GoFrogs: TCU Picks Off No. 15 Texas, 37-27

[TopFrog]

https://gofrogs.com/news/2019/10/26/football-tcu-picks-off-no-15-texas-37-27.aspx

GoFrogs: TCU Picks Off No. 15 Texas, 37-27

• Final Stats (PDF)
• Postgame Notes
• Postgame Quotes
• Game Highlights
• Postgame Press Conference
• Photo Gallery
• Photo Gallery

FORT WORTH – TCU quarterback Max Duggan threw for a career-high 273 yards, tossed a pair of touchdowns and scored one on the ground, while guiding the Horned Frogs to a 37-27 home victory over No. 15 Texas on Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

Duggan, who also rushed for 72 yards, became the first TCU quarterback to lead the team in rushing in back-to-back games since Kenny Hill in 2017. Duggan's 11-yard scamper with 1:59 left provided the final points of the game and capped a 9-play, 75-yard drive that consumed 4:51 off the clock.

Late in the first quarter, Garret Wallow collected his first career interception and that would lead to a 32-yard field goal from Jonathan Song to tie the game at 3-3. TCU's next possession had Duggan and Pro Wells hooking up for a 24-yard touchdown with 12:18 left to play in the second quarter that gave TCU a 10-3 lead.

Texas came back with a pair of touchdowns to take a 17-10 lead, but TCU drove the field in its final drive of the second quarter and that set up Griffin Kell for a 52-yard field goal as time ran off the clock to make it a 17-13 game at halftime. It was a career-long field goal for Kell and it also marked the longest field goal for a TCU kicker since Jaden Oberkrom booted a 57-yarder back in 2015.

Texas pushed its lead to 20-13 with another field goal from Cameron Dicker at the 7:46 mark of the third quarter, but TCU would even things up again, 20-20, with a 1-yard run from Sewo Olonilua. The scoring drive included Duggan tossing a 51-yard strike to Taye Barber. It was a career-long pass for Duggan and a career-long reception for Barber.

Ar'Darius Washington ended Texas' next possession with an interception and on TCU's first snap of the ensuring series, Duggan found Jalen Reagor from 44 yards out to give the Horned Frogs a 27-20 lead with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter.

TCU pushed its lead to 30-20 on a Song 33-yard field goal with 11:28 to play. Texas later scored on a 2-yard rushing play to pull within 30-27 with 6:50 remaining, but Duggan's TD run pushed the lead back to 10 and put the game on ice.

TCU totaled 435 yards of offense with 273 yards through the air and 162 yards on the ground.

Duggan set a new career-high with 19 completions, spreading the ball to nine different Horned Frogs. Barber led the team in both catches (5) and yards (94). He matched his career-high in receptions and set a new personal best in receiving yards.

Wallow led the defense with nine tackles and a pair of quarterback hurries. Jeff Gladney followed with eight tackles and a team-high three pass breakups. Wallow, Washington, Innis Gaines and Trevon Moehrig had interceptions, giving TCU four picks on the day – the team's most in a regular-season game since notching four at Texas in 2014.

UP NEXT
TCU is back on the road next week, taking on Oklahoma State on Saturday, Nov. 2, in Stillwater, Okla. Kickoff between the Horned Frogs and Cowboys is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN.

 

[TopFrog]

+++++++++++

TCU-TEXAS POSTGAME NOTES

Team Notes


* TCU beat Texas for the fifth time in six seasons and is now 6-2 against the Longhorns since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2012.
* Gary Patterson is now 6-3 against Texas. Since 1996, he ranks No. 1 in the nation among all head coaches past and present (minimum 5 games) in career winning percentage (.667, 6-3) against Texas.
* Over the last six seasons, TCU's 51-22 overall record and 32-17 conference mark both rank second in the Big 12.
* TCU played its first home game in nearly a month (Sept. 28, Kansas). The Horned Frogs are in the midst of five out of seven games on the road.
* TCU improved to 26-25 against ranked teams under Patterson.
* The Horned Frogs are 89-22 in 19 seasons under Patterson at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
* The attendance of 47,660 was 15 shy of making the top 10 for largest home crowds for TCU.
* Jalen Reagor's 44-yard third-quarter touchdown catch from Max Duggan gave the Horned Frogs their first 1-play scoring drive of the season.
* TCU's four interceptions were its most in a regular-season game since recording four in a 48-10 win at Texas in 2014.
* The Horned Frogs had four interceptions after not having a takeaway in their previous three games.
* A sack by Corey Bethley gave TCU at least one sack in 74 of its last 77 games.
* The Horned Frogs topped 150 yards rushing (162) and 250 passing (273) for the third time this season.
* TCU used five different players in the kicking game: Jonathan Song and Griffin Kell on field goals, Cole Bunce on kickoffs and Jordy Sandy and Dillon Jones on punts.
* TCU scored for the 340th consecutive game. It's the nation's second-longest current streak and fourth all-time in NCAA history. The Horned Frogs haven't been blanked since Nov. 16, 1991, at Texas (32-0).
* TCU's team captains were Ross Blacklock, Alex Delton, Cordel Iwuagwu and Garret Wallow. Delton and Wallow have been captains each game this season.
* TCU wore a fierce purple helmet with a anthracite jersey and anthracite pants.

