The theater that is the 2013 Texas Longhorns took its show on the road to Amon Carter Stadium to face a down but still dangerous Texas Christian squad. This marked the first time Texas had been to TCU’s house since the mid 1990s. Through three Acts and an exceptionally long intermission, lets see how the story went for the Horns.
Act One: The Longhorns took the opening kickoff and went nowhere, losing three yards and punting to TCU, who opened with Trevone Boykin at quaterback after a week in which he was but one of three players who the Longhorns had to prepare for under center. Boykin did well early on, hitting a couple passes to Brandon Carter and stud in the making Ty Slanina, but as has happened so many times this season, the Horned Frogs offense stalled out and had to try a 54 yard field goal attempt which was missed wide right.
Texas got its second shot at the vaunted Frogs defense, moving 20 yards in five plays before they again had to punt. To that point, this game had all the markers of the defensive slugfest we expected. The Longhorns defensive line seemed to be handling TCU’s guys much easier than I had expected. With the game still tied at zero, the Trevone Boykin which has frazzled TCU fans the past two years arrived.
Boykin took a sack from Chris Whaley for an eight yard loss. A play later, Boykin was sacked by a blitzing Quandre Diggs and fumbled, which was recovered by Texas at his own three yard line. A play later Malcolm Brown cruised in from three yards out to put the Longhorns up 7-0.
Frogs Head Coach Gary Patterson made the quick choice to bench Boykin for Casey Pachall, who looked rusty after Aaron Green started the TCU drive off with a 22 yard run on the opening play of the series. The Longhorns forced a punt, then drove 62 tough yards in eight plays, capped by an Anthony Fera field goal from 43 yards out to push the lead to 10-0. On the following drive, Pachall flashed the signs of the quarterback he used to be before his DWI, guiding his team to the Texas 38. On second down and two, TCU hit a beautiful trick play and LaDarius Brown caught a long touchdown pass to pull the Horned Frogs to within three. The Horned Frogs forced a Texas punt on the following drive, and with momentum in their corner, the Frogs begin to march down the field.
Pachall drove the Horned Frogs inside the Texas 30, but got greedy and was picked off deep by embattled Texas linebacker Steve Edmond on 2nd and 13. Texas cashed in the turnover by way of a six play, 79 yard drive capped by a McCoy touchdown pass to emerging playmaker Marcus Johnson from 65 yards away. The teams traded punts, and then the weather which had been a threat all night finally arrived. Following safety protocols, the game was suspended with 6:08 to go until the half and Texas up 17-7. We all then suffered through a three hour weather delay, which was longer than the one in the Brigham Young contest. Many fans were unable to watch the rest of the game after the feed was moved from Fox Sports 1 to Fox Sports 2 and multiple regional affiliates.
Act Two: In this abbreviated session, TCU took the ball and did nothing, with the drive being highlighted by Longhorns stud defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat sacking Casey Pachall. After the punt, Texas took its drive down and scored another field goal after Case McCoy hit Mike Davis on a deep fade to put Anthony Fera in range just before the half ended. As the second act came to a close and both teams enjoyed a three minute halftime, Texas led 20-7.
Act Three: After the three minute halftime, TCU came out with a big play, as running back BJ Catalon took the opening kick back 40 yards to the TCU 46. The few remaining Frog fans knew this was a now or never drive for TCU. The series proved to be “neverâ€, as the Frogs went three and out, punting away to the Longhorns, who were pinned at their 11 yard line.
As Texas has done before, they proved distance was no issue, going 89 yards in eight plays, with Marcus Johnson catching a 43 yard pass on the drive and drawing a 15 yard pass interference call. Malcolm Brown scored from three yards out on third and goal to push the Texas lead to 27-7. Johnson has a bright future to say the very least.
The next five offensive drives were: TCU punt, horrible McCoy interception, TCU punt, horrible McCoy interception, and TCU punt. Texas got the ball back and went three and out again leading to an Anthony Fera punt which was fumbled by TCU’s Cameron Echols-Luper. Texas recovered at the TCU 32 and kicked a field goal three plays later to push the lead to 30-7.
From there the teams traded punts on the next three drives, and then, with 4:32 left in the game and Texas up 30-7, the most talked about moment of the week, if not the season, occurred. Brown chose to burn the red shirt of true freshman quarterback Tyrone Swoopes. Swoopes handed off or ran on his own as the drive stalled out with just a few seconds left in the game.
Though the story will be the Swoopes issue, there are many positives to take away form the game. The Longhorns held TCU to just 45 yards rushing on 24 carries after giving up 255 yards last year. The Longhorns defense forced three TCU turnovers and rarely let them approach anywhere near the redzone.
Chris Whaley and Marcus Johnson played outstanding games, penalties were at a minimum, and the Longhorns moved one step closer to being bowl eligible. Texas will move on to play a home game for the first time since September this Saturday against the Kansas Jayhawks at DKR. Kickoff is tentatively set for 2:30pm.
