied back scoring back-to-back touchdowns on 76- and 4-yard passes to Ka’Raun White and David Sills that tied the game at 24.
“Welcome to West Virginia-TCU games. It was like holy moly,” Patterson said. “Everybody thinks Virgina Tech is a good team and they gave up 600 total yards of offense to these guys. You better be ready to play them every snap of the game.”
“We’ll go back go back and look at [the tape] but looking back there might have been some miscommunication on the back end. It’s nothing we can’t fix. I think we’re still underrated and we appreciate the underdog role,” senior defensive back Ranthony Texada added noting Nick Orr’s third-quarter near pick-6 of Grier. “We’re going to keep doing I think we’d rather be the underdog than the go-to.”
TCU did, however, sack Grier via Texada and Ben Bangou takedowns and record five quarterback hurries despite West Virginia’s 508 yards of total offense. Sixty-eight of those came in a fourth quarter the Horned Frogs’ controlled the time of possession 9:12 to 5:48.
FURIOUS FINISH
Sherry Milliken/Texas HS Football
In the end, Texada and the defense would stage one final stand, it was Hill, Jr.’s touchdown scamper and final run of the game that spoiled West Virginia’s upset bid. On 3rd and goal at the Mountaineers’ 3-yard line, Hill found space and paydirt for a game-winning touchdown.
Twelve plays later, Hill, Jr. picked up 10 yards on 2nd and 8 and seeping the final seconds off the play clock.
“One of the hardest things as a defensive coordinator is to account for that other running back, which is the quarterback,” Patterson said. “One of the biggest runs of the game was second down on the final drive. They had one timeout left and if I counted, they’d end up with about 15-18 seconds left with the ball back. That would have been an opportunity to go score. Kenny making the first down was as important a play as any that we had. He closed the door. Now we have to go to Manhattan, Kansas, which is a tough place to play.”
TCU will face the University of Kansas at 11 a.m. next Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The (3-1, 1-0 in Big 12) Wildcats defeated Baylor 33-20 on Sept. 30 to claim a first-place spot in the conference.
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