Penalties and turnovers doomed No.4 TCU on the road Saturday in Ames, as the Horned Frogs suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of No. 25 Iowa State, 14-7. It was a combination of miscues that haunted TCU. Eleven penalties cost Gary Patterson’s squad 104 yards, often coming on key first down pickups. However, the biggest one of them all came midway through the third quarter. After TCU quarterback Kenny Hill overthrew wide receiver KaVontae Turpin on an out-route from the seven-yard and was intercepted by Iowa State cornerback Brian Peavy, TCU appeared to run an interception of their own by safety Ridwan Issahaku back to the end zone to tie the game, but TCU defensive end Mat Boesen lined up offside, nullifying the game-tying defensive touchdown. “I called it out because I saw the split, threw it right to him, problem was we were offside,” Patterson said. “What do you do?” The referees also weren’t kind to TCU center Austin Schlottmann, who was flagged three times for holding. However, the biggest back-breaker for TCU in its one-possession defeat was what happened in the red zone. The TCU offense was unable to reach as far as the Iowa State 20 in the first half, but in both appearances in the last two quarters, both ended in turnovers. The aforementioned interception by Hill, and a fumble by Hill on a play-action pass from the three-yard line. Naturally, questions abound as to why runs for either Darius Anderson, who finished with 95 yards rushing on 12 carries, or Kyle Hicks, who finished with 80 yards rushing on 12 carries, were not called just short of the goal line, but either way Patterson said Hill has to make those plays. “In the red zone, inside the 20, got to get points, you got to make plays, been doing this a long time,” TCU head coach Gary Patterson said. “You got to make plays.” Even though the TCU offense couldn’t find the scoreboard, Patterson’s defense and the special teams unit gave the Horned Frogs a chance to win the game. After allowing a couple of early touchdowns, the TCU defense shut out Iowa State in the second half, which was quite impressive, considering the size advantage the Cyclone receiving core posed. The Cyclones top four receivers all stand 6-foot-1 or better: 6-6 Hakeem Butler, 6-5 Allen Lazard, 6-4 Matthew Eaton, and 6-1 Marchie Murdock.