FORT WORTH, Texas — It was a much-needed win for TCU as they took on the BYU Cougars at home. TCU was coming off a two-game losing streak, making this game a must-win to keep their bowl game hopes up. TCU defeated BYU 44-11 to keep those hopes alive.
Star quarterback Chandler Morris was out this game with an MCL injury, leaving the offense in the hands of Josh Hoover. Hoover has only had a couple of snaps this season, and he did not play well, but today was a completely different story. Hoover did a great job of letting the offense develop and making the easy throws. Whereas in past games, he threw into double coverage a lot and made some passes that just made you shake your head. The sport of football definitely requires a lot of reps in order to see success, and clearly, he is a prime example of this.
The first drive of this game set the tone as Millard Bradford scored a 35-yard pick to get the game going for TCU.
Then Hoover showed his arm strength by throwing a 42-yard touchdown pass to JP Richardson to get the offense grooving.
After that, the defense made some key stops, including a fumble recovery by Jamoi Hodge late in the second quarter to put the Horned Frogs on the 42-yard line in BYU territory. Jared Wiley then converted the 7-yard touchdown pass from Hoover to put TCU up 24-0.
The nail on the coffin came right at the end of the second quarter when Hoover took his offense all the way down the field and completed a 7-yard pass to Savion Williams to put the Horned Frogs up 31-8 to go into halftime. Keep in mind that this BYU team defeated SEC powerhouse Arkansas earlier this season, so the fact that TCU came out this strong is something that Horned Frogs fans should be excited about.
The second half started off just as strong, as Josh Hoover threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Warren Thompson. This drive was incredibly impressive considering most teams, when they are up, come out flat to start the second half, but not TCU; they scored in 1:59 seconds with only 8 plays for 82 yards. TCU was now up 38-8 with 12:55 left in the third quarter.
TCU will hit the road to travel to Kansas to take on Kansas State at 6:00 p.m. next Saturday.
