When safety Sam Carter learned in the postgame press conference that TCU had not beat Texas in Austin since 1967, he looked at everyone in shock and disbelief.
“I didn’t even know that, but this is just another stadium to us,” Carter said. “Those guys (Texas) have great fans and we knew we just had to come out, score early, get on top and keep going from there.”
The Frogs did just that, scoring their first 14 points of the game off of two interceptions. TCU (7-4, 4-4 Big 12) added two Jaden Oberkrom field goals in the second half to pull out the 20-13 win over the
Longhorns. The win was the 600th in TCU’s history.
Cornerback Jason Verrett set up the Frogs’ first offensive series by grabbing his sixth interception of the season. An interception by Carter on the Longhorns’ final drive with 1:20 left sealed the win.
“To win a ballgame like this you got to have guys make plays,” head coach Gary Patterson said. “Defensively we had guys step up. We had a couple on offense, but the big plays on defense were big.”
The defense forced three interceptions and one fumble. The fumble, caused by defensive end Stansly Maponga, set up the Frogs at the Longhorns’ 16-yard line for their second touchdown.
Carter and Verrett both gave credit to the defensive line for getting pressure on the Longhorns’ quarterbacks to set up the secondary for success.
“We knew we had to come in and get turnovers, but without our [defensive line], we wouldn’t have had no opportunity,” Carter said.
The defensive line sacked Texas’ quarterbacks three times and recovered a fumble. David Ash and Case McCoy combined for 214 passing yards.
Running back Matthew Tucker scored both of TCU’s touchdowns from two and one yards out. He finished with 57 yards. Quarterback Trevone Boykin led all rushers with 77 yards as the Frogs gained 217 total yards on the ground. Boykin also threw for 82 yards.
“I think the two weeks [off] helped out a lot,” offensive lineman Blaize Foltz said. “Their defensive line’s notoriously good. I think we game-planned well for what they were going to do and I think we executed well.”
TCU led for the entire game and was holding on to a 20-6 lead when Texas (8-3, 5-3) started driving with 5:58 on the clock.
The drive started with a sack, but McCoy shook that off to complete six straight passes to get the Longhorns to the TCU eight-yard line.
Running back Jeremy Hills punched the ball in for the score to cut the lead to 20-13.
TCU failed to gain a first down on its next possession, giving the Longhorns the ball back with 1:44 left in the game. The Longhorns grabbed a first down and then McCoy threw the final pass of the game which was intercepted by Carter.
“We thankful we able to play on a time like this,” Verrett said. “We knew the atmosphere was gonna be crazy. We enjoyed it and got the win.”
Patterson said the Frogs played good coverage on the final drive, but couldn’t wrap up McCoy when they got in the backfield.
“To be honest with you, I was a little bit upset with our starters because on that final drive they were standing there,” Patterson said. “Hey, I should be begging myself to get back on the field."
The Frogs are still making mistakes, but they have grown up, become more mature and they need to stop giving other teams so much credit, Patterson said.
“We play in these ballgames,” Patterson said. “We play it at a high level, maybe some of our young guys haven’t, but we as a program know how to do that. So quit giving everybody else so much credit and take a little bit themselves and go play. Maybe they’re starting to believe me a little bit.”