Individual Notes


Offense
* True freshman quarterback Max Duggan had career-best totals of 19 completions and 273 yards passing. He also threw for two touchdowns and led TCU in rushing for the second straight game with 72 yards on 13 carries, including an 11-yard touchdown with 1:59 to play for the Horned Frogs' final points.
* Duggan is the first TCU quarterback to lead the team in rushing in two consecutive games since Kenny Hill in 2017.
* Duggan's streak of 143 passes without an interception came to an end on his second attempt of the day. It was the second-longest streak in TCU history, trailing only Jeff Ballard (154, 2006). Entering the game, Duggan had the nation's third-longest active streak. All the attempts were to begin his collegiate career.
* Duggan's 51-yard completion to Taye Barber was a career-long for him and Barber. It more than doubled Barber's previous career-long grab of 24 yards.
* Duggan became the first TCU quarterback to throw for at least 250 yards and multiple scores and rush for at least 70 yards and a touchdown in the same game since Trevone Boykin on Oct. 29, 2015, versus West Virginia.
* Duggan has now thrown for 1,147 yards, the first true freshman to top 1,000 yards in a season in the Gary Patterson head coaching era and first since 1999 (Casey Printers, 1,213).
* Barber equaled a career-high with his team-best five receptions while setting a new personal best with 94 yards receiving.
* Jalen Reagor's 44-yard touchdown reception was the 21st of his career, one behind Josh Boyce (22, 2010-12) for second on TCU's all-time list. Josh Doctson is the leader with 29 (2013-15).

* Pro Wells' 24-yard touchdown reception was his fourth scoring grab on just eight catches this season. It was the longest reception of his career, nearly doubling his previous long of 13.

* Carter Ware had a 2-yard catch for his first career reception.
* John Stephens Jr. had a career-best three receptions for 32 yards.
* Artayvious Lynn had two receptions to tie a career-high set on two previous occasions.

Defense
* Garret Wallow had a team-best nine tackles to go with his first career interception.
* Wallow has led TCU in tackles in all but one game this season.
* Corey Bethley had his first sack of the season and seventh of his career, the most among current Horned Frogs.
* Ar'Darius Washington had his team-best third interception of the season.
* Washington's three picks are the most by a Horned Frog since Nick Orr had three in 2017. It's also the most by a freshman in the Gary Patterson era.
* True freshman linebacker Wyatt Harris had a career-best seven tackles.
* Trevon Moehrig had his second interception of the season and third of his career.
* Innis Gaines recorded his first interception of the season and third of his career to end the Longhorns' final series.
* Jeff Gladney set a season-high with eight tackles to go along with three pass breakups, tying his season best.

Special Teams
* Jonathan Song's 32- and 33-yard field goals made him 13-of-14 on the season and 30-of-34 in his career. He is 29-of-30 on attempts inside 40 yards.
* Griffin Kell closed the first half with a 52-yard field goal, the longest make by a Horned Frog since Jaden Oberkrom's 57-yard effort against West Virginia in 2015.
* Kell had his longest made field goal in a college or high school game.
* Dillon Jones had a 58-yard punt on his first collegiate attempt, TCU's longest punt of the season.
* Jones' punt was the longest by a TCU player since Adam Nunez's 58-yard boot at Iowa State on Oct. 28, 2017.

 

[TopFrog]

https://gofrogs.com/news/2019/10/26/football-tcu-texas-postgame-quotes.aspx

TCU-TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES

TCU head coach Gary Patterson

On the game:
"Well we stayed around in the ball game and we were finally able to make some plays. We had to kick field goals in the first half and couldn't get much going. In the last drive before the half, we actually screwed up a few calls and tried to be too exotic. But we knew that if we could get to them with a three man rush that things would be to our advantage."

"I'm really proud of these kids. I'm really proud of Max (Duggan). Taye Barber being back, we put him in there, and he almost made another play on a wheel route. I was proud of him. Defense stepped up and got some picks. We are capable of that and we found a way to get it done."

