It wasn’t pretty, but TCU football bounced back from last week’s narrow loss to Arizona State with a 35-21 win over Colorado on Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
It was the first matchup between the programs since head coach Deion Sanders led Colorado to a massive upset of TCU in the 2023 season opener, just months after the Horned Frogs played for a national title.
Sanders and the Buffaloes seemed primed to pull off another upset after jumping out to a 14-0 first-half lead, but TCU (4-1, 1-1 Big 12), a 13.5-point favorite, outscored Colorado (2-4, 0-3) in the fourth quarter 21-7 to avoid another gut-wrenching defeat to the former Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer.
“I want to credit Coach Prime’s team. They played incredibly hard,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said. “That’s a good football team. Their record doesn’t necessarily indicate that, but that’s a good team.
“It was kind of a frustrating game. Proud of our players for making plays down the stretch in critical situations. You’re going to face adversity during these games, and you’re going to have to overcome it. We certainly faced our share tonight, and I’m proud of our players for overcoming it.”
The key sequence came in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 21. TCU converted a fourth down, but it was called back when receiver Eric McAlister was flagged for offensive pass interference on a pick play, though replay clearly showed that McAlister didn’t touch the Colorado players and they ran into each other on their own.
It wouldn’t matter, as Colorado muffed the ensuing punt and TCU recovered at the Colorado 27. Three plays later, quarterback Josh Hoover hit receiver Joseph Manjack for a one-handed 18-yard touchdown to put the Horned Frogs ahead 28-21 with 5:44 remaining.
“We had some bad things happen to us,” Dykes said. “We overcame an offensive pass interference penalty — I have never seen like it — and our guys were able to overcome that.”
McAlister caught a 21-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left to finish off the win.
⚡ Full coverage of TCU-Colorado:
→Four takeaways from the Horned Frogs’ victory
→Engel: Deion Sanders is just another sub-.500 coach
→TCU receiver guts through injury to score two TDs
→Horned Frogs deliver bad beat to bettors with late TD
→How Star-Telegram’s Steven Johnson voted in AP poll
Here are four takeaways from the victory:
Josh Hoover vs. Kaidon Salter
Neither of the starting quarterbacks played their best game. Hoover struggled with some inaccurate passes, and Colorado’s Kaidon Salter threw three costly first-half interceptions. However, Hoover started the game playing well, going 14 of 18 in the first half with two touchdowns and 153 yards.
But Hoover’s accuracy began to wane in the second half as Colorado began to send more defenders at him. There were two opportunities in the second half for TCU to keep drives alive, but Hoover missed Manjack high on both drives as TCU squandered opportunities to take the lead.
Salter avoided costly turnovers in the second half and also threw a beautiful 31-yard jump ball to Omarion Miller to tie the game at 21 with 11:42 remaining. But Colorado’s best offense in the second half was to keep the ball out of Salter’s hands due to the turnovers. Salter only managed to lead one scoring drive in the second half, and despite his athleticism, he wasn’t much of a factor on the ground.
In the end, Hoover outplayed Salter and made just enough throws to help TCU avoid an upset loss.
Hoover completed 23 of 33 passes for 275 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for a score. Salter completed 18 of 29 passes for 217 yards and two TDs with the three interceptions.
Eric McAlister, Kevorian Barnes return
The Horned Frogs got a major boost with the return of leading receiver Eric McAlister and leading rusher Kevorian Barnes from injuries. Barnes missed the past two games, while McAlister was severely limited in TCU’s loss to Arizona State.
Barnes had a smaller role than McAlister, but both players made an impact. Barnes set up TCU’s first touchdown with a 13-yard carry to the Colorado 1 and then Hoover plunged forward on a quarterback sneak to cut Colorado’s lead to 14-7.
After TCU’s defense forced a turnover, McAlister made one of the highlights of the day with a one-handed 23-yard touchdown grab over a defender to tie the game at 14.
McAlister caught four passes for 65 yards and the two scores. Barnes ran 16 times for 48 yards.
“Eric made a ton of unbelievable plays tonight, the one-handed touchdown. He’s just kind of a winner,” Hoover said. “He does things to help us win, and he’s a great player. In critical moments he makes those plays, and having a guy like that on your team is huge.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys like that, KB [Barnes], too, I’m glad to have those guys back, and it gives us more chances to do things with other guys and be a little more versatile on offense.”
Offensive line issues continue
Despite the return of Barnes, TCU was rendered one-dimensional on offense, as the offensive line failed to generate much against the second-worst rushing defense in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs rushed for just 37 yards in the first half, averaging only 2.3 yards per carry. They finished with 94 yards at 2.7 yards per carry.
The Buffaloes seemed to live in the backfield on every run, with an unblocked defender often hitting Barnes and his teammates before they could even build a head of a steam. The pass protection was better despite a blitz-heavy approach by Colorado, but that mattered little as Hoover was once again forced to carry the offense.
“We’re struggling right now to do it, I don’t know,” Dykes said when asked about the run game struggles. “We’ve got to get better. We weren’t great tonight, but we were actually better. We’ve just got to figure it out.”
Wacky first half
The first half was frustrating for both teams, as there were missed opportunities and sloppy play on both sides. TCU went scoreless on its first three drives despite two getting into Colorado territory. The first resulted in a turnover on downs as Hoover’s pass to Manjack on fourth down fell incomplete well short of the sticks.
The Horned Frogs reached the Colorado 1-yard on their next drive after a big reception by Manjack, but they failed to punch it in three plays. An offensive pass interference forced TCU to settle for a 30-yard field goal that backup kicker Nate McCashland missed.
Colorado exploited TCU’s slow start by jumping out to a 14-0 lead with a balanced offensive approach.
However, Salter melted down at the end of the first half after TCU cut the lead to 14-7. Safety Bud Clark made an acrobatic interception when Salter attempted a pass on a rollout, and that turnover set up McAlister’s one-handed touchdown catch.
Colorado had a chance to retake the lead after Salter led the offense down to the TCU 2-yard line, aided by a controversial pass interference call on Vernon Glover on third down.
With six seconds remaining, Salter was picked off for a third time as his pass was deflected into the air and eventually caught by Namdi Obiazor to end the half with the teams tied at 14.
