TCU football’s struggles at Kansas State continued, as the Horned Frogs were upset 41-28 by the Wildcats on Saturday.
It was the program’s fourth straight loss in Manhattan and the second for head coach Sonny Dykes after TCU was manhandled 41-3 in 2023.
“Well, that was a bad performance this afternoon,” Dykes said. “Didn’t do a good enough job of us going out and playing. That begins with us and what we did from a coaching standpoint, a game-planning standpoint. We have to do better.”
This one may have been even more frustrating to watch considering Kansas State (3-4, 2-2 Big 12) entered the game with a loss to Army and narrow win over North Dakota. That didn’t matter, as TCU (4-2, 1-2) collapsed in the second half due to turnovers, questionable play calling and a defense that ran out of gas.
TCU took a 7-0 lead, but allowed the Wildcats to reel off 28 unanswered points, aided by two defensive touchdowns.
After trailing 28-7, the Horned Frogs made it a game at the end of the third quarter after Josh Hoover threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Chase Curtis. But the Wildcats put the game away with a 12-play drive that was capped off with Avery Johnson perfectly floating a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jerand Bradley to make it 35-14 with 10:22 remaining.
The Horned Frogs briefly had a small window to pull off an improbable comeback after Hoover threw a 85-yard touchdown to Eric McAlister and the defense forced a three-and-out. But Hoover’s pass to Kevorian Barnes on the ensuing drive was picked off with less than eight minutes remaining the end the comeback attempt.
TCU returns home to host Baylor (4-2, 2-1) at 11 a.m. Oct. 18 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Here are four takeaways from the loss:
Josh Hoover struggles
It was Hoover’s second trip to Manhattan, and it didn’t look much different than the first one in 2023. Hoover was on point early with his accuracy, but his receivers didn’t give him much help with numerous drops in the first half
But as the game progressed, it became less about the receivers and more about Hoover, who had the worst game of the season. Yep, it was worse than the three-turnover game against Arizona State.
Why? Because Hoover’s two turnovers led directly to points. The first came in the second quarter when a screen pass to Ed Small was ruled a backwards pass, and Kansas State returned the fumble for a touchdown.
Trailing 14-7 in the third quarter, Hoover stared down Eric McAlister on a stop route, and Kansas State made him pay for it as Des Purnell picked Hoover off and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to increase the deficit to 21-7.
Hoover ended up throwing for 376 yards and added two more touchdown passes, but for the second time in Big 12 play, he was outplayed by the opposing quarterback and had multiple game-changing turnovers that doomed the Horned Frogs down the stretch.
“I had an unfortunate deal that happened early. I made it a tough catch for Ed, and I’ve got to give him a better ball,” Hoover said. “I had the interception for a touchdown. … Those first two plays seem to have lost us the game.”
Another dynamic QB matchup
You can’t blame the TCU defense if it’s tired of having face so many of the most athletic quarterbacks in the country. For the fourth straight game and fifth time this season, the Horned Frogs had to deal with a dual-threat quarterback, and Kansas State’s Avery Johnson was among the most athletic the defense has faced this season.
Johnson did more damage with his arm initially, as he was held to just 10 rushing yards in the first half, but still threw for 141 yards. His best throw came on a coverage bust by TCU when he hit a wide-open Garrett Oakley for a 32-yard score to tie the game at 7 with with 2:45 remaining in the second quarter. That drive and the subsequent play of the Kansas State defense allowed him to build confidence in the second half.
Leading 21-7, Johnson converted a fourth down and then threw a 17-yard strike to Oakley to increase the Wildcats’ lead to 28-7. Johnson’s final stat line wasn’t overly impressive, but he made clutch throws when needed and avoided costly turnovers like Hoover did.
Johnson completed 16 of 26 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 29 yards.
Kevorian Barnes is back
Maybe the answer to TCU’s struggles in the run game is simply having a healthy Kevorian Barnes available?
Fully recovered from his injury, Barnes looked like he did against North Carolina with an impressive showing on the ground. Barnes averaged 7.3 yards per carry in the first half as his jump-cutting ability and vision as a rusher shined.
You could make the case TCU should have leaned on Barnes even more in the first half and even more to begin the second half, as Barnes was unable to make an impact with the game getting away from the Horned Frogs so quickly due to turnovers.
Barnes finished with 81 yards despite having just three carries in the second half.
“We kind of had to [get away from the ground game] because the game got away from us pretty quickly,” Dykes said.
Rough half for TCU receivers
The first half was evenly matched, but the Wildcats went into halftime ahead 14-7 thanks in large part to the struggles of TCU’s receiver group. The Horned Frogs’ wideouts had five drops in the first half, with many serving as a drive killers. On the Horned Frogs’ second drive of the game TCU had to overcome drops by Manjack and Small.
Manjack dropped what could’ve been a 20-plus yard gain, while Small dropped a pass on fourth down when he had a chance to pick up the first inside the red zone. Two more pivotal drops would come late in the second quarter, and the first was massive. Small couldn’t reel in a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage and it was ruled a fumble. The Wildcats scooped it up and returned it for a score to take a 14-7 lead with 2:02 remaining in the half.
The Horned Frogs were driving to tie the game when Hoover had Jordan Dwyer wide open at the Kansas State 20, but the pass was behind Dwyer and he dropped it. TCU would be forced to punt a few plays later after a holding call negated Hoover picking up the first down with his legs.
It was an uncharacteristic performance by the unit and ultimately led to TCU trailing at the half.
“That’s a lot of drops. We did not play well on offense,” Dykes said. “We just got in our own way and self-destructed.”
The receivers rebounded in the second half with Small and McAlister each having over 100 yards.