On Max Duggan
"His team back in high school had never been to the playoffs, he led them to the finals. He's not where we need to be yet, but we are farther along, and I think that will help our confidence going forward."

"He threw an early pick that he shouldn't have thrown, but the bottom line is, and we see this all the time, score one more and hold them to one less. And he found a way to go out there in the fourth quarter and get that done. Defense found a way to get a stop. We also brought in a walk-on kicker and he kicks a 52-yarder. We also brought in a walk-on punter, because we weren't punting very well. You know, find guys that want to make plays. We put Ar'Darius (Washington) in for Vernon Scott and the first play he gets in he picks the ball. Put people in who make plays."

On early struggles:
"They really tried to confuse us. They came out in a bunch. Iowa State did this to us two years ago, so we couldn't see the formations and make early calls and they shifted out quick. It was really a good move on their part, and it hurt us in the first half. It didn't allow us to blitz as much as we wanted to. So, you have to give Coach (Tom) Herman and his staff credit. That was a good football game and Sam (Ehlinger) is a good football player, I'm just going to tell you guys. I've got a lot of respect for the quarterback."

On fans:
"You know we haven't had a lot of good things happen to us this year so far. And so, fans and players alike, we've all been frustrated. We've still got five ball games to go and we've still got two wins to go to try and get bowl eligible. And every ball game we've got left is our game."

On beating Texas:
"I don't know… I like my job and usually when I beat Texas, I usually get to keep my job longer. Outside of that, I was just happy for the kids to be honest with you. The bottom line is, you hear it all the time, 'we're not good enough' and we just keep proving people wrong."

On the defense:
"We just kept changing up, we stopped them on third downs, and blitzed him quite a bit. We wanted to get him (Ehlinger) out of rhythm, but he hurt us at the end of the first half. I figured I tried to do too much, so in the second half I quit doing too much and let the guys play. We knew if we could get to him with our three-man rush that would be good for us and we were able to do that."

TCU wide receiver Jalen Reagor

On his strong second half:
"It felt good, we put in a good week of practice. It was nice to see that our preparation translated to the field."

On the confidence gained from the win:
"The defense got a lot of turnovers and offense we played very consistent and scored a lot of points. It really felt like we were going to get a win today, it was a good team win."

On the aggressive down field passing attack:
"That was the game plan this week. We were trying to be more free and make plays. When we got the chance to make plays, we had to make them and that's what we did."

On Max Duggan:
"You guys saw it. He is a great play maker and a great quarterback. He is young, but in due time, he will be great. I catch tons of passes from him in practice, that is routine. It is just a matter of being more consistent in games. He reminds me a lot of myself, in terms of how savy he is. My freshman year I played with a lot of emotion, some of the stuff he is going through is just growing pains. Once he settles in, you guys saw what he could do."

On the fans and crowd support:
"It is warming to see everybody come together. It was a good team win, a good win for the program and a good win for the university. It feels good to get back on track."

Continued ...

 

[TopFrog]

TCU linebacker Garret Wallow:
On his interception changing the momentum:
"One thing I said at the beginning of the season was that I want to do anything I can to help this team win. If that's what helps and that's one part that helps, I'm just happy it did. I'm just focused on going out there and playing my heart out for everybody."

On Texas' QB Sam Ehlinger career-high four interceptions:
"It's hard to win ball games without takeaways."

On TCU WR Taye Barber's late-game reception:
"Taye is my roommate, so I'm definitely going to be hyping his head tonight. That's huge. That was an incredible catch by Taye. I think Taye played his tail off. I mean, Taye, he did his thing today. That's all credit to that whole entire team. I'm proud of him. I'm very proud of everyone. I'm proud of how the whole offense played. That's what makes players great, plays like that."

On the defense's quick change:
"We take pride in that. We talk about, 'The worst thing they can get is a field goal.' We do not want them to score touchdowns. That's the mindset that we bring to the red zone. We're thinking, 'We go to make this stop for the offense.' We have to do that to be successful."

On the red jerseys;
"I think everybody's pretty excited to see how we looked in those uniforms. And it looked pretty good on the video, so it hyped us up a little bit."

TCU cornerback Trevon Moehrig

On the many defensive interceptions:
"That felt amazing, we all came out and played fast. We did our job and the four turnovers are something Coach P harped on at halftime. So, we came out in the second half and that's what we did. It was fun."

On Garret Wallow's interception:
"That was a big play when Garret (Wallow) got that pick. He told me after the game that he saw that play when watching film and knew it was coming. That goes to show you how good of a player he is."

