FORT WORTH — Texas football games are starting to follow a familiar script. The defense plays wells, but the offense can’t score enough points.
That was the case again on Saturday, as the Longhorns fell to No. 8 TCU 24-7 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Ft. Worth.
TCU came into the game averaging 5.9 yards per play but mustered just 4.7 — which would rank 116th nationally — against the Longhorns’ stout defense. After taking a 17-7 lead on a Kyle Hicks 13-yard touchdown run with 9:19 left in the second quarter, the Horned Frogs had just four first downs and seven three and outs the rest of the way.
Junior linebacker Malik Jefferson led Texas with 10 tackles while sophomore Brandon Jones and junior Gary Johnson each finished up with nine. Junior Deshon Elliot had two of the team’s seven tackles for a loss.
It’s not a surprise that Texas’s offense struggled in this matchup. The Longhorns entered the game with the third-worst scoring offense in the Big 12, while TCU came in with the top scoring defense. But it was still ugly to watch.
Southlake Carroll High School product and 6-foot-5 UT receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey (84) finished with six receptions for 109 yards during the Saturday night loss to TCU. Gordon Deloach/TexasHSFootball
Texas started another new offensive line combination, its ninth in nine games, and it showed. Sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele was sacked seven times and there was no push up-front for the run game as the Longhorns gained just nine yards on 26 carries.
Texas’s lone touchdown came on a quick two-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter. Buechele completed a 37-yard pass to sophomore Lil’ Jordan Humphrey and then sophomore Collin Johnson came back to the ball for a spectacular 33-yard touchdown catch.
After a 6-0 loss to TCU in 1961 that ruined a potential national championship season, legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal compared the Horned Frogs to “a bunch of cockroaches” and said, “it’s not what they eat and tote off, it’s what they fall into and mess up that hurts.”
With four straight wins against the Longhorns by a combined score of 153-33, it seems as if the “cockroaches” have fallen into Texas’s heads and messed up its psyche. Until further notice, TCU owns this Interstate-35 rivalry.
Steven Ryan covers fantasy, prep and the University of Texas for TexasHSFootball. Follow him on Twitter,@StevenEphAustin, and read more of his content here.
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