When the teams went into their respective locker rooms for halftime, it looked like there could be an upset at Ford Stadium. It took the first play of the second half for the upset minded Mustangs hopes to be dashed.
A 75-yard touchdown by John Diarse from Kenny Hill gave the Horned Frogs (3-1) a 13-3 lead and cruise in the second half to a 33-3 victory. After a sluggish first half for the TCU offense that was plagued by drops, and penalties, intermission was just what they needed as they racked up 256 yards in the third quarter.
“We just weren’t executing in the first half, we were making mistakes and we couldn’t overcome those in the first half,” junior quarterback Kenny Hill- had 452 yards and two touchdowns in the air- said. “We just executed and we were able to put up points on the board and get in a groove.”
With sophomore receiver KaVonte Turpin out with a knee injury, there were questions of where the Horned Frogs were going to get offensive production from, and it came from Diarse and Desmon White. They combined for 12 catches and 188 yards on the evening and White was able to change the game on punt returns. White had three returns totally for 74 yards and those returns flipped the field on two occasions in the first half.
“When I was looking at film this week I felt like I was able to get some good returns and tonight I did,” the former DeSoto Eagle said. “Turpin told me to take one to the house tonight and so I was trying my best all night for him.”
With the Big XII wide open, and even after an early out-of-conference loss to Arkansas, TCU looks like they could be poised for another run at the title.
“I’ll have to look at how Iowa State plays tomorrow night but I have to say this is probably our most complete game,” TCU head coach Gary Patterson said. “Our defense played well tonight and probably their best game of the season. I feel like the day off Saturday is going to be big for us because Oklahoma is off this week and we could use the rest.”
For SMU (2-2) it was another hard fought game against a Big XII opponent. On the season the Mustangs have hung tough in the first half against Baylor and TCU only allowing six points in both games, but the Mustangs weren’t able to maintain that throughout the second half.
“Obviously it was a tale of two halves. It was very disappointing the way we responded in the second half, especially after playing as hard as we did in the first half,” SMU head coach Chad Morris said of his teams performance.
Sophomore receiver Courtland Simpson was quarterback Ben Hicks go-to target hauling in five catches for 113 yards and was a threat on the outside all game. A couple of overthrown deep balls that were overthrown by Hicks, could have changed the completion of the game if one of his teammates would have been able to come down with the ball.
With Oklahoma looming next week and TCU playing its most complete game of the season, the fate of the Big XII title could become clearly when the teams leave Amen Carter Stadium next Saturday, but as the Horn Frogs left the Hilltop, they’ll savor this victory before they look ahead.