On wins over Texas:
"It was pretty crazy; I mean after the game everybody was rushing out. It was a great win and it feels good to get back in the win column. I'm super excited to keep this going into next week."

On Max Duggan's energy:
"It brought a lot of energy, if you looked at our sideline, everybody was up on their feet, getting hype for him. Max is a great player and that play (first down scramble) was a big one, he's been making plays like that all season. I think that it was pretty indicative of how he kept our energy going all game."

On keeping momentum:
"We have to keep pushing and not give up. We have to get better at the things we need to going into the week of practice."

- - -

Texas head coach Tom Herman

On the game:
"Obviously it was not the outcome that we expected or prepared for. It was a great college football environment. Winning on the road is really, really hard. I felt good about where we were in the first half. I thought our guys were flying around and made a bunch of plays. I thought our defense was doing what was necessary. Obviously, really disappointed in the red-zone execution on offense to put the ball in the end zone. In the second half, their quarterback had a great game, made a lot of plays. The game went a bit differently than we had thought on that side of the ball. We thought that they would protect him (Max Duggan) a little bit and run the ball. I thought we played the run game pretty well. When you get him out of the pocket, he's a tough guy to catch up to and get down on the ground. Then he made some unbelievable throws. Hats off to him. He played a great game and their defense, obviously, it's the best defense in our conference for a reason. Those stats they had coming into this game wasn't an aberration. That's a really, really good defense with a bunch of seniors in the secondary and as good of a defensive tackle as we play. We did not play to the level that we had expected on that side of the ball. Cade Brewer left the game and did not return. He got rolled up on his ankle. He'll have an MRI tomorrow. Our punter Ryan Bujcevski broke his clavicle. He'll have surgery tomorrow."

On the defense:
"We're not good. We need to be better. I think the off week will help. We need to do a better job as coaches. The guys that are out there, we need to get them ready to play. We have to make plays and put them in position to do so."

"Malcolm Roach told the team that we need to come together, we need to fight. When you're in a hole like this the only way to get out of it is to fight and work harder. These things don't happen by calling magic defenses and magic offenses. They happen by coming to work every day as coaches giving everything we have to our players. Teaching them, putting them in the right places to make plays. I thought it was great. I told him, if you need any example of a team coming together after two straight losses, look no further than last year's team. We have not lost two-straight. We have lost a game. We have an open date to get back to the basics and get back to fundamentals. The only thing to do is improve."

UT quarterback Sam Ehlinger

On the last quarter:
"The last one I was pressing because it was fourth down and had to have conversion and had to get aggressive."

On the pressure:
"No, I understand that I have to show up and do my job."

On the biggest challenge when facing TCU:
"They did a great job in covering. They've got an experienced secondary, they didn't do anything exotic and did a great job of giving pressure and making it difficult for us to pass too."

On missed opportunities at the first half:
"We talk about scoring in the red zone, converting on third down are the keys to winning and we didn't do that, so absolutely missed opportunities."

On the three losses:
"We never expect to lose."

On the team's leaders:
"I think the leaders on the team have to do a great job of stepping up in this situation. We have a lot of young guys, and a lot of young guys that play, so it's hard for young guys who haven't experienced the ups and downs of college football, especially in the Big 12. We've got to make sure the older guys keep the other guys composed and understand that we've got to get to work for next week."

Texas defensive lineman Malcolm Roach

On what the defense can improve on:
"We have to make plays when it counts most. We have to do the little things better. When you don't do that, it can show up on the biggest stage like today."

On the adversity the team is facing:
"I have faced adversity all of my life. My dad always tells me, 'Whenever adversity hits you in the face, you have to keep working harder.' If that's what we go do, then everything's right."

On how personally he took the loss:
"I take every game personally, the games we win and the games we lose, because I am a leader in that locker room and a leader of the defense. I feel like I have to do something better for our team to do better, so I take it very personally."

On the confidence level of the defense
"It's still high."

On the performance of TCU's Max Duggan:
"He made plays. He made more plays than our defense made."

Texas defensive tackle Keondre Coburn

On how frustrating the loss is:
"I really don't like losing. We just have to get back to film, back to work, and see what we have to do to get better."

On if there was a difference in how the defense performed between the first and second halves:
"I thought we played well the whole game. [TCU] made better plays at the right time, and it shows."

On the upcoming bye week:
"We need the bye week because we have been playing football for four weeks straight now, and it takes a toll on your body. We will rest, get our bodies healed, and get some players back that we actually need back."