Never in doubt: Horned Frogs roll past Texas, 50-7

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

FORT WORTH, Texas — Seconds after he answered the final allowed question from the assembled media in the noisy basement of Amon G. Carter Stadium Saturday in the wake of the Longhorns’ 50-7 thrashing at the hands of No. 3 TCU, Texas head coach Charlie Strong put his head down, closed his eyes and released a deep breath, the air whistling as it left his lungs.

That whistle is much the same sound likely made by a balloon as a symbol of UT’s latest season of discontent, a campaign already wracked by four losses in the first five games for the first time since 1956.

Before this debacle in Fort Worth, 2015 has been [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]characterized by missed opportunities and special-teams gaffes, but hope survived because Texas looked to be on the road to improvement, despite two hard-luck losses to California and Oklahoma State.

After getting whipped by the rabid, hard-hitting and ultra-talented Horned Frogs, questions abound for the Longhorns. Strong himself spoke about how he’s worried about the direction of the team, the hearts of its players and their ability to compete for a full 60 minutes, the coaching staff’s ability to properly prepare a squad for a big-time opponent like TCU and the Longhorns’ capacity to respond when they are punched in the mouth.

“I’m disappointed and very surprised at the way we played, because we have made real strides in the past few weeks, and we practiced well heading into this game,” Strong said. “We didn’t compete the full 60 minutes and weren’t able to do the basic, fundamental techniques we need to to win.”

Part of the problem Saturday was that the Longhorns (1-4 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 Conference play) fell behind early and couldn’t find a way to get off the mat. Mistake after mistake after mistake —be it in poor special teams play or blown coverages in the secondary or missed tackles or dropped passes — doomed Texas and fed the Horned Frogs’ desire to put away their rivals from Austin with a quick flurry.

The Horned Frogs (5-0, 2-0 in Big 12) showed their dominance early and often, much to the delight of the 48,694 fans that packed the opulent stadium on a cloudless and cool afternoon.

TCU racked up 37 points in the first half, 30 of those in the opening quarter. Heisman Trophy candidate Trevone Boykin threw three touchdown passes to KaVonte Turpin, covering 13, 49 and 50 yards, respectively, and a fourth to Josh Doctson from 15 yards.

To add insult to injury, Turpin hauled in another scoring pass from 29 yards from wide receiver Shaun Nixon.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns continued to make errors in the kicking game. First, a snap over the head of punter Michael Dickson rolled through the end zone for a safety. Later, Nick Rose missed field goal tries from 39 and 40 yards away.

The 30 points allowed by Texas in the first quarter was the first time the Longhorns have surrendered that many points in a single quarter since Nov. 7, 1987, when Houston scored 31 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Longhorns, 60-40.

The tough thing to stomach from the first-half beatdown was the understanding that the Horned Frogs were able to do just about anything they wanted while Texas had to struggle for every one of the 156 yards of offense it mustered through two scoreless quarters. The ‘Horns outrushed TCU, 108-56, in the first half (with D’Onta Foreman amassing 93 of those yards on the ground) but had absolutely nothing to show for it.

Foreman ended up with a career-high 112 yards on 18 carries and added three catches for 19 yards.

“There are mistakes that we all have to fix, but we believe in each other and we are all-in behind Coach Strong and this staff,” Foreman said. “We’ll go back to work and find a way to get better.”

TCU added to its lead early in the third quarter as Boykin found Turpin again, this time for a 12-yard score. Two Jaden Oberkrom field goals, from 23 and 41 yards, respectively, bridging the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, pushed the Horned Frogs’ lead to 50-0.

Texas finally scored when backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, who entered the game on the Longhorns’ final series of the third quarter, hit Lorenzo Joe for a 21-yard touchdown with 5:14 to play.

TCU racked up 604 yards of total offense (228 rushing, 376 passing), marking the first time Texas had allowed 600 or more yards in a game since the Sept. 7, 2013 loss to BYU. The Horned Frogs have now outscored Texas 98-17 in the past two games between the two teams.

The Longhorns have been outscored 88-10 in their two road games this season.

“Am I happy? Yeah,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “It’s awesome that we go the chance to win a ballgame, and that we’re 5-0. I’m not trying to be a playoff team yet.  I just want to win game six. I’m not going to lose perspective. The goal has to be to win one more than you lose.”

Right now, the goal for Texas is to just win, to beat anyone. The road to that objective will not be any easier next Saturday when the Longhorns battle undefeated Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl in the Red River Rivalry.

